Right I am going to bake a CAKE for christmas (never have baked one before) - has anyone got any tips?

[GetOrfAKAMrsUsainBolt]

I am emphatically not a baker, a confident cook but cakes are beyond me.

I want to bake a really lovely cake and feed it with booze. Something nice for me and dd to do together.

I have got several Nigella books and the recipes read nicely however I have made a few things from Nigella which seemed off, so I would like to use a tried and tested recipe.

And when do I make it? Do I make it in October and then throw booze all over it ? And what booze can I use? And how best to ice it (no artistic or dextrous talents).

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Top tip, go to m&S

Noooo, I want to make one.

We are probably going abroad for Christmas day (I have got to persuade dd as she is wedded to christmas at home, and I want to do extra special christmas things beforehand)

My top tip would be to soak the fruit for a month and then bake rather than feeding with booze. So much easier, less time consuming and guarantees a lovely moist cake. I've made this one for the last few years and it's really good. A hybrid of Nigella's black cake and a last minute recipe card one from Sainsbury's.

theverygoodbakery.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/ultimately-boozy-christmas-ahem-winter.html

I can't help, as I've never made Christmas cake and am not about to start, we're not that fussed by it, and my artistic skills are zero.
I wouldn't trust Nigella's baking though, it's hit and miss.
I'd probably go with a Delia or Mary Berry.
There's some nice Christmassy stuff in the new Bake Off book if that would interest you?
We're going to do the gingerbread house, and make/ice biscuits for the tree.

I always use the Delia recipe. My top tip? Make sure you use a really big mixing bowl!

It's dead easy, though. Just mix up all your ingredients, put it in a lined tin and leave it for several hours to bake. The house always smells gorgeous for ages afterwards.

The one year I did feel I'd overcooked it, I managed to salvage the situation by "feeding" it extra in the run up to Christmas.

OK, so most people usually make their christmas cakes on Stir Up Sunday which marks the beginning of advent or summat - anyway this year SUS will fall on 25th November.

This is the day for making xmas puddings and xmas cakes, so you've got a while before you need to start worrying, although I do know one person who makes her cakes in April. The earlier you start, the darker, more boozy and fudgier the actual cake will be.

Here is a nice recipe because it lets you add YOUR favourite dried fruits (in my case, NONE OF THEM BECUASE IT'S ALL VILE I TELLS YA).

Once you've baked the cake you can then feed it once (or twice) a week with booze. I made some christmas pudding rum last year and soaked my xmas puddings in that.

My nana got given one of my xmas puddings, she's 86 and said it was the best she had ever eaten - she's not known for bullshit, if it were crapp she'd have told me.

Decoration wise, you just need to get some marzipan and some pre made icing along with some apricot jam - these will become available closer to xmas obviously, and you should save the icing until..oh I dunno, a week before xmas I guess? (bit wobbly on that one!)

I love making Christmas cakes, licking out the bowl is the best bit. I think Christmas cake is the yummiest uncooked cake mixture ever.

You are planning far in advance, it is recommended to make it at least 8 weeks in advance, so towards late October is perfectly early enough. I use Delia Smith's recipe in 'Delia Smith's complete cookery course'. The recipe for a rich fruit cake, which she says is good for Cristmas, weddings etc. personally I leave out the nuts as there are people in my family who don't eat them. I just soak the fruit in booze the night before hand, then feed it, but not too much as my young children eat it. The quantities of booze in purplegeekygirl's recipe are staggering! The cake needs to cook up to around 4 hours.

Thank you you lovely lot.

I am a crap baker so I am slightly worried that I will spend 30 quid on ingredietnts and it will turn out vile and be frisbeed into the bin (like previous cake efforts).

What booze so you soak it in? I don't like whiskey, or rum - can I use amaretto or would it be too sickly? I like Jack Daniels though or would that be insanely wrong?

That recipe purple looks insanely easy.

700ml of booze! Christ!

I haven't got any Delia books (apart from How to Cheat at Cooking and Frugal Food, both mistakes) but will have a look online.

I use delias every year. Never failed me. We always make it half term.
What about brandy? Top tip - soak your fruit for a good few days.

Yes I forgot about brandy. I don't know if I like brandy or not, I don't think I have ever had it tbh. Which is a bit insane.

I think the soaking fruit first idea sounds good.

Christ do people get pissed on these cakes?

My top tips?

• Choose your own favourite dried fruits and don't automatically use those in the recipe. I'm not a huge fan of currants or candied peel so I substitute dried cranberries. As long as you chop your substitute up to the same rough size of the original and use the same weight of overall fruit, it will be fine.

• Soak the fruit in booze for as long as you can. I measure it all out, stick it in a plastic tub and pour over a liberal amount of whisky (which is my favourite - but your suggestion of JD will be fine). Every so often I give the box a shake. You can leave it as long as you like, so if you don't get time to make the cake when you planned, it won't matter. If you don't want to use booze (non-drinkers/children etc) then orange juice will work.

• Line the tin with brown paper as well as greaseproof to stop the cake scorching during the long cooking time. Cover with foil as soon as it comes out until its completely cool so that the steam keeps the top soft.

• Don't be too fussed with the decoration. I find that covering just the top with marzipan is easiest and then use a box of Royal Icing mix to spread over the top. Then stick some plastic tat on the top -the kids will love it.

ShirleyKnot - I've always made my pudding on Stir-Up Sunday, but thought Christmas cakes were best made a bit before that?

No you dont get drunk on them. The baking gets rid of the alcohol, thank god as I unknowingly let my 4 year old eat vast amounts of brandy Xmas cake. I'm tempted to make a cake this year but like you am worried about wasting all that money. Maybe I should get one of those kits from waitrose?

Oh and GetOrf - if you have Nigella's 'Domestic Goddess' book, the Traditional Fruitcake in there is good. Slightly weird quantities though - all for non-standard tins. I think I split the difference between the first two quoted sizes for an 8" round tin.

Yes TREATS you're right. I get all mixed up with puddings and cakes because they are all equally as vile

Definitely go for Delia - I've made her's a few times and also her last minute version and both have been great. Easy to make too!

I soak with brandy and keep it in the cupboard under the stairs, will be doing this years end Oct/early Nov.

"Stir up, we beseech thee, O lord, the wills of thy faithful people;"

Collect for the last Sunday before advent in the book of common prayer.

You learn some useless stuff having an Anglican DH

Always taken by my D(sadly no longer with us)MIL as the cue for Christmas cake and pudding making. Pudding and/or cake must be stirred with a silent wish for the festive season or beyond.

Yes star and everyone in the family has a stir starting with the youngest first.

I LOVE stir up sunday - all that steam and the smell of christmas and the rattling and clattering of the puddings steaming.

Oh how lovely re stir up Sunday.

I am a bit crap because despite LOVING Christmas it is usually my busiest time at work so all my plans of making biscuits, yule logs, tree decorations and pomanders go to shit because of manicness and running out of time.

I don't actually like icing so I don't think I will fuss about it, I normally just peel it off and throw it away. Will just get some ready made stuff perhaps. My gran used to make royal icing and make a snow scene but it always looked incredibly tricky. Imagine making a cake and then ballsing it up with the icing.

Christmas cake is the only cake I really like, Ieat it with cheese and biscuits.

Re fruit - you can use anything, so cherries, figs, apricots etc are OK (I don't much like candied peel either).

Oh and does this stuff curdle when you add the eggs?

Every bastard cake I make ends up curdling, I don't know what I do to it (perhaps it's my face)

Yes curdling can be a problem, you have to add the eggs really slowly little by little and mix in well before you add the next bit. If it curdles you can add a little bit of flour (Delia's suggestion). The hardest bit about makinf the cake is creaming the butter and sugar and then getting all the egg mixed in. Other than that, it's easy.

I aleays use brandy. Even if you don't like it just to drink on its own, you might like it mised with all the other ingredients. I would have thought JD would be a bit strange but whatever you like personally.

The alcohol cooks off, but if you feed the cake with booze after cooking, that of course doesn't get cooked off, so that's why I don't feed it much if children are going to eat it.

I always thought stir up Sunday was just about the pudding - the cake should be made a bit earlier

I use the Mary Berry Celebration fruit cake from my Aga book.

Soak fruit in loads of booze for three days.

Curdling - don't worry, just beat like mad with a wooden spoon.

Lots of people swear by Delia's recipe but I've use a great recipe that gives you different quantities for different sized tins that I'd be happy to send you.

I just use whatever fruit I like as long as it makes up the total weight needed. I put it all in a tupperware box with some brandy and leave it for about three weeks. It gets baked during October half term and fed with more brandy until I ice it.