Best Alcohol-free Christmas Cake Recipe?

[OchreBlue]

Can anyone recommend an alcohol-free Christmas cake recipe that is still a moist dense Christmassy fruit cake with rich flavour? I've had a look online but the finished products don't look like Christmas cake. Are there recipes where you still make it in advance and feed it (not sure what with)? I love the ritual of making the cake early and gradually feeding it.

The As you like it cake from BBC Good Food is an easy recipe that I like because you customise depending on what you prefer in terms of nuts, fruit, liquid. I've only made and fed it with alcohol but it does say you can use brewed black tea for the soaking of fruit and the feeding and can still be made and fed in advance.

Just replace the alcohol with strong tea! You can use it for soaking the fruit at the beginning as well as feeding it.

The BBC recipe above is the one I use, but you can use any recipe and substitute the alcohol.

I make the Mary Berry one with strong tea for a friend. I use alcohol in the others but same recipe and both look lovely and rich.

Thanks, that's brilliant I didn't realise I could substitute it with strong tea. It doesn't go mouldy then? Now that opens up lots of possibilities for flavours, I wonder what lapsang souchong cake would be like.

If you use tea a chai bag would be best, I have vanilla chai and it smells like Christmas.

Great idea goose, I love chai tea I've got a lovely loose leaf vanilla masala chai that would be perfect.

Just use a typical cake recipe but use apple juice instead of alcohol, but remember because it doesn’t have alcohol in it, it won’t keep very long, best make it just a week before.

I also use tea - Earl Grey for me - to soak the fruit. But I've never tried feeding it with tea. Might give that a go this year

@OchreBlue

Thanks, that's brilliant I didn't realise I could substitute it with strong tea. It doesn't go mouldy then? Now that opens up lots of possibilities for flavours, I wonder what lapsang souchong cake would be like.

No it won’t keep anywhere near as long. I make the alcohol free cake around December 18-20th.