Christmas Muffins often should be began the day earlier than, with in a single day soaking of dried fruit. However not mine! This simple Christmas Cake is a conventional fruit cake with a wealthy, velvety texture that’s so full flavoured and moist it may be eaten plain. However nobody turns away a slosh of custard!
Terrific made on the day, retains for ages, and it’s simply as scrumptious made with or with out alcohol. Go wild with the decorations – or preserve it easy!
Christmas Cake
I’m fussy about Christmas Cake as a result of (talking frankly) there are too many not-so-great-ones on the market. Right here’s how I like / don’t like my Christmas Cake:
- With or with out alcohol – cake must be simply pretty much as good with or with out booze (I largely make it with out – so it may be broadly shared!);
- Not an excessive amount of peel or citrus flavour – I’m simply not a fan of biting into big chunks of orange rind. I similar to a refined trace of citrus flavour;
- Tender and velvety is how I like the feel to be whenever you slice by way of it – it’s how “good fruit truffles” must be. Versus “crumbly” with a muffin-like texture. I make muffins all 12 months spherical, I don’t need my Christmas Cake like that!
- Moist and fudgy – however nonetheless distinctly cake like, now brownie-like. Some truffles I attempted out this 12 months have been far too dry.
- Fairly dense however NOT brick like! Some Christmas Cake recipes are WAY too dense, and you’re feeling such as you’re slicing right into a block of agency fudge. No thanks!
- Adorning is elective!! The cake must be tasty sufficient and moist sufficient to eat plain, with none frosting / fondant or custard.
So if that sounds good to you, then I believe you’re actually going to like this Christmas Cake!
This fruit cake makes use of a extremely efficient FAST fruit soaking technique by heating within the microwave then soaking for simply 1 hour. Works 100% completely!
What goes in Christmas Cake
You want a LOT of dried fruit and little or no cake batter substances!!
1. Soaked Dried Fruit
Right here’s what you want for the Soaked Dried Fruit. The fruit is soaked in both apple juice OR a mix of apple juice and brandy (for many who like boozy Christmas Cake).
- Use any dried fruit you need – so long as it weighs 855g / 30 oz in whole. You may even use a retailer purchased mixture of pre chopped dried fruit – however simply know that chopping your individual will yield a extra moist cake (pre chopped will not be as moist), however having stated that, this cake is ULTRA moist so has the flex to make use of pre chopped!
- Combined peel is a retailer purchased mixture of dried, crystallised (ie sugared) lemon and orange peel. Normally it comes pre chopped – I like to cut it a bit finer. I like much less citrus peel than some recipes as a result of I’m too scarred by all these instances I bit into an enormous piece of orange peel. Simply to not my style! Don’t use FRESH orange and lemon peel, it is going to be too sturdy and too bitter. I have no idea how a lot contemporary peel to substitute this for.
- Juice and/or booze – for a conventional boozy Christmas Cake, simply swap 1/3 of the apple juice with brandy. May sub apple juice with orange juice in order for you a stronger��citrus flavour.
2. Christmas Cake Batter
And right here’s what you want for the cake batter half. The cake has little or no baking powder as a result of it’s fairly a dense cake. However it’s nonetheless acquired a definite “cake” texture – in contrast to some Christmas Muffins which are so dense, you’d swear you have been consuming a block of fudge!
- Darkish brown sugar – makes the cake a wealthy darkish brown color. Can sub with regular brown sugar – will make cake lighter (additionally seems good as fruit stands out!)
- Molasses / golden syrup – provides to the richness of flavour and color of cake. Both is okay – I interchange 12 months on 12 months;
- Walnuts – sub with any nuts of selection, or depart it out utterly;
- Oil AND butter – oil is what offers this cake an outstanding moistness. Butter is for flavour!
The best way to make Christmas Cake
And right here’s how the making half goes down.
The important thing step that makes this a lot sooner to make than different fruit truffles is the fruit soaking step. Most recipes name for dried fruit to be soaked in a single day.
I take a speedy method: simply microwave the dried fruit with juice and/or brandy, then stand for 1 hour to absorb the liquid. A lot sooner – and simply as efficient!
Aside from that, there’s nothing uncommon about how this fruit cake is made.
As a result of it’s a dense cake, it must be baked lengthy and sluggish with a view to prepare dinner it throughout with out drying out the sides and floor (with out fussing with water baths). 3 hours quarter-hour, to be precise!
Christmas Cake Ornament concepts
A plain Christmas Cake does appear like an enormous, darkish brown block so it’s good to brighten it! Listed here are some concepts – however bear in mind, it’s purely ornamental. This fruit cake is full flavoured and really moist so in contrast to different truffles, you don’t want a frosting to make it extremely delish to eat!
- Easy – simply mud with icing sugar, or pile on cherries or different fruit and mud with icing sugar;
- Christmas TREE decorations – sure, actually. Inedible decorations is FINE!!
