British Christmas Cake
In the US the thought of a holiday “fruit cake” is usually tied to a butt of a joke. But Christmas Cakes are a staple on the British Holiday table. Not to be confused with the fiery blaze of a Christmas pudding, which we will get to at another time. The Christmas Cake is rather simple to make, so don’t let the ingredient list scare you off as much of it easily acquired online, or made yourself.
A proper Christmas Cake is an exercise in patience and planning. Setting out a rough calendar outline for your bake is very helpful, but remember, there is no wrong answer to how long it should take. Ideally, you want it to mature for as long as possible before you decorate and eat it. However, it is perfectly acceptable to make it two weeks before consumption, or whilst it won’t be the same, the cake is delicious even when baked and eaten right away!
When I first set out to create my first Christmas Cake, I ended up with two. One that was unfed but had the traditional marzipan layer and one that was fed with brandy but decorated without the marzipan due to my tree nut allergy. After both cakes were enjoyed, I decided to set out to create my own recipe that was easy and versatile. This way folks could adapt it to their personal tastes as there are many variations, recipe to recipe. I am delighted with the outcome and was more pleased when several people used the recipe to make their cakes this year and had great success.
This year for my own cake, I decided to just do one version, especially since my husband just doesn’t like fruit cake! So I focused on what I like…CHERRIES! Truly, I would put them in everything if I could. Fresh, dried, candied, artificially flavored, or cooked, it doesn’t matter, I am a fan. In addition to his fruit cake aversion, he also doesn’t like cherries. He is a disgrace to Michigan, the self-proclaimed “Cherry Capital of the World”, where he was born and raised. Thankfully there isn’t much that my husband won’t eat, I have even changed his mind on a few dishes he historically turned his nose up at, but this was the exception. So, this was the perfect opportunity to be completely selfish, especially since it’s 2020 and we won’t be seeing other human beings for them to have a slice due to CoVid precautions.
In a typical Christmas cake, the addition of glacé cherries would account for 10 to 25% of the total dried and/or candied fruit, depending on the recipe. In my version this year? 37% glacé cherries. In addition, the entire fruit mixture was soaked in a cherry brandy for 3 days and then after it was baked, it was fed weekly with the cherry brandy for 3 months.
Despite all of that, and whilst the cherries were the star of the cake, it didn’t overpower the other flavors. It turned out a lovely balance of the warm spices and the dried fruit whose flavors change as they age and mature from the alcohol. But, please, use what you enjoy! The traditional dried fruits in a Chritsmas Cake are Currants, Sultanas, and Raisins along with mixed peel and glacé cherries, but many people use dried: cranberries, blueberries, apricots, figs, and more. Another classic addition is almonds or almonds meal which adds even more complexity.
If you choose to take on the time commitment of the Christmas Cake and need further assistance, I created a video for a Facebook group that I am apart of. It is a rough video but it gives you a nice visual. Enjoy!
Recipe Card
Note: If there was one kitchen gadget that I would recommend, it would be a kitchen scale. It takes the guesswork out of baking creating better success with recipe outcomes. All of my recipes are written in weights. If you do not have a scale and need to convert a recipe or ingredient to volume, you can use the buttons to the right and copy /paste the recipe into the handy recipe conversion tool or the single ingredient conversion.
British Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Method
- Mix the 1200 grams/42 ounces of fruit with 150 grams/ 5 ounces of the brandy and leave for 1 hour to start the absorption process. Adding the alcohol in 2 stages helps get the fruit hydrated easily.
- After an hour, add the other 150 grams/ 5 ounces of alcohol.
- Let the mixture sit for at least 12 hours and up to 7 days. (I personally do 72 hours)
- Before you begin
- Remove butter and eggs from the refrigerator. Ideally, you want the butter softened and the eggs at room temperature
- Measure out your flour and stir in the mixed spice and salt and set aside.
- Add the mixed peel and the chopped almonds (if using) to the fruit alcohol mix and let it sit for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 150℃/300℉ or 130℃/275℉ fan (I prefer the fan/ convection oven for this)
- Line a 20 cm/8 inch round baking tin (with deep sides) with parchment paper on the bottom and the sides. Allow the parchment paper to come above the surface of the tin.*
- Cream the butter and sugar for 3 minutes with a paddle attachment with a stand mixer or a hand mixer.
- Add the Treacle and Ginger syrup and mix to combine.
- Add the room temperature eggs, 1 at a time. If you see the butter “breaking” or curdling, add a tablespoon of the flour mixture you set aside and then continue adding the eggs.
- Fold in the stem ginger and then the fruit-alcohol-nut mix
- Lastly, fold in the flour mixture. until just combined.*
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Place a piece of parchment paper, trimmed to size on top of the batter as this will help the top from drying out or getting too dark.
- Place in the lower rack of the oven and bake for 3.5-4 hours. The time is going to depend on the size of your tin, as well as oven variences. The cake when baked, should be firm to the touch. And a skewer comes out clean when peirced.
- Remove the cake from the oven and using a skewer poke several holes through the cake and spoon over 2 Tbsp of alcohol, allowing it to soak in.
- Let the cake cool completely for several hours before removing from the tin.
- Wrap the cake in a few layers of parchment paper and place it in a covered tin or wrap in aluminum foil.
- Store it in a cool, dark, and dry place.
- Two weeks after you finished the baking, its time to feed your cake. As a general rule, you should only feed your cake up to 4-5 times over the maturation period so it doesn't become "boozy".
- Each feed should be no more than 1-2 teaspoons. I find it best to use a pastry brush to brush on the alcohol over the entire cake, including the bottom.*
- Make sure the cake doesn’t get soggy. You want to brush it on so it’s covered but not heavy-handed. If you open your wrappings and the cake is soggy, wait another week to feed it.
- Once you have completed your feedings, 2 weeks apart, let the cake sit. wrapped, until you are ready to decorate it.
- If you make it more than 3 months ahead of time, it is best to freeze it for the rest of the time, either before the feeding or after it is completed.
Notes:
- The alcohol choices are plentiful. Traditionally, Brandy is used but Rum, Whiskey, and Sherry are also great choices. The same goes for flavored Brandy and other liqueurs like Amaretto and Orange. Do you want to skip the alcohol? Try using brewed tea or fruit juice.
- You can substitute candied ginger for the stem ginger.
- Mixed Peel is easy to make, I use this recipe From the Larder as well as this recipe for stem ginger.
- I use a springform pan as it makes things very easy and it's deep enough to hold the mixture. You can use a wider pan and allow your cake to be shallower. Be sure to be mindful of baking time.
- I like using a Danish Dough Whisk to fold in the flour. It makes short work of the task without over mixing cakes in general.
- Set a reminder in your calendar for every 2 weeks so you do not forget to feed the cake!