Ultimate Christmas Cake Recipe

A staple Christmas Day dessert as well as an English tradition that is made with mixed dried fruit, eggs, butter, mixed peel, plump cherries, ground almonds and a slosh of brandy, and is a fruity cake with a light texture, we have taken inspiration from Karen Burns-Booth’s rich and luxurious Christmas Cake recipe.

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Equipment Needed

•  Mixing Bowl
•  Baking Paper
•  Loose bottom 23cm cake tin or a 20.5cm square cake
•  Scissors
•  Wooden Spoon
•  Sieve
•  Whisk
•  25cm cake board
•  500cm ribbon
•  Snowflake cutter
•  Rolling pin

Ingredients

Mixed Fruit Soaked Overnight

•  225g of currants
•  225g of sultanas
•  225g of raisins
•  100g of glace cherries
•  100g of candied peel, cut
•  100ml brandy

Cake

•  350g of self-raising flour, white, sifted
•  2 tsp mixed spice
•  100g ground almonds
•  4 free range eggs, large
•  75ml brandy, mixed with 75ml whole milk
•  225g of unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
•  225g of light brown sugar

Icing

•  454g of ready to roll marzipan
•  1kg ready to roll icing
•  6 tsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved
•  1 egg white, beaten
•  edible icing stars, gold
•  edible glitter
•  icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Place the dried mixed fruit, peel and cherries in a bowl and add the brandy. Mix to coat all the fruit with the brandy, cover with a tea towel and leave to soak overnight.



2. To prepare the tin for baking, place the tin on a sheet of baking paper and draw around it; cut the circle (or square) out – this will be the paper liner for the bottom of the cake. Measure the circumference of the cake tin and cut out a long strip (or 2 strips) of paper – making sure the strips will sit well above the cake tin to protect the cake as it is baking.
3. Turn over the bottom 5cm of the paper and make even cuts all along the paper (see photo) this will make the strips sit in the cake tin easily and form a circle.



4. Grease the tin with softened butter and place the side strips around the cake tin – then place the circle on top of the cut strips to make a secure paper liner.



5. The next day when you are ready to make and bake the cake, preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2
6. Sieve the flour, mixed spice, and ground almonds together and beat the eggs with the brandy and milk mixture.



7. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and add the flour and egg mixture alternately, a little at a time, gently folding them in with a wooden spoon.



8. Add the brandied fruit and mix well before spooning the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Smooth the top with the back of a metal spoon and bake in the oven for 3 ½–4 hours



9. Allow to cool in the cake tin before lifting out and placing in a cake tin with a fitted lid. Make several holes with a skewer all over the cake and ‘feed’ the cake with brandy – pouring it down into the holes. Allow it to soak before decorating.



10. Spread the sieved apricot jam, or you can buy special apricot baking glaze, in a thin layer all over the cake.



11. Roll out the marzipan on a board dusted with icing sugar using a rolling pin and cover the cake, pushing it in to the sides. Trim the excess marzipan around the base. Allow to dry out for about 2–3 hours



12. Moisten the marzipan with a little warm water and then roll out the icing on a board dusted with icing sugar. Using a rolling pin, drape it over the marzipan, tuck it in around the cake and smooth it with a ruler, before trimming off any excess icing at the base of the cake – reserve these for the snowflakes.

    

13. Carefully lift the cake on to the cake board using a large spatula or fish slice. Tie the ribbon around the cake and finish with a bowl.



14. With the excess icing trimmings, stamp out eight snowflakes and attach to the top of the cake with a little beaten egg white, which acts as an edible glue.
15. Add seven edible gold stars, again using the beaten egg white, and then sprinkle the edible sparkling snow glitter, or a snowy flourish of icing sugar, all over the cake. Allow the icing to dry a little before storing in an airtight tin until ready to serve.

Follow these steps for the warm & boozy Christmas Cake to top off your Christmas Day. Share with us your Christmas Cake attempts via our socials @bunzllockhart

Want to be experimental this Christmas? Try out our Festive Cocktail recipes and let us know how yours turn out >