- Drippy white glaze – use the recipe on this Lemon Cake with Drippy Glaze however skip the lemon within the glaze. Flip cake the other way up for a superbly stage floor;
- Conventional white fondant (pictured above) – I do know some folks actually don’t like fondant. Too many unhealthy marriage ceremony cake experiences!! However these days, retailer purchased fondant is definitely a lot nicer than it was previously. It simply tastes like a softish sheet of plain candy frosting. See under the recipe card for a step-by-step visible of easy methods to apply the white fondant in your Christmas Cake.
The cake within the images is the 2nd time in my life I’ve used fondant. So if I can do it, you are able to do it too!
The best way to serve Christmas Cake
This Christmas Fruit Cake is wealthy and moist, with a ton of flavour from the fruit so it’s completely delish eaten plain. No frosting, no fondant – nothing wanted – and it’s actually how I choose away on the leftovers for weeks and weeks!
However should you actually wish to make it particular, serve it with custard. Home made custard, should you can. However should you go for retailer purchased, do my little pimping up trick – simply stir in some vanilla bean paste. The little black specks offers it slightly “additional particular” look and it does wonders to clean up the flavour too!
And lastly, you’ll be very completely happy to know this retains for weeks and weeks! 3 months within the fridge, a 12 months within the freezer.
Will yours final that lengthy??! – Nagi x
PS How did I get all the best way right down to right here with out telling you the place all my Christmas recipes dwell?? Proper right here -> Christmas Recipes
Watch easy methods to make it
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Christmas Cake – EASY moist fruit cake
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook dinner: 3 hrs 15 minutes
Fruit soaking: 1 hr
Complete: 4 hrs 45 minutes
Dessert
Australia, British, Western
Servings20 – 25 folks
Faucet or hover to scale
Recipe video above. It is a speedy Christmas Cake that requires no in a single day fruit soaking. It is a fruit cake that is extremely simple to make, with a wealthy, velvety texture that is full flavoured and so moist it may be eaten plain! (However nobody turns away a slosh of custard!) Simply pretty much as good made on the day – or weeks later.
Components
Quick soaked fruit (Observe 1):
White Christmas Cake ornament, as pictured (elective)
Different Adorning Choices (elective)
Directions
Quick Soaked Fruit:
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Place dried fruit and juice/brandy in a big microwavable container. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes on excessive or till scorching.
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Stir to coat all fruit in liquid. Cowl then put aside for 1 hour (to plump up/soak and funky).
Cake:
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Preheat oven to 160°C / 320°F (140°C fan). Grease and line a 21 – 22 cm / 8 – 9″ spherical cake pan with baking paper (parchment paper) (7 cm / 2.75″ tall).
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Utilizing an electrical beater, beat butter and sugar till easy and creamy (about 1 minute on velocity 5).
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Add oil and molasses, beat till mixed.
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Add salt, spices and baking powder – beat till integrated.
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Add eggs, one by one, beating till simply integrated
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Stir within the flour.
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When largely integrated, stir within the fruit combine (together with all the additional liquid in bowl) and walnuts (if utilizing).
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Pour into cake pan, cowl with foil and bake for 3 hours quarter-hour, eradicating foil the final 45 minutes. Skewer inserted into center ought to come out clear with no batter on it.
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Take away from oven and funky for 20 minutes earlier than transferring to cooling rack. Cool utterly earlier than serving.
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Cake is moist and so full flavoured, it may be eaten plain. However see under for adorning and serving concepts (historically served with pouring custard).
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Chopping: Both lower into skinny wedges, or lower cake into skinny strips (2cm / 0.75″ or so), then lower these strips into serving measurement items.
Christmas Cake Adorning choices:
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Conventional White Christmas Cake (pictured in submit) – Marzipan and fondant, see Adorning Observe.
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Easy – pile high with contemporary cherries or different fruit, mud with icing sugar (powdered sugar). Wrap a ribbon across the cake for additional contact!
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Drippy white glaze – use the glaze on this Lemon Cake recipe, however omit the lemon juice (ie make a plain candy white glaze). Flip cake the other way up for flat floor then glaze per that recipe.
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Serving – serve with custard for a conventional expertise! Both selfmade custard or retailer purchased pouring custard (jazz it up by mixing in vanilla seed paste!).
Recipe Notes:
Combined peel is a retailer purchased mixture of diced, dried, crystallised (ie candy) orange and lemon peel. Generally it’s already chopped, generally not. Chop it to measurement per recipe. It’s not contemporary peel. Recent peel will probably be a lot stronger and extra bitter – unsure how a lot to make use of.
Pre chopped blended dried fruit – retailer purchased mixture of pre chopped dried fruit is okay to make use of. Chopping your individual will yield a extra moist cake (pre chopped dried fruit will not be as moist) BUT having stated that, this cake is so extremely moist, it has the give to make use of pre chopped!
2. Juice / brandy – this cake tastes simply pretty much as good made with or with out alcohol, it comes down to non-public style. I often make it with out as a result of Christmas Cake stretches far and I need everybody to have the ability to eat it.
BRANDY – If you wish to use brandy, use 1/3 cup brandy PLUS 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp juice.
