Christmas cake anyone?

[ContessasGulagSpaDay]

I'm making mine as we speak (vegan version of Delia Smith's one) and the brandy fumes are rendering me a little giddy!!

Who else makes their own? I was wondering if it was a dying tradition but DH thinks it's fairly common. Answers on a postcard please?

I'm not even sorry about posting this in September, my cake needs the frequent brandy baths maturation time

Thank you for the heads-up, LBOCS2 because it did look expensive (like the one I'd previously tried).

Is it the texture or the flavours that are disappointing?

Flavours. It tasted weirdly petrol like, I'm not terribly fussy but it was genuinely unpleasant!

I made mine about two weeks ago. I was sick to death of buying Christmas cakes, that turned out to be dry and tasteless.

Please can I ask something of all those who make the Delia classic cake?

I like mine really dark and rich, so in my Readers Digest recipe I swap demerara sugar for muscovado and the mix of dark treacle and apricot jam for all treacle. Is it possible to do similar with Delia's (I notice it has only one spoon of treacle) or do others find it comes out dark enough anyway?

I use Delilah’s and will be making mine next week. I’ve just ordered the fruit from Ocado. It’s never failed me and my in laws and brother have already asked me to make them one again this year.

@puzzled I find it’s quite dark but maybe you could add an extra spoonful of treacle?

Can’t beat the BBC Good Food ‘simmer and stir’ cake IMO. Super moist and very tolerant of playing around with different fruits. Dried figs, apricots, cranberries, dark cherries, glacé cherries, sultanas, raisins, currants and dried peel - oh my. I add a bit more ground almonds for the extra moistness.

Thanks @LBOCS2 - that's good to know! I can imagine it would have been expensive to make. I think I'll stick with tried and tested then!

My dh makes one, but only a few days before Christmas.

I saw Prue Leith on TV this week saying you could make it on Christmas Eve and it would be just as good - the making it weeks in advance is nothing more than a nice tradition.

I’ll be making mine in a couple of weeks, need to start getting all the bits for it!

I used to always bake one but there's just me and DD at home now, so I'll be buying a very small one, they cost so much to make it's just wasteful and I'll be getting back onto my healthy eating plan the day after boxing day so I really don't want lots of festive food hanging around.

I’m making one for the first time this year. I was going to do nigella’s but after all the positive delia comments, I have dragged out my compete cookery book and might do that instead.

Mum used to make ours when we were kids. She and I were the only ones who liked the marzipan - she used to do it extra thick just for us. One year she bought an extra block of marzipan just for us to munch! Most of the time my mum was pretty toxic but this brings back many happy cake related memories and warm Xmas fuzziness. I’m getting quite excited now.

The marzipan will be extra thick! Haha. Sod everyone else.

You've brought back a happy memory, MnerXX - my own mother was fairly toxic a lot of the time, but I will always remember her way of icing the Christmas cake. She would cover it in marzipan and then apply a very runny layer of icing sugar, which had a faintly lemony twang; the icing sugar would drip down onto the tray put there for the purpose, and passing family members would nab a bit of it from the edges with finger as they passed. The sugar on the tray was reapplied to the top of the cake, so the whole procedure was fairly insanitary now I think of it still, it's one of my nicer memories of Christmas. DH and his mother sniggered at my attempts to copy her icing and were snarky about its runniness, so I don't do it myself. Maybe I should though

I will be making mine in a few weeks, I've always used a Delia recipe even adapted it to suit our allergies. I usually make her mincemeat recipe aswell, haven't the last few years though as not tried making gluten and dairy free pastry yet but fancy a go this year as it alway tasted the best.

Contessa or make a little one on the side just for you and scoff it when everyone is out and it’s just you...?

My mum is in a home now a lot of miles away but I’m wondering about sending her up a wedge as it’s not like any Xmas cake she will have from anywhere else will have anywhere near the right amount of marzipan!

Mner you totally should send her a wedge

Does anyone have an idiot proof recipe for a Yule log? We're having people round on Christmas Eve this year and I really want to make one. My previous efforts have failed 😂

LargeGlassOfPepsi - OK, I feel a bit odd about recommending this because Felicity Cloake's photograph is unglamorous but it can be put together better than she managed and I like this recipe:

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/dec/13/how-cook-perfect-yule-log

Otherwise, Delia has several that are all good.

Contessa I will, definitely.

@ContessasGulagSpaDay you still have to line the tin but the cooking time is only about an hour and I think it’s a nice way to have a bit of Christmas cake but not be stuck with loads to eat

I make mine using a recipe given to me by a colleague 40years ago and my cake tins were given to me by my dmil and are at least 70 years old. It's a lovely tradition.

Oh yes, Delia. My Delia Christmas cookery book is over 30 years old and has loads of pencil ticks by eac ingredient as I have marked them off.

I will make mine at half term from a recipe in an old cookery book I found. Have made ours for the past 35 years and then started making some small ones for elderly friends/relations - 2x 8" square ones then cut into 4. Over the years it has snowballed & due to requests I made & iced 12 last year!

Hahaha Contessa when I first read your OP I thought you said your cake needed masturbation time

user I do not enquire into the personal habits of cakes

I'll be making ours next month, and feeding it brandy about once a week.
For the past few years I've switched to a recipe I found for a porter cake, and top it with home made marzipan and royal icing.
It's a little lighter in texture than a traditional Christmas came but tastes great.
I may have made the first batch of mince pies (which we've eaten) already.