Quidsys christmas cake

teamshepherd

Oh my that looks great! I will be trying my hand at my first Christmas cake this year. Mind I am really nervous as I'm not too good at baking .
- Can various dried fruits be substituted for others (ofc. making sure the measurements are still the same)?
- Trying to keep on tiny budget with food so do I need to spend money on pricey stuff or can I use the supermarkets own brands for fruit? Like Sainsburys Basics or such?
- Also the oven we have here is gas, so open flame, which is weird to me. Living in the US none of the ovens I came across actually had flames inside them! That couple with an accident a couple of years ago where I thought I was stuck in a burning building makes me question things... such as putting boozy (although I admit I love booze in my sweets) things and newspaper into an oven with open flames. In my mind those are both flammable and well... I apologise for my stupidity .

quidsy

I use the cheapest fruit, own brand or lidl and pretty sure any dried fruit would work.

Dont know about the gas oven tbh but pretty sure it doesn't cause issues with the paper etc as it cooks on low heat for 4hrs. I'd recommend just keeping a close eye on it whilst it bakes. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

teamshepherd

Will do! And hopefully I don't forget to take pictures so you lovelies can be witness to my masterpiece :P

mum2one

teamshepherd wrote: »

Oh my that looks great! I will be trying my hand at my first Christmas cake this year. Mind I am really nervous as I'm not too good at baking .
- Can various dried fruits be substituted for others (ofc. making sure the measurements are still the same)?
- Trying to keep on tiny budget with food so do I need to spend money on pricey stuff or can I use the supermarkets own brands for fruit? Like Sainsburys Basics or such?
- Also the oven we have here is gas, so open flame, which is weird to me. Living in the US none of the ovens I came across actually had flames inside them! That couple with an accident a couple of years ago where I thought I was stuck in a burning building makes me question things... such as putting boozy (although I admit I love booze in my sweets) things and newspaper into an oven with open flames. In my mind those are both flammable and well... I apologise for my stupidity .

I use the value fruits, I know this may sound mad but buy them sooner rather than later, just last yr I was late making xmas cakes, didnt get the fruit till end of oct and was left with the expensive stuff....... so this yr early in and got morrisons value fruit, any value fruit is ok.

I swop the fruit around, and also the almonds as I can't stand almonds I put in desicatted coconut.

The booze would be soaked into the fruit so that should be ok. xx

quidsy

I totes forgot to post after bake photo. The top isn't burnt just looks very dark but is soft and the fruit is well packed. I am thrilled with ut, just have to stop picking when feeding.

This is half of the large one. I decided to split it so I can gift one half and save my waist line a bit.

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teamshepherd

Thanks mom2one, I already noticed that about two weeks ago I bought a 500g Sainsburys brand mixed dry fruit for either 68 or 86p and now its a pound. I am going out today anyway so I will grab some.
Quidsy that looks delicious as is *chops a bit away when ur not looking* :P

mum2one

Last yr we got the mixed peel and cherries from Lidl, it was half the price of the the other supermarkets.

Mincemeat - for the last 2 years we have used Lidl mincemeat a friend of mine only likes Robertsons and won't eat anything else - but absolutely scoffed these down!! (I usually soak mine for a couple of days in a bowl with sherry and brandy!)

If anyone is like me and cheats with icing and marzipan, I was in my local home bargains and they had ready to roll icing and marizapan, - i think I paid about £2.70 for one of each.

(shortcut) Poundworld - they do the Aunt bessies pastry mix (500g bag), just add water - there on 3 for £2 (can mix it with crumble mix) - sounds daft its as cheap to buy this than make home made pastry. xx

teamshepherd

I actually quite liked Aldi products in the USA, havent really tried them out here yet.

MrsE_2

Quidsey - which of your recipes makes a more golden rather than black fruit cake?
I prefer a more golden fruit cake or maybe even a fruity ginger cake.

mrs-moneypenny

inspired by this thread im going to put cake ingredients on my list this week and get the fruit soaking at the weekend.