Juice – I like utilizing apple juice for its impartial flavour. Pineapple and different not so sturdy flavoured juices will probably be wonderful right here. When you like citrus flavour, use orange juice – you may style it a bit greater than different juices.
3. Darkish brown sugar – makes the cake a wealthy darkish brown color. Can sub with regular brown sugar – will make cake lighter (additionally seems good as fruit stands out!)
4. Molasses / golden syrup – provides to the richness of flavour and color of cake. Both is okay – I interchange 12 months on 12 months.
5. Custard – selfmade pouring custard recipe right here (“Creme Anglaise”). should you use retailer purchased, pimping it up goes an extended option to make it a bit particular! Simply stir in a little bit of vanilla bean paste which can give it these beautiful little black vanilla bean specks and improves the flavour.
(PS Distinction between selfmade and retailer purchased is richness. Home made custard has a way more luxurious mouthfeel)
6. Serving – cake is moist and so full flavoured it’s fantastic eaten plain. However for an additional particular contact, serve with custard – see observe above.
7. Storage – I’ve stored it for a month in an hermetic container within the fridge and it was good because it was freshly made (at room temperature). Having researched on-line, seems like 2 to three months is the overall consensus (for fridge) and a 12 months within the freezer (for this type of cake, with no alcohol.
8. Serving measurement – should you lower small slices into rectangles (see custard pouring picture), remembering that is RICH and dense, then it would serve 20 – 25 folks. You may be amazed how HEAVY this cake is!
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DECORATING – Conventional white Christmas Cake (additionally see VIDEO & STEP PHOTOS under recipe card):
- Finest to make use of a cake turntable or related (I used a small lazy susan!)
- Marzipan layer primarily for creating excellent easy floor for fondant layer.
Marzipan:
- Mud work floor with icing sugar. Form marzipan right into a disc then roll out so it’s massive sufficient to cowl cake and sides (250g/8oz marzipan covers this cake completely with some extra).
- Roll marzipan onto rolling pin, then unroll it over the cake.
- Drape over cake, stretching and urgent to cowl sides with as few pleats as attainable. Use moist desk consuming knife to easy pleats, doesn’t have to look excellent – that is Layer 1 to easy cake, plus additionally for the refined almond flavour.
Fondant: Mud work floor with extra icing sugar, form into disc, roll out and canopy cake as you probably did with the marzipan.
Quilting ornamental facet (pictured in submit and in video):
- Use one thing with a clear edge however not as sharp as a knife (I used a cake server).
- Press on a forty five diploma angle on facet of cake about 2.5 cm / 1″ aside throughout the cake, then 45 levels in the wrong way to create “diamond”.
- Dip the blunt finish of a picket skewer into water, then press a light-weight indent into fondant on intersection of diamond.
- Then press in a silver ball (water makes it stick). Repeat throughout.
- Prime with cherries, dusting with icing sugar, give it a grand spin to admire your work and serve!
Common observe: Marzipan is susceptible to cracking and tearing nevertheless it doesn’t matter as a result of marzipan layer is to create a easy end for the fondant layer. Fondant is less complicated to work with, however you might want to be extra cautious as a result of it’s the “fairly” layer. BUT any tears or tough patches will be smoothed out utilizing the facet of a moist desk knife and / or patching up with extra bits of fondant. The moist knife softens the fondant so you may “unfold” it to seal cracks.
Diet Info:
Energy: 388cal (19%)Carbohydrates: 64g (21%)Protein: 4g (8%)Fats: 15g (23%)Saturated Fats: 9g (56%)Ldl cholesterol: 38mg (13%)Sodium: 127mg (6%)Potassium: 413mg (12%)Fiber: 3g (13%)Sugar: 37g (41%)Vitamin A: 469IU (9%)Vitamin C: 1mg (1%)Calcium: 50mg (5%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
Initially revealed December 2019. Republished December 2020 – no change to recipe, simply tidied up a number of the writing!
The best way to ice Christmas Cake with fondant
The pictured cake on this submit is embellished with a layer of marzipan (almond flavoured frosting) then topped with white fondant. This mix of marzipan + fondant is a conventional option to enhance Christmas Cake. Marzipan is for flavour and in addition to create a easy floor for the fondant.
A visible of the steps is included within the recipe video above the recipe card, and under in images.
What you want
250g / 8oz of every “able to roll” marzipan and white fondant, bought within the baking aisle of grocery shops.
The best way to apply marzipan and fondant to Christmas Cake
Use a cake flip desk, if in case you have one. I used a lazy susan!
- Mud work floor with icing sugar (powdered sugar) and form marzipan right into a disc;
- Roll marzipan out so it’s massive sufficient to cowl the perimeters of the cake;
- Roll the marzipan calmly across the rolling pin (finest option to deal with as a result of marzipan is susceptible to ripping, can’t choose it up);
- Then unroll it over the cake;
- Gently press down across the sides, making it as easy as attainable and stretching / adjusting as wanted to keep away from “pleats”. Don’t get too hung up about perfection right here – