Christmas Cakes Recipe Made Easy
These Easy Christmas Cakes do not have to be baked as a full cake. Individual cupcakes are wrapped in separate parcels tied with festive red ribbons and can be used as decorations until being eaten. Picture © Janek Szymanowski
This traditional Christmas cakes fruit mix is baked in separate muffin or cupcake molds. These can then be served up during Christmas time, and the wonderful thing is that they are quick and easy to make! This is a simple recipe with a delicious result. They can also be used as a decorative item on the Christmas side table until serving time. It might not be a bad idea to make a second batch as these are so delicious they will be eaten fast.
Ingredients:
10 oz (250g) fruit cake mix
2 oz (50g) mixed citrus peel
2 oz (50g) halved red glace cherries
2 oz (50g) flaked almonds
4 oz (100g) butter
¼ pint (125ml) orange juice
1 tsp (5ml) brandy essence
4 oz (100g) brown sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1 extra large egg
¼ cup sherry(optional)
¼ cup milk
4 oz (100g) cake flour
Method:
1. Preheat Oven
Preheat the oven to 350º F (180º C)
2. Combine Cake Mix
In a suitable sized pot, combine the fruit cake mix, citrus peel, cherries, almonds, butter, orange juice, brandy essence, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice.
3. Mix
Mix together well and bring to the boil.
4. Simmer 5 mins
Reduce heat and allow to simmer for approximately 5 minutes, stirring continuously.
5. Remove and Cool
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
6. Mix Egg & Flour
Beat the egg with the sherry (optional) and milk and then fold the flour into the egg mixture.
7. Add Fruit
Add the fruit mixture and mix well to combine.
8. Spoon & Bake
Spoon into the cupcake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes testing with a skewer to make sure the cake is cooked.
9. Decorate
Decorate with halved cherries.
10. Wrap Up
Wrap into individual cellophane sheets and neatly tie up with red ribbon.
Origins of Christmas Cakes
Christmas cakes is an English tradition that began as plum porridge. A traditional English Christmas cake is made with moist Zante currants, sultanas (golden raisins) and raisins which have been soaked in rum. The cake may be covered in icing and decorated, often with models of houses, fir trees or Father Christmas.
A Scottish specialty is the traditional Christmas cake, the “Whisky Dundee”. As the name implies, the cake originated in Dundee, and is made with Scotch whisky. It is a light and crumbly cake, and light on fruit and candied peel—only currants, raisins, sultanas and cherries. There is also the Scottish black bun, of a similar recipe using whisky and often caraway seeds, eaten on Hogmanay.
Aside from candied cherries, some Christmas cake recipes call for angelica for green color.
Coins were also occasionally added to Christmas cakes as well as Christmas puddings as good luck touch pieces. The usual choices were silver 3d piece, or sixpences, sometimes wrapped in greaseproof paper packages.
In Yorkshire, Christmas cake, as with other types of fruit cake, can be eaten with cheese, such as Wensleydale.
A cake that may also be served at Christmas time in the United Kingdom, in addition to the traditional Christmas cake, is the cake known as a “Yule Log, or chocolate log”. This is a Swiss roll that is coated in chocolate, resembling a log.
The Christmas cake largely displaced the previously popular Twelfth-night cake during the Victorian era.
11 Responses
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sarah w
Please give me oven temps and timings too. I have a recipe, but since the recipe didn’t provide those details, it ended up being burnt on the outside, but fabulous on the inside. I am looking for a black or dark brown colored fruitcake
JOHN KAISER PHD
Hey eVeryonE… do yOU haVe any SuggeStionS of giving Some simpLE and Easy ChriStmas ReCipes… kindly suggest as much as you can.. .thank you.. merry xmas in advance..
RichT
Every year my mom asks me to think of a christmas dessert but so far I got nothing.
Got any ideas
Thanx for the help 🙂
Janek
Mary Berry is one of the best and her recipes are classic, it is best to do her cakes well before time but do not worry if you do them a week before they will still be delicious.
llb443
My Mary Berry recipe book contains a recipe for a Victorian Christmas Cake, inside she states “unlike conventional Christmas cakes, this mixture produces a light, succulent plus moist cake”. She says that it is a good idea to bake her classic Christmas cake few weeks even months before time, yet she doesn’t state anything regarding whenever to create the Victorian 1. Should it be baked a couple of months ahead of time as well, what about plus minus a week or because before do you think this is possible?
stingerms
I usedto have a special homemade “Mexican Wedding Cake” cookies recipe, they were delicious. I wish To try re-creating them. There are many different dishes online however, could somebody assist me by posting a nice recipe with possibly a few of your tips? Thanks!
Janek
take them out the oven, let them cool and then decorate. You can get frosting in tubes from most food stores.
sethburger
My friend and I will be decorating Christmas cookies shortly. Can anybody provide me a superior simple cookie dough recipe? Additionally, do we decorate the cookies before they go inside the oven or when they come out? And is there pre-made frosting inside small squeeze tubes anywhere where you don’t have to take the time to create all the frosting separatley? Thanks very much!
Janek
One or two teaspoons should give it a good flavor.
SteveO
I love your a Christmas Fruit Cake story, is there any alternative to the alcohol?
I wouldn’t mind utilizing rum flavouring considering it’s cheaper than alcohol, yet how much of it do I put in?
Thanks!