This Last Minute Christmas Cake recipe is perfect if you’ve left it a bit late to make a more traditional cake. It’s full of fruit, festive flavours and it’s super moist – ready to eat almost as soon as it’s out of the oven.
Did you run out of time to make a traditional Birtish Christmas cake, one that you need to feed attentively with alcohol for weeks? Don’t worry, this recipe will provide you with a wonderfully rich, fruity and spicy cake that’ll you’ll really enjoy.
Large celebration style fruit cakes look complicated to make but they’re really not. This recipe is definitely not difficult but it does take a little time in the oven. Perhaps that will free you up to do something else for a while.
Gather up your ingredients and let’s bake.
Things to know about this recipe
The dried fruit
The recipe below details my favourite mix of fruit but you can mix together any of your favourite fruits as long as it makes 700g of dried fruit in total. This fruit will then be boiled with the alcohol, which again can be any type you prefer, or orange juice. This gives the fruit a super quick soak and is what makes the finished cake so deliciously moist.
Boiling the dried fruit
Add the dried fruit to a saucepan along with the alcohol (or orange juice), fruit juice and fruit zest and turn on the heat. You want to bring it to the boil and stir it a few times – it should take one or two minutes. The idea is that the fruit absorbs the liquid.
After a couple of minutes, there should be very little liquid still visible. If there is cook it for a little while more. Allow it to cool for a few minutes whilst you get on with the rest of the cake.
Lining the cake tin for your Last minute Christmas Cake
As Christmas cakes are so full of fruit it means that there are a lot of sugars that can catch and scorch whilst it’s cooking. What you need to do to prevent this from happening is to double line your baking tin. So, two layers for the bottom of the tin and one around the inside. Then put a layer of baking parchment around the outside of the tin which you will need to tie on. String or twine will do the job perfectly.
Cut a lid for the top of the cake too.
Once the cake mixture is safely in the tin, top if with the baking parchment lid and pop it in the oven. Set the oven timer so that you know when to check for ‘doneness’.
Tips for Success
- wrap the cake tin with a double layer of baking parchment to prevent any scorching.
- ensure that the oven is at the correct temperature
- weigh out ingredients accurately. This cake contains a lot of good things so it helps me to tick them off on a printed recipe list as you go.
- use a roomy mixing bowl so that you’ve space in that bowl to give it a really good stir.
- set your oven time so that you know when to start checking if the cake is done.
- check the cake after 2 1/2 hours to ensure that the top isn’t browning too much if it is add a further layer of parchment to the top to protect it.
- check that the cake is done by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean then the cake is done, if it doesn’t then it will need a few more minutes when you can check it again.
Icing on the Cake
The recipe listed below is simple, quick and straightforward you can do this even if you’ve never iced a cake in your life before.
Every christmas cake needs a topping to finish it off. As this is a last minute Christmas cake I think that it’s pretty perfect to top if off with marzipan and royal icing.
- Cover the cake in marzipan – The purpose of this is to prevent moisture of the cake leaking out and staining the icing. It can also give you a flat suface if you want to get fancy with the icing part.
- ‘Rough Icing‘ – make it like a snow scene… rough with charming little peaks and troughs. No hours spent smoothing it down with a spirit level. This is fast and adorable. Swirl the icing with a fork or a spoon to create peaks and dips.
- Decorate – add any purchased deocrations or make a few holly leaves out of icing paste as I have. Leave it as it is and finish with a ribbon, stand back and admire it.
This is really quite quick to do, which is what you need when you’re short on time. This makes an utterly charming and delicious cake.
Storing the Christmas Cake
This Christmas Cake should store happily in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. Wrap it well in clingfilm or other suitable food wrap to keep it beautifully moist.
