Making Christmas cake/pudding

[TeaAndCakeFTW]

I think I'm going to try to make my own Christmas cake or Christmas pudding this year.

I'm not a baker, I've never made one before, does anyone have any best practice/tips/recipes/where to start please?

You've got to drown it or it's not worth doing imo!

@MassiveOvaryaction I took the theory but because I am gluten and dairy free (which means fat free and flavour free for this recipe), I have had to tweak it. For a 1.5 litre slow cooker, I break it down to a quarter size.

250g dried fruit and some sweet nuts
160 ml liquid - cold tea, orange juice, alcohol
Vanilla
1/2 cup SR flour
1 tbs sugar - white, dark brown or mix
1/4 tsp xanthan gum, ground cloves, ground allspice
1 egg, whisked

Soak the fruit and nuts in your liquid overnight.
Sift the flour, spices, xanthan, sugar. Mix with fruit, fold in egg.
Allow to sit for an hour to hydrate.
Line base and sides of slow cooker with a double layer of baking paper. Tip in batter.
Cook for 3 hours on High with a folded cloth under the lid.

My drowned Delia is in the oven

I’ve been looking but Delia seems to have a few different recipes. Which one would be best?

Another vote for Delia. Have tried Nigella but it was disappointing in comparison.

Rather than buying lots of packs of dried mixed fruit, Lidl sells mixed fruit soaked in rum which works brilliantly. Obvs you add more rum to the cake from now until Christmas...

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/occasions/christmas/christmas-cakes-icings-and-toppings/classic-christmas-cake

This is the classic Delia (but add more booze obviously )

I made my Christmas cake (and Christmas pudding) yesterday, having soaked the fruit since last weekend.

I always make it the start of October and then feed it every two weeks before icing it in December.

I use the "As you like it" recipe from BBC Good Food which is very simple and normally get requests for my Christmas cake each year so I must be doing something right!

Main tips from me are:

Use a blend of different alcohol for soaking and again for feeding. I tend to raid the drinks cabinet and use any combination of brandy, bourbon, amaretto, frangelico, cointreau and spiced rum. I will normally mix a bit of two of three of those and vary what I use each time I feed the cake. Feed it once when it's warm out of the oven and then every 2 to 3 weeks for a couple of months. This is why I make it now 🙂

It is personal preference but when getting the dried fruit amount I use half standard dry fruit and the other half stem ginger and glace cherries. It stops the cake being dry.

Toast the nuts before you put them in the cake as it helps with the flavour.

I spend lots of time lovingly making my Christmas cake and then use ready bought ginger jam and ready rolled marzipan and royal icing to ice it. I get a better finish and it keeps it simple.

We use extra glacé cherries because DH really likes them, and we add stem ginger or candied ginger as well. We do exactly the same as you - mix and match the spirits/liquors depending on what appeals and what we have to hand. The recipe is really just a starting point! I wish we were making one this year. I don't even really eat it - might have a very thin slice or two, but it's such a cosy ritual and the house smells wonderful!

No worries, carry on.

I think I'm going to give the baileys and condensed milk one a go.

I've just set my Aussie ingredients to soak! Used up the leftovers from my Delia cake and the dregs of a bottle of Baileys.
Will bake in a day or two and report back.

I always make the Nigel Slater large fruit cake. I made it yesterday and my house still smells lovely ☺️