Last minute Christmas cake

[ReindeerPoop]

I usually do my take on Delia's classic but I was too busy this year... any tried and tested last minute recipes?

Delias Mincemeat cake? She says you can make it on Christmas Eve and it'll work.

I made one early on then used up the rest of the ingredients making Nigella’s cake. It was so easy I made the DS’s one.

Waitrose and ice it yourself. It's delicious

I have often made mine just a couple of weeks in advance ( but we dont ice ours , just have lots of nuts on top

My recipe is an old one from Cranks but is v similar to this one.
However I always use all SRflour and baking powder, and butter instead of margarine add extra spice ( cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger about 1tsp each) . I boil the fruit and sugar ( a mix of soft brown and molasses sugar if i have any ) with orange juice not water and add the brandy (or rum this year) to the mixture when it is cooled. As well as the flour I add a 125g bag of ground almonds

then cover the top in Blanched almonds ( like a Dundee cake) .. everyone always says they like my christmas cakes ! (in fact i make them for both lots of parents now also ) . But yes.no icing. ( we all dislike icing anyway ) . they do keep ages but are also good if made last minute (i have made ours early this year so they will get d fed with extra rum each week)

oh, and I also add a tub of mixed peel to the fruit or get some which already has it in , and grated orange zest also into the fruit mix

Thanks for the ideas, I'll go & look into them now [santa]