Xmas cake recipes

kethry

itsalldrivingmemad wrote: »

is it time to be making them already???

you can make em when you like. Traditional christmas cakes keep very well (the same recipe is often used to make a wedding cake, which is why the top tier can be "kept for the christening" as was traditional - it really does keep that long!) when they're brandied, as do proper christmas puddings (I've eaten a 2 year old christmas pud and it was gorgeous). those you can make now if you like - i'm making ours/mums/grans/bestfriends in the next month, mostly because mom and gran live a fair way south of me and i'd rather give them the cake/pud when mom next comes to visit, probably at the end of september, rather than them having to make a special visit for it before christmas.

otherwise non-traditional cakes like the chocolate one above can be made just a few days before christmas. Its up to you and what you like

HTH

keth
xx

Hapless_2

I always have to make 2, one for yule (22nd Dec-3rd Jan) and 1 for dd1 birthday (25th Dec) the yule one is usually fruit cake, the birthday cake is usually chocolate. (No she's not called Yula, Holly, Christine, Noelle, Carol, Natalie, or anything remotely seasonally related)

thriftlady_2

Last year I made Jane Grigson's orange and ginger cake (in her Fruit Book). It involved large quantities of Cointreau and crystallised ginger -it was lush. Edit -on the recommendation of a friend I covered it with chocolate. Melt the chocolate with a little cream so that it sets hard but doesn't shatter when cut. Really good.

I did one once where you divided the basic flour, sugar, egg and butter mixture into 3 bowls. Next you added various fruits to each bowl. I can't remember exactly what but it was something like crystallised pineapple and angelica in one bowl, raisins and apricots in another, and cherries and almonds in the third. You then put the mixtures in the tin one on top of the other so that they melded together as they cooked. When cooked the whole thing was doused liberally with alcohol. I think this recipe would be fun to experiment with.

recovering_spendaholic

I save up small cans from beans at this time of year and make little mini christmas cakes to give as gifts as TBH no-one I know ever eats a whole big cake - there is always a bit left in the tin about two months after Christmas. the little cakes are lovely and cook much more quickly too. I cover them in marzipan and icing and put an icing Christmas tree on top and then put them on a cheap pretty side plate and wrap in celophane and tie with ribbon.