I want to try and make a xmas cake this year......

[TheOriginalNutcracker]

But I've never made any type of cake at all.

So, what do I need to know ?

i am not a great baker, and have had previously made pretty "meh" Christmas cakes.
this year i followed delia to the letter, including all the faffing around with the paper on the tin. we made the cake at October half-term, and fed it brandy every week(ish) until Christmas. It was brilliant.

Ohhhh thank's stanley. I shall give that one a go then

buy your dried fruit asap - for some reason the price shoots up around October

2nd delias. Foolproof year in year out and tasty tasty tasty. I substitute different dried fruits too, cranberries and apricots are lovely in it. Don't forget to wrap it all up in brown paper or it will burn. I love unwrapping it to feed it, the smell is amazing.... Is it too early to start?

Can't go wrong with Nigel Slater's recipe in his Kitchen Diaries book!

Delia's recipe is lovely. I use Amaretto in mine instead of brandy though.

When do you bake the cake - how far in advance for xmas? important wanting to try this too this year...

I do Delia's rich fruit cake

made in October, start decorating a week before christmas, then give it away to someone as I can't stand the stuff but I really enjoy making the thing

I make it October half term and wrap it up in tin foil and put it in a cake tin. Then I leave mine the whole of November and then I feed it in December with whiskey (not brandy) every week. It gets iced Christmas Eve, in a very rustic slap it on kind of way!

Will any one eat it though? We get given two every year. One from DM and one from DMIL. Both slightly disapproving the fact that i don;t bake one myself. We eat like one slice of each and the rest ends up being chucked.

Unusual but amazingly tasty and moist

I make this one as its a bit different, its a New Zealand recipe and is a lovely cake I make two one with the tinned pineapple and one with tinned clementines last year I painted the fruit on top with gold dust and it looked amazing. Ican't put nuts on top as dd has a nut allergy so I used dried fruit.

I like Delia too, but tend to go for the mincemeat sherry cake...it only needs to be done a few days in advance and tastes amazing.

Followed Delia's recipe too, although used rum and just used mixed dried fruit from asda rather that faf around with weighing individual quantities of currants/sultanas etc etc.
Think I made it mid Nov and fed it more rum before decorating. Was lovely and moist!