Christmas Cake Dilemma.....Delia or Mary???

[BaconAndAvocado]

Stir up Sunday is looming (sort of) and I usually go Delia but this year.......thinking of making a controversial move towards Mezzer.

Any thoughts?

I've been making Delia's creole christmas cake for years. More or less. I don't use her combination of fruit, I just have a kilo of sultanas, mixed peel and cherries (LOTS of cherries, whole). I don't use her combination of alcohol, it's generally a combo of whatever's in the press (but always amaretto, brandy and angostura bitters). I don't use her amounts of spices, and I add the zest of an orange and a lemon. Oh, and I don't heat the fruit in the alcohol and then let it rest for a week, I just chuck it all in a lidded tub and turn it every few days for a month or so.

Aside from that, it's definitely Delia's cake

We have made a spare Mazza cake-in-a-box from a previous year, it came out fine. That reminds me, we need to feed it.

I make this one because it doesn't need ingredients that I don't ever use like treacle, and it takes less than 2hrs to cook, but I'll probably get kicked off this thread for breaking all the Christmas cake rules

Also, makes one square cake that I cut in half and keep one and give one away. I think it tastes good. Works for me.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/snow-topped-holly-cakes/amp

Usually a version of Delia but caster sugar not brown. Sultanas only not currants or raisins. Lots of white nuts -almonds, brazils, macadamia . Amarretto not sherry . Otange and lemon rind not peel. Lots of cherris . No spices .

So nothing like the original at all .

@orangenasturtium thank you!

A mixed bunch then!

I think I may stick with Delia. Was talking to my parents today and they were saying how lovely they think my Christmas cake is.

Just as well, the DCs never eat it.

I too soak my fruit in amaretto. Have also used vanilla vodka in the past.

Joining in with the alcohol anarchists, I soak my fruit in Cointreau. Yum.

I'm sure your cake will be delicious OP

I've just fed my cake Cointreau and soaked my fruit for days in brandy and sherry. I'll be sozzled

DH made ours yesterday - Paul Hollywood recipe

This is all so modern! Does no one do Elizabeth David anymore??

Delia's is in the oven right now.
I took one look at 3 tablespoons of brandy for that amount of fruit, and put in three very big slugs. It all got absorbed!

Ok- please can someone tell me the best delia one ?

@Queenfreak Delia's classic Christmas cake www.deliaonline.com/recipes/occasions/christmas/christmas-cakes-icings-and-toppings/classic-christmas-cake

This is possibly the most controversial thread I have ever read in all my years on MN

@timeisnotaline

This is all so modern! Does no one do Elizabeth David anymore??

Oh don't torment us! Please show the recipe for the Golden Christmas Cake!

I am making 10 cakes this year (for friends and family) and I have just completed the initial 4 which are Delia.. I have tried many over the years but this is the most reliable and delicious. I amend a bit here and there (do not add nuts for some cakes etc) but essentially they always come out perfect.

Also to add I make Damson and Sloe gin and use that to soak the fruit rather than brandy. I put in about 150ml or more rather than the weedy 3 tablespoons..

I do my own usually but toying with buying one, just not feeling Christmas this year

dilbertian I can’t - its my mums book! If I remember I can add it on Tuesday

Darina but I have to read Maura Laverty every year for comfort.

This is possibly the most controversial thread I have ever read in all my years on MN 😂😂😂

What have I started ?!?!?!?

Quick Delia aside.......I found her TV Christmas episodes on YouTube yesterday. Definite cosy, comfort watching

I aim to watch one or two next week in a DC free environment.

This year I added super strength rum to the fruit, several days in advance. The main issue I can see is that there is probably substantially less fruit in the cake than there ought to be now.

I'm normally a committed Nigella fan but this thread has prompted me to break with tradition this year...

Annie bell's Christmas cake is currently baking in my oven (with much more booze than the actual recipe). I've been meaning to try it for years as everything else I've baked from her baking bible is excellent 🤞🤞

My husband always uses Delia - bullet-proof. Can’t vouch for Mary

I've made Delia's creole Christmas cake this year , it looks ,and smells beautiful.

A cautionary tale.

The first time my sister made a Christmas cake she slightly overdid it on the rum. On the premise that more is better, she soaked the fruit for longer and in much more than the recipe called for, and fed it generously every week from half-term to the end of term. On New Years Day we went over to my dsis and she cut the cake. Whereupon we discovered that the marzipan layer had been completely dissolved by the alcohol.

Apparently half a bottle of rum had gone into an 8" cake!