Christmas Cake/Mince Pies

Robm1955

Can anyone recommend a good recipe for a Christmas cake and mince pies? I know there will be plenty out there, but tried and tested recommendations usually turn out best. I did have a recipe for a Christmas cake, to which alcohol was poured into it for a couple of weeks, and brandy mince pies. Now I can't find either.

thefamousexcuse

Nigella lawson has really good recipes for both christmas cake ans mince pies, can post the recipes if you want, but you would need to tell me how big of a christmas cake you want to make.

Delia smith is always a good place to look when looking for christmas recipes. Not too sure if she does mince pies but her christmas cake is amazing!

HTH
xx

Robm1955

I'm not planning on too big a cake. There's only three of us in our family who would eat it. Nigellas recipe would be great. Thanks for that.

Kandipandi

We always bake the be-ro christmas cake (for the last 25 years or so) - the recipe can be found here:

http://www.be-ro.com/f_insp.htm

They also have mince pies, yule logs etc.

SeaBee

Last year I used a pastry recipe from the old style board to make my mince pies. They were so good my OH proposed!!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=316377

La-Cara

I've been using the following recipe for years, it's adapted from one of my mums old cookbooks from the 70s!

Ingredients:
300g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 dessertspoon mixed spice
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
100g ground almonds
400g currants
400g raisins
400g sultanas
200g glace cherries (chopped)
100g blanched almonds (chopped)
200g mixed peel
25g angelica
1 lemon
300g butter
250g soft dark brown sugar
8 large eggs
Brandy/sherry
Marzipan
Royal Icing

Line two 8" round cake tins (or one 10") with a double layer of greaseproof paper brushed with melted butter. Make sure the paper sticks well out of the top of the tin, as this helps to stop the cakes burning! If you use silicone moulds, obviously you don't need to line them, but put some paper over the top to top it burning (I didn't think to do this, so ended up with a slightly high baked cake! )

Weigh out the fruit, put in a bowl and pour in a good slosh of brandy/sherry, and leave it to plump up for a few hours at least (I usually leave it overnight, but this year I left it for about 2 weeks!). Sift the dry ingredients (flour, spices, ground almonds) into a bowl. Mix in the fruit and the blanched almonds, and stir until the flour mix is coating all the fruit. In another bowl, cream the sugar, butter and grated lemon rind until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir into the flour and fruit mix. Add the juice of the lemon. The mixture should be moist, and you can add another egg if needed. Spoon the mixture into the cake tins and bake in the middle shelf or lower at 150C (gas mark 2) for 1 1/2 hours. Then turn the oven down to 120 (gas mark 1/2), cover the top with paper to prevent burning, and bake for another 3-3 1/2 hours. The cake should shrink a little at the sides when it is done, but check it with a skewer. Take the cakes out of the oven, and leave them to cool in their tins for a while, before placing them on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, wrap in tinfoil (or greaseproof paper and tinfoil) and put it in a sealed box (a roses tin is fine). Check it every few weeks to see if it needs any moisture added, if it does, skewer it then pour brandy/sherry all over.

I usually marzipan and ice them a few days before Christmas, and just use however much the packet says!

Obviously if you don't like something you can substitute it for something else e.g. swap currants for sultanas. And everyone's oven will be different, so try to keep an eye on it while it's in.

And for mince pies, I use Rachel Allen's recipe found here http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/610082 and duerrs 1881 mincemeat, that I buy in bulk when the supermarkets sell it off for 25p in January! It's half price in Sainsburys at 99p just now though.

Merry Christmas! :xmassmile

Robm1955

Kandipandi wrote: »

We always bake the be-ro christmas cake (for the last 25 years or so) - the recipe can be found here:

http://www.be-ro.com/f_insp.htm

They also have mince pies, yule logs etc.

Thanks for that Kandi. Some other useful recipes there too. Thanks to all of you. I'll take a look at all your suggestions. Thanks again.

kaz2004

Hi,

I always make Delia's fruit cake for Christmas. I am an average cook and it never fails. the family get them for gifts too. She has a new Christmas book out (mainly the old one revamped with a few recipes) Her mince pie recipe is great too. Delia reigns at Christmas!

HTH

nannyboo1

thefamousexcuse wrote: »

Delia smith is always a good place to look when looking for christmas recipes. Not too sure if she does mince pies but her christmas cake is amazing!HTHxx

Was watching Delia last night on Paul o Grady show and he was raving about her Christmas cake recipe so am thinking of having a go myself. Sounds yummy

nannyboo1

Robm1955 wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good recipe for a Christmas cake and mince pies? I know there will be plenty out there, but tried and tested recommendations usually turn out best. I did have a recipe for a Christmas cake, to which alcohol was poured into it for a couple of weeks, and brandy mince pies. Now I can't find either.

I know you will know this but don't forget whatever recipe you use add alcohol to it. I bake mine at half term in October and [STRIKE]lace it [/STRIKE] add 2 tbsp of alcohol each week up unitl I ice it. I hate fruit cake as find it too dry but this is lovely and [STRIKE]alcoholic[/STRIKE] moist.

nannyboo1

Also you add alcohol to the mincemeat before you make your mince pies. You would never believe that I don't drink from my last two posts apart from the odd glass of Baileys at Christmas lol