Recipe for Christmas Cake

chappers

for the last couple of years we have followed delias recipe with a slight adaptation soak the fruit in twice as much brandy as her recipe and then mince then after soaking blitz the fruit in a food processor(my grans recommendation).
Blitzing the fruit does make the cake seem more luxurious and seem to make it more moist, Also those that are not too keen on fruit cake seem to like it.

My gran who is Jamaican goes a step further and gives her cake a liberal dosing of rum until it is almost wet and then wraps the cake up well in clingfilm and puts it away for a year unwrapping it in the middle of the year and dosing it again if necessary. So the cake she makes this year will be next years christmas cake.It is delicious but quite potent.

SUESMITH_2

dont know how well that would work as the alcohol helps preserve it, could you make the last minute cake that i think is in pru leiths christmas book

blonde_one

Delias recipe is good. I've used a mixture of a 'good housekeeping 1964' book from mum and delia's to make ours this year - my first time making it!

Do make sure your oven temperatures are correct, my cake stayed in for 4.5hrs last week and only looked warm not cooked! I ended up staying up til 1am to get the cake out (went in at 3pm on gas 1 then from 8pm on gas 3). I'm keeping fingers crossed it'll be ok!

skypie123_2

I want to make my own Christmas cake this year and I know it is best made in advance but how far in advance should I make it?
For those of you that make your own when do you make yours and any tips for a first timer please?

Penelope_Penguin

Well, seeing as you said please I start buying ingredients for my C-word baking once the children go back in September. My cake is usually made in October half term

There's a whole thread of C-word cake recipes in this thread, to which I'll add this later.

Now get outside and enjoy the sunshine - it's summer :j

esmf73

HI there,
I make mine sometime before half term in October - in fact I start cooking for Christmas then, following the 1970s copy of Home & Freezer digest christmas in the freezer, or something like that!!

However, unless you're always baking the ingredients and quantities for a christmas cake can be expensive, so you could always start buying them now. Or you could make and then put in the freezer. Don't some people say you should make the cake on the hottest day of the year?? Not sure, but I know mine usually turn out OK. I use a recipe from my school cookery lessons in 1984. Will try to remember to post after the essential maintenance time! x

skypie123_2

Thank you ladies! I did reply but the forum had shut by the time I finished and it didn't post my reply
I will have a look at the C-word forum
Can I ask would it harm the cake now if I made it? I had read somewhere that Christmas cake gets better the longer it 'sits'.

edsks

I make mine in the October half-term. I follow the Delia Smith Creole Christmas Cake recipe - or as she calls it "more-fruit-than cake-and-more-booze-than-fruit-cake. Then I "feed" it every fortnight with a little bit more booze. I have not been disappointed yet (from what I can remember!).

zippybungle

I'm going to make mine in October too. I made my first ever C-Cake last year and it was lovely (if I do say so myself! ). I used the Delia Smith C-Cake recipe, which I found on-line.

I'm hoping to make 2 or 3 C-Cakes this year to give as gifts.

EDIT: this is the link to the Delia recipe:

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/the-classic-christmas-cake.html
Zippy x

skypie123_2

Thank you Zippy. How do you store it? Do you freeze it?