A Time-Tested Recipe to Make the Perfect Christmas Cake (2024)

FAQs

How long before Christmas should you start making Christmas cake? ›

Some say you should make your Christmas cake 6 weeks before eating, but the advice given on Nigella.com is that 12 weeks before is the optimum time to get baking. Your Christmas cake should be fed every 4 to 6 weeks but in the meantime, after baking, it should be stored away in a secure, air tight container.

Our answer. Opinions on the "maturing" of Christmas cakes does vary and is partly an issue of personal taste, but for the rich fruit type of Christmas cakes we would suggest making them up to 3 months ahead of Christmas.

Fruit cakes usually turn darker as they are matured. So we suggest that you make the cake 6 weeks before you wish to ice it (so roughly the second week of November) and then store it and feed it with some extra alcohol.

If a recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of salt and you use salted butter you could end up adding quite a bit more via the butter — sometimes as much as doubling the amount called for. So unsalted butter is always a better pick when you are cooking so that you can add as much as salt as you want (or don't) in your recipe.

This is a question I get asked a lot and my answer is early November. Yes this seems early, but there are two key things that make a Christmas cake extra tasty and that is…

The mixture can easily survive overnight.

Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.

As long as you're confident it's fully cooked, I don't think you've anything to worry about, especially as you'll be adding liquid. The only danger of over-cooking at low temperatures would be drying out, and that will be remedied.

What alcohol should you use? Strong, flavourful spirits with a high ABV are ideal for feeding fruitcakes. You can use rum, brandy or whisky for spice, or if you like citrus flavours, try an orange liqueur. Cherry brandy and amaretto will also work well if you prefer these.

Why is the bottom of my Christmas cake soggy? ›

Soggy bottoms

This normally happens when the oven is not hot enough or the pastry is not baked for long enough. However, it can also be because too much water was added to the dough.

However, the proportion of butter to other ingredients is fairly low in rich fruit cakes, so it matters less here. We would therefore suggest using whichever butter you have in your fridge and if you use unsalted butter then you may like to add a pinch or two of salt to the cake batter when you make the cake.

If you're baking and swapping in salted butter, the excess water from salted butter may make more of an impact. This is because extra water can have an effect on how gluten reacts and forms within dough. Consider slightly lessening any additional water the recipe may call for.

Sticky cake and cupcake tops are from a reaction with sugar and water. Sugars are hygroscopic, meaning they attract water. Within baked goods, sugars help maintain a moist and tender crumb. Sugar on the exposed tops, however, will grab water from humid air, creating a wet or sticky top.

Ideally, make an iced cake on the day to keep it fresh. Refrigerated: Your cakes will last longer in the fridge, but for an event, you won't want to push it longer than about 3 days. Make sure you wrap them carefully and take them out for an hour to return to room temperature before you serve.

The reason why they are traditionally baked so early is so the fruit mixture can mature in the tin and be 'fed' with alcohol before it is enjoyed during the festive season. Therefore, the longer you are able to do this, the richer and more delicious it will be.

Once cut, Christmas cakes will store well if wrapped and kept in an airtight container. For longer storage of Christmas cakes wrap closely in kitchen foil and freeze. To serve an iced fruit cake that has been stored for a long time, unwrap it and remove the old icing and marzipan.