Christmas cake recipes and other bakes

[RosehipOil]

I usually make Delia's Creole Christmas cake but fancy doing something different this year, mainly because I have used up all the booze that went into these cakes and I don't really want to buy all these spirits again.

I am thinking of making a Christmas cake that just uses brandy or a couple of spirits rather than the Creole massive list of spirits.

What Christmas cakes are you making this year and what other bakes as gifts?

Stollen is lovely, I used This King Arthur recipe but made two fat ones instead of three, and froze one which once defrosted was even nicer than the first one.

We made a marvellous Christmas cake last year, fed with brandy and decorated with marzipan fruits by my 8 year old DD. However, it took us literally months to eat it. So I am wondering about making either a chocolate cake or an almond and orange/ clementine cake this year.

I think an almond cake would be great, but I think the kids would prefer a chocolate one.

I usually make Nigella's chocolate fruitcake.

www.nigella.com/recipes/chocolate-fruit-cake

I generally don't like fruitcake but I scoff this down. It has Tia Maria, and a hint of chocolate and orange in it. Not exactly traditional, but it's delish!

Ive attempted Paul hollywoods christmas cake. Its slightly different from traditional fruit cake recipes and i decided to use cointreau in mine. Fruit soaked for 2 nights then baked yest. Only took 3hrs. I checked at 3hrs expecting it to need longer but prob could have got it out slightly earlier. Now wrapped up and put away awaiting feeding. This better fucking work lol.

Ooh i also bought christmas edition of gh. They have a separate booklet with it full of lovely looking recipes.

I alternate between Delia's Creole cake and her ordinary one minus the treacle. I soak the fruit for a week before I bake it. I was going to do something different this year but DS1 wanted the ordinary one.

I make Delias classic Christmas cake and just use whiskey! But I reckon you could use any spirit you like.
The cake always has many fans in this house.

I've made a recipe from the Christmas BBC Good Food mag today - it's called Dark & Stormy fruitcake and it smells divine. Fruit, rum, butter and citrus heated together, then added to flour, ground almonds, spices, eggs and stem ginger. Super easy and 2hrs to bake. Will feed rum weekly.

In everyone's experience, what is the best way to feed the cake as in with what booze, how much, and how often over how many weeks?

@RosehipOil
I'll be making my cake tomorrow. When it's still warm I will poke it carefully with a cocktail stick and drizzle over teaspoons of whisky.
I then wrap it in grease proof then foil and leave for about a week.
Then I'll repeat the feeding process every week alternating between top and bottom of the cake. Usually about a tablespoons worth.
I've been known to forget and leave it two weeks but the cake has never suffered.

Sounds yummy DanceWith.

The Christmas cake recipe I use is my mum's. She's been using it for 30 years and got it from a woman at her work who had been using it 30 years prior!!!

I feed it once a week with brandy or sherry depending what I've got in the house!

I've made my first Christmas cake this year so am no expert and yet to see how it turns out! I used the 'As you like it' Christmas cake recipe from BBC Good Food because it gives you measurements for fruit/nuts/booze (or tea) and you just choose what you like. I made mine with sultanas, candied peel and glace cherries. The nuts I used were pecans and blanched almonds and I used a mix of rum, amaretto and brandy for soaking the fruit. I've been feeding it every two weeks as I made it mid September with a few tsp of booze and mixing that up too to hopefully give a rounder flavour. So far I've fed it with amaretto, rum and Cointreau.

I make this Christmas cake, but I make mini ones and give them as gifts. A large Christmas cake would last forever in our house as I’m the only one that likes it.
I also make these these cookies, they are known as Santa cookies in our house.
As my db has an apple tree I use some to make my own suet free mince meat so that I make my own mince pies. I discovered a Mary Berry mincemeat loaf cake which I made last spring to use up the mincemeat that I will make this year.