Go-to Christmas cake recipe

[LeonardoAcropolis]

Hello, sorry if this has been done to death.

What are your favourite Christmas cake recipes? I usually make Delia Smith's but wondered if it has a rival.

Also, anyone like to share their favourite Christmas pudding recipes?

I use the base of the Delia recipe but white sugar, no spice, grated lemon and orange rind rather than peel, cherries , almonds and sultanas, no raisins or currants.

I did find last year I have to reduce the cooking time a fair bit to my recipe ( probably an old edition)
soaked in amaretto

and delis recipe marzipan

DeliaSmith Creole cake from her Christmas book. Mmmm - about time I got going with this year’s.

Yes another Delia fan here !

Delia with cocoa powder, extra cherries, and ganache instead of marzipan. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it 😄

I’ve stuck with Delia. My version is the one in the Delia Smith cookery course, the 3 volume one. Don’t know if later books and the Christmas book have different versions.

That sounds incredible

Well, looks like I may stick with trusty Delia but tweak as some of you ladies have done 👍

I swear by the nigella domestic goddess one - without the mixed peel and with Brazil nuts and extra cherries. The recipe comes in different sizes for different tins and always works beautifully.

mine are done and being fed brandy weekly now.

For pudding I use the Every Nook and Cranny slow cooker recipe, and use Ameretto as the booze.

www.everynookandcranny.net/slow-cooker-christmas-pudding/

And for the cake I use the Good Food recipe.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/make-mature-christmas-cake

I do a James Martin one.

I use a Mary Berry recipe and adapt it a bit, always soak fruit and booze overnight first.

I usually alternate between Delia's traditional and the creole. Last year I got bored and made the cherry one from Good Housekeeping and this year I'm doing their chocolate stout one

Does anyone have a recipe for a 7" tin? All the recipes I've looked at are for 8 or 9" and I really don't want to buy a new tin. I know I could just use less of the mixture but then I have no idea about cooking times. Sorry not a very good cook here but want to try making one for the first time.

I make the Nigel Slater small Christmas cake because it makes a small Cake crammed with lovely things that are affordable because it is a small cake……..

This is the small cake recipehttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/07/baking-dessert

Mine is a bbc good food one. It's basically a fruit cake with a lot of drink! Crucially, it contains no mixed peel which is the invention of the devil.

I love mixed peel!
I like marzipan but others in the family aren't fans.
I'd quite like one that is a bit like brack - I guess I'm thinking lighter? The DCs love that and also DH isn't keen on feeding the cake with alcohol if they are going to eat it. Though presoaking then cooking would probably be OK.

Delia's.

But I decorate it with almonds instead of marzipan and icing. I'll see if I can find a pic...

This is pre-baked.

It's having its 4th feed this evening.

I use a recipe from Waitrose Magazine a few years ago, with dates and ginger as well as the usual fruit.

Delia here too. The classic Christmas cake recipe. In fact I made it today!

We did try her light glacé fruits cake for a couple of years and it was a lovely, slightly lighter option. However last year DH said "Can we go back to the original?"

So, here we are. Can't beat it really.

Pam the Jams out of her river cottage cake book, its excellent

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/restaurants-bars/janes-quick-xmas-cake-1014740 I have been making Jane Ashers last minute christmas cake for years now, used to make Delia's but this is much nicer.

Everyone on a baking group I’m in swears by this Mary Berry one
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/classic_christmas_cake_04076?fbclid=IwAR05zC_6_a3dc2a2cbPse2cKg-IX422PL6oMDcbzNMFOBuSGBMTh5NG-Fko_aem_AU9uued0YCkaHbabZDgZreOD-walAO0FleIofrGC2QrAbCnvW-OtJj2sPmmFRDuWTco

Yep, I use good old Delias Classic recipe too. Well sort of, a few perso al tweaks here and there. Made my start yesterday, the fruit is soaking- Lidls Amaretto not Brandy this year. Leaving it for a week or so and will do the Bake mist likely next Monday. I think I'll need to cook it slightly longer thus year as last year's developed a crack on the top- didn't matter as I turned it upside down for the flat side but was anxious it'd break entirely after all the hard work of baking and feeding g etc 😬