best christmas cake

This is a good last-minute Christmas cake as it doesn’t need time to mature. Fragrant, spiced and with a light golden crumb. The natural decoration looks incredibly impressive too.

Equipment and preparation: You will need a deep 20cm/8in round tin or a 18cm/7in square tin.


Spiced Christmas cake

grams/4½oz raisins

grams/4½oz sultanas

grams/3½oz currants

glacé cherries, halved

grams/3½oz pre-soaked apricots, chopped

100 grams/3½oz dried pineapple, chopped

grams/3½oz peel,

100 grams/3½oz cashew nuts, roughly chopped

lime, zest only

lemon, zest only

½ orange, zest only

milliliters/3½fl oz white port or white rum

butter

golden caster sugar

flour

grams/1¾oz almonds

cinnamon

cardamom

½ tsp ground mace or grated nutmeg

½ tsp ground allspice

¼ tsp ground cloves

salt

free-range eggs

½ orange, juice only

tbsp rosewater or orange blossom water

900 grams/2lb marzipan

apricot jam

orange,

tbsp icing sugar

rosemary

few citrus leaves

grams/3½oz caster sugar

rose petals

cinnamon sticks

star anise

cloves

nutmeg

edible gold spray

Mary Berry's Christmas cake is a great last-minute recipe because it doesn't need feeding.

Apricot and brandy Christmas cake

300 grams/9 ounces dried apricots, chopped

currants

sultanas

raisins

90 milliliters/3½fl oz brandy

butter,

sugar

eggs

350 grams/12 ounces glacé cherries, halved, rinsed and dried

oranges, grated zest only

apricot jam, for glazing

A Christmas cake and pudding in one simple cut out! Frances Quinn's ingenious Christmas cake combines two classics in one with this simple technique. 


Christmas pudding cake 

150 grams/5½oz mixed dried fruit,

grams/5½oz cranberries

150 grams/5½oz pitted soft prunes

grams/5½oz dates

150 grams/5½oz dried figs

150 milliliters/5fl oz brandy, plus optional extra to ‘feed’ the cake

orange

150 grams/5½oz mixed whole nuts

150 grams/5½oz butter, softened

150 grams/5½oz dark muscovado sugar

tbsp black treacle

free-range eggs (at room temperature), beaten

150 grams/5½oz self-raising flour

tbsp ground mixed spice

grams/1lb 10 ounces ready to roll fondant

marzipan

tbsp mincemeat

holly leaves

cherries

This traditional Christmas cake pulls out all the stops - if you have the time, feed it with brandy in the run up to Christmas.

Top 4 best christmas cake recipes from across the web

The most viewed best christmas cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Spiced Christmas cake

Apricot and brandy Christmas cake

Christmas pudding cake

Christmas cake

Top 4 best christmas cake recipes from across the web

The most viewed best christmas cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Spiced Christmas cake

Apricot and brandy Christmas cake

Christmas pudding cake

Christmas cake

The most viewed best christmas cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine