Christmas cake recipes

[LosBreakingBad]

I have decided to make a Christmas cake this year. I haven't made one in years, but always used to rely on Delia Smith's recipe from the complete cookbook. I thought I would mix it up a bit this year.
Does anyone have a tried and tested recipe that could try?

Bump. Anybody?

I'd use that as the basic and get fancy with added almonds, cherry bits, more candied fruit, different booze and decoration.

I don't think you can go wrong with her basic cake. Just shooze it up a bit.

But personally I love her cake as is so um I really mightn't be the best responder!

Thanks. I think you're probably right. I just thought it might be good to try other things. Probably hard to beat Delia.

I use the Delia recipe as a base (but don't cook it as long as her recipe, don't know if it's because my book is ancient but my cake never needs as long as it says)

I use caster sugar, light nuts and light fruit (sultanas).
Cherries, Amaretto to soak.
Grated lemon and orange rind not candied peel
No spices.

I use her recipe for marzipan (Amaretto again,)

I don;t like anything new and fangled with Christmas so no chocolatefruit cake or Creole cake for me

I use Nigellas Christmas cake recipe. It's from her Feast book. It's basically a boiled fruit cake, but the kitchen smells lush when I make it, and it tastes fab, too.

It doesn't include nuts, but loads of dried fruit, spices and chestnut purée. U

I've been using Delia's creole recipe the last couple of years. It's lovely and there's scope for changing it. last year I had mostly sultanas, this year there's masses of citrus peel and cherries and I'm trying raisins again after years of avoiding them. I add extra spice and lemon and orange zest. I've also used a different combination of alcohols (I can't remember what I ended up putting in!). Oh, and it's a nut free zone, I disapprove of nuts in christmas cake.

I'm thinking of doing a pistachio marzipan for a change.

Nigella does have a good few christmas cake recipes, any of which would be worth a try, and Mary Berry would be worth a go too. I wouldn't see Delia as the queen of christmas cake necessarily!

Thank you everyone. I will investigate. I do like the sound of the boiled fruit cake, and amaretto sounds good instead of brandy.

Definitely the nigella boiled Christmas cake. It tastes great

I've made this one for several years. I soak the fruit for at least 3 days and feed with brandy instead of whisky.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2988/hot-toddy-fruitcake

We have made this West Indian fruitcake for years and years now. If you're after a cake you can decorate, I'd go for a traditional fruit cake instead as putting icing and marzipan on this would be OTT, in my view. This doesn't bother us as we're none of us great fans of icing in any form, or of marzipan, but three out of the four of us love fruit cake (the fourth is a lost cause, poor lad).

We make one big cake - never tried making mini ones. We don't bother separating the eggs, as mentioned in the recipe. It is absolutely wonderful and so full of rum that you could get quite tipsy just sniffing it.

I used to use a different recipe every year. Last year I used a Mary Berry recipe, and turned out to be the best cake i've ever made, so used it again this year.

I do ignore the amount of alcohol they suggest though - think it was 4 tablespoons, and basically used half a bottle of brandy to soak the fruit in! Ended up soaking it for 4 weeks, was all lush and plump.

I make 'black cake' - the Caribbean version of Christmas cake. Its lovely, slightly lighter in texture but darker in colour. Lots of recipes online for it but I use a similar recipe this one: Black cake

That's very like the recipe I posted, ItsGotBellsOn. The picture is exactly what ours looks like. It's got the juices flowing just looking at that! V. amused by the idea that it shouldn't be given to young people under the age of 21 because of the amount of alcohol in it! Ours has largely been prepared by a young person under the age of 21 for the last few years and there would have been mutiny if I'd said she then couldn't have a slice of it!

How funny!!!!

I LOVE black cake. 6 yr old DD loves it, too