christmas cake decorations

Mary Berry’s been making her traditional Christmas cake recipe for as long as Paul Hollywood’s been alive. She knows what she’s talking about. If you don't have the required tin size, go to her <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/christmas_cake_calculator">cake calculator</a> to recalculate the ingredients and cooking time for your cake tin.

Mary Berry'S Classic Christmas Cake

raisins

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

currants

sultanas

brandy

oranges, zest only

250 grams/9 ounces butter, softened

sugar

free-range eggs,

tbsp black treacle

flour

1½ tsp mixed spice

jam,

icing sugar

marzipan

free-range eggs, whites only

675 grams/1½lb icing sugar, sifted

lemon juice

1½ tsp glycerine

Mary Berry's classic Christmas cake

Mary shows Paul how she makes royal icing; egg whites beaten to a froth, with icing sugar added and a little glycerin and lemon juice. She ices the cake and decorates it with a ribbon and some Christmas angels.

Mary decorates her 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

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

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

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

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.

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Mary Berry'S Classic Christmas Cake

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Top 4 christmas cake decorations recipes from across the web

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

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Mary Berry'S Classic Christmas Cake

Spiced Christmas cake

Christmas pudding cake

Christmas cake

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