If you like this then you may like our other Christmas recipes…
- mince pies
- mincemeat
- sweet shortcrust pastry
- Fudgy Chocolate Orange Brownies
- Succulent Chocolate and Hazelnut Bliss Balls
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce with orange
- Easy and Useful Christmas Recipes Collection
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Last Minute Christmas Cake recipe
Equipment
- saucepan, 23cm loose bottomed cake tin, bowl, spoons, palette knife and measuring equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup raisins
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 2/3 cup apricots
- 3/4 cup sultanas
- 3/4 cup currants
- 2/3 cup dates
- 150 ml brandy replace with orange juice if preferred
- 4 eggs – large
- 2/3 cup butter substitute non-dairy margarine if preferred
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2/3 cup glace cherries
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice pumpkin spice is very similar to this spice mix
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 orange – zest and juice
- 1 lemon – zest and juice
Decorating your Christmas cake
- 1 lb marzipan
- 5 cups icing sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons glycerine optional
- 3 egg whites or powdered egg white equivalent to 3 egg whites
- 2 tablespoons apricot jam (warmed) shredless marmalade will also work
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 300F/150C/130C Fan and line a deep 20cm cake tine with baking parchment. Line it with a double layer. Line the inside of the cake tin with two layers for the base and one layer around the inside of the tin. Tie a further layer around the outside of the tin. It needs to be approximately 5cm or 2 inches taller than the tin itself. You also need to cut one piece of parchment to act as a cover for the top.
- Add the fruit to a saucepan along with the brandy (orange juice if you prefer), the zest and juice of a lemon and orange and bring it to the boil on medium heat. Stir the fruit for a couple of minutes and then turn off the heat and allow it to cool down. Most of the liquid should have been absorbed.
- Add the butter and sugar to a roomy mixing bowl and cream them together until nice and fluffy.
- Add the baking powder to the flour and combine. Break the eggs into another bowl and beat them briefly.
- Begin mixing the eggs into the creamed butter and sugar and add a little flour at the same time. It helps prevent the mixture from curdling. (It looks as if the mixture has split. If it does – don't worry it will be make a wonderful cake.) Keep doing this until all of the egg and the flour have been incorporated.
- Mix the spices into the fruit mixture and add all of this to the flour and egg mix along with the almonds. Combine throughly.
- Carefully spoon the cake mixture into the cake tin and use the spoon/spatula to spread the mixture across the baking tin. Once all of the mixture is in the tin smooth it down a little and add the piece of baking parchment that you cut for the top earlier, to the top.
- Bake in the oven for 2 1/2 hours and check that the top isn't browning too much. If it is, add another layer of parchment to protect it. Bake for a further 30 minutes and test with a skewer to see if the cake is done.
- Once baked, leave the cake to cool for about half an hour and then remove it from the tin to allow it to completely cool down.
Cover the cake with marzipan
- Spread some warmed apricot jam or shredless marmalade on the top and sides of the cake.
- Roll out enough marzipan to make a top. Use the bottom of cake tin as a template if that helps. Roll out the marzipan as thick or thin as you like it.
- Add the top to the cake. The jam/marmalade acts a glue to keep it there.
- Roll out long strips to cover the sides of the cake. Press around the cake with your fingers and trim off any excess with a knife.
Making the Royal Icing
- If you are using egg whites then you need to whisk them, adding the lemon juice, the glycerine and the sieved icing sugar.1 lemon – zest and juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons glycerine, 3 egg whites, 5 cups icing sugar
- If you're using egg white replacements, make them up according to the packet instructions. You need the equivalent of 3 egg whites for this amount of icing sugar.
- Gradually add the lemon juice, glycerine and sieved icing sugar to the egg white replacers.
- Whisk until the icing is thick and glossy.
- If it is so thick that you are struggling to mix all of the icing sugar into the eggs whites, add a little more lemon juice or a scant teaspoon of water and try again. It needs to be thick but not so thick that it's not holding on to all the icing sugar.
- Using a palette knife, roughly spread the icing over the cake top and spread it down the sides. Once you are happy that the whole cake is covered, take a teaspoon or a fork and create little peaks and troughs in the icing, creating a snow scene effect.
- Add any other decorations, add a festive ribbon around the sides or leave as it is. Leave somewhere safe for the icing to firm up. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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