Christmas Cake Club - Anyone who wants to join.......

[UCM]

I am going to buy the fruit to soak this weekend (needs to be in sherry for a week) so I thought I would pass my recipe on to anyone who wants it. But anyone who is making their own cake please feel free to pass on tips or your own recipe, like what alternative alcohol do you use??

6oz sultanas
6oz raisins
4oz currants
4oz glacecherries
3oz mixed peel
1/4 pint sherry
6oz butter
6oz soft brown sugar
4 eggs
4oz SR flour
4oz plain flour
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1oz ground almonds

Mix together all fruit. pour sherry over and leave to soak for 1 week, covered. Stir frequently until required.

Grease & line a 7 - 8 inch cake tin

Method

Cream butter & sugar until soft & fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour, salt & ground almonds. Drain off any liquid from the fruit and mix fruit into mixture stirring until well blended. Put into prepared tin, smooth top and bake just below middle of oven for 1 hour on gas mark 3. Then cover with foil and reduce oven to gas mark 2 and cook for a further 1.5 hours until firm to touch. Leave to stand in tin until nearly cold. remove from tin, prick well and pour over liquid from dried fruit. Wrap in foil or greaseproof paper and leave to mature until a few days before christmas, then marzipan & ice.

Tips: I don't like almonds so didn't use em. I also put some chocolate liqueur in with the sherry. also I don't like marzipan so didn't ice, but did make one for a relative which I did ice and it was easy. I have never made a christmas cake before and I have to say this recipe works like a dream.

I thought we could have an 'add booze to Christmas Cake night, where you drip some more booze in once a week and drink some as well

yes, great idea to have a tester cake , clever thinking. i must remember to do tester chocolate cakes next time (one for family, one for me!)

My cake is now baked. Came out beautifully. I ladled a little of the leftover sherry from the fuit over it and left it to cool in the tin overnight. It is now wrapped tightly in greaseproof paper, in an airtight container, sleeping in my pantry. Thanks UCM. It looks/smells delicious. Do we do the first feed a week from baking day??

probably should mention it is 8:00am Tuesday here in Australia hence the cooling overnight comment.

Have been making Christmas cake for about 20 years. Have a "competition" with my dad each year to see who makes the best one.
I have made amazing cakes and mediocre ones.
Here are my "tips" but feel free to ignore as they go against much of what is said here!
It's all personal taste but this is what I like:
Firstly, I soak my fruit in Grand Marnier or Cointreau. And I only ever soak it for 24 hours max. Sometimes much less! I used to find the fruit would be more likely to burn if soaked for much longer and also found the tase a bit too rich.
I add bucket loads of ginger and cinnamon to mine too.
And I don't "feed" the cake much any more - find it too heavy.
And I add a good tablespoon of treacle to my recipe.
And I don't make it that early any more.
I make it 2 or 3 weeks before and that's plenty enough in advance for me.
Pecans and walnuts are good in it too.
When baking make sure it is well wrapped in greaseproof and covered in newspaper to avoid overbrowning (or burning, ahem) the top.
Home-made icing always much much nicer than shop bought although it is a bit of a pain to make!

I made my first ever Christmas cake last week. Now wrapped up in greaseproof paper in an airtight tub.

i'm very proud of it

Is Nigella's Christmas cake recipe any good? I made her Black Cake last year, but as I don't like fruit cake I never know how good they are.

I have had the fruit soaking for a few days now - I used a mix of mainly Bacardi Spice with Kirsch and Amaretto, as I figured the flavours would complement the ingredients.

I am hoping to get the cake made on Wednesday - too much pumpkin carving going on tomorrow .

Great thread UCM getting me spurred on to do what I've been meaning to do for 3 weeks.
Will start in the morning.
I use Amaretto in mine. Yum.

UCM help me please ,i am having to use my top oven and my cake burnt , can i cook it at 100c and should i cover it better ,used double piece of baking parchment with 50p size hole and the cake rose to the hole cracked and burnt ,cooked it for 4and a half hours .... please help ,novice in distress

Ooooo, I am definitely not an expert, but I would try turning the heat down by a 10 in a smaller oven and in the second half use foil, not baking parchment. Or cook for 45 mins then 1hour.

Hopefully someone who is more versed in electric little ovens will be able to help in this.

gRowlers, wicked tips. Keep em coming. In fact anyone who has any tips let us know. I only liked my original recipe cos' it worked for me and I have cocked up a christmas cake before now

ratclare I answered on your original thread. But basically I do what my Mum did which was to use the parchment to line the tin, but the also wrap brown paper around the outside of the tin to prevent scorching.

ratclare, i used to have a small electric oven which burned everything on top.

Here were my tips for how to avoid burning (but IME sometimes it still will).

This may sound obvious but try to put it as low as possible in the oven, even on the very bottom.

If necessary use a shallower but wider tin which allows a bit more room above it.

Use as low a temp as possible and maybe cover the cake all the way through the recipe, piercing holes in the top to allow steam to escape.

good luck.

Checked fruit yesterday and it was a bit lacking in liquid so chucked some more whiskey in (don't tell DH!). Will bake today I think.

A friend of mine baked a Christmas cake for me last year, but we did not eat it, so this year I am going to take off the icing and the marzipan and douse it regularly with some brandy or similar - have some leftover kirch too!!!! and tart it up again for this year. Hope I don't get another cake as a pressie this year as I seem to be missing out on all the fun of making my own!!!

please can you all wish me luck as I am making my 3 cakes tomorrow,

ooh good luck 2shoes!

Good luck. You will be brilliant at it

Hello, gathering together the ingredients to start my cake. All i need is the Sherry. I never drink the stuff so don't really know what type to get. Dry & white or sweet or you can get red sherry can't you? So which type's best?

Or maybe I should just go for brandy

Also, I usually make my own mincemeat - does anyone else? - mincepies taste so much better! Aiming to get that made in the next few days too

UCM ...Am going to Uk in a few weeks and need to get icing / marzipan ( yuck)can you give me an idea of how much I will need for this size cake as I am only used to birthday cakes and butter icing !!! Cheers

Rosa, last time I bought it, it said on the pack how much it would cover, so I would go from there.

Missy, use whatever booze you like, it doesn't matter really. If you like martini, use it

thanks UCM. MIL said sweet sherry so that's what dh picked up on way home for me.

well they are done
not the neatest cakes but know they will be yum. as been using same recipe for years.
but next year I will do it when dh is home cos all the mixing made my arm ache lol

Mmm have been very inspired going to buy ingredients tomorrow it's my first Xmas as a wife/Mummy. Told DH I was going to make cake and pudding he suggested we buy pudding so we're guaranteed a least one godd Xmas goody!!! Poor thing never realised I wasn't a good cook have improved since being on maternity leave!!

bought my ingredients today.....was trying to decide what alcohol to use, then remembered we put some damson brandy away to steep ages ago. going to strain and taste it later and if it's good the fruit is going to soak in that!
never made a christmas cake before, so i'm looking forward to it.

2shoes you big puff!!!

I'm going to feed mine soon [excited emoticon]