am I too late to make a christmas cake?

furrypig

Hi all

I have never made one before and thought I might try this year, have I left enough time though?? I made my christmas puds at the beginning of November. I don't want to waste all the ingredients and my time if it won't taste very nice and i'll just go out and buy one instead.

thought about making this one
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2988/hot-toddy-fruitcake.jsp
or
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1160/simmerandstir-christmas-cake.jsp

what do you think??

Thanks for your help

kethry

absolutely not. I made two last week, one for mom for her choir christmas party, one for gran for a village ladies get together. The choir one was non-alcoholic, and we marzipanned it and royal-iced it yesterday. The village ladies get-together is being brandied and will be marzipanned/iced much closer to christmas.

I used delia's classic christmas cake recipe. its a nice one.

HTH

keth
xx

Dusty_Moth

Goodness no. I made mine 3 days before christmas last year. To be fair, it's not an alcoholic one that I use but a really old recipe from a Bero cookbook I inherited from my nana, but at the end of the day a christmas cake is just a really rich fruitcake, just depends if you want to feed it alcohol or not for weeks!

furrypig

Thanks Kethry

I nearly pm'd you as I remembered some of your other helpful posts re foodie questions! Might try Delia instead as I have always used her pudding recipe!

Dragonlily_2

No you are not to late to make your cake, a good way to mature a fruit cake is to pop it in the freezer then defrost it 24 hours before you want to decorate it, this has been tried and tested and it really does work, I read this tip on a cake decorating forum.

Dusty_Moth

Delia's Simnel cake is one of the most fantastic gorgeous recipes I have ever, ever baked. I'm looking forward to easter for an excuse to make it... though perhaps I will make one for mothers day too!!

furrypig

Just to say i made the hot toddy cake (the first one in my link) and it was really easy! If it tastes as good as it looks and smells then i am onto a winner!
Now how and when do I do the marzipan and icing!???

Surfbabe

Mine is just cooking as we speak - so no - its not too late.!!!

Have fun

ruby6kids

i want a totally alcohol free one - any recipes please?

kethry

furrypig wrote: »

Now how and when do I do the marzipan and icing!???

up to you. But if you're brandying the cake then you can't brandy it any more once you've marzipanned it. So leave the marzipanning as late as possible. I would give it a day or two between marzipanning and icing, give the marzipan a chance to dry out a bit. A suggestion, if i may? go for ready-rolled marzipan (aldi's own is dayglo in colour (i kid you not), and somewhat bitter, tescos own is much milder in yellow colour, but sweeter) and fondant, ready to roll icing. I did 2 cakes last weekend, one fondant, one rough royal iced and i have to say i found the fondant one much much easier. Just sprinkle icing sugar (like you would flour if you were rolling out pastry) on your surface and rolling pin and away you go. Marzipan is easier, as you can wodge bits in/cut bits off to fit and it doesn't matter if it all looks terrible underneath, as long as its smooth! fondant icing, to decorate, you can cut out shapes and paint water on the underside to stick it to the fondant icing once the cake is covered. Very easy. I did mine with a holly leaf cutter. You can see my efforts here, if you like. Or you can do delia's hollyleaf decorated cake.

good luck!

keth
xx

kethry

ruby6kids wrote: »

i want a totally alcohol free one - any recipes please?

yes. the rough royal iced christmas cake that there is a link to in the previous entry is a non-alcoholic one.. i used delia's Classic Christmas Cake recipe but adapted it - instead of brandying the fruits before cooking, i used cold earl grey tea, and before marzipanning, fed it with orange juice. I'm sure other people will have other suggestions!

HTH

keth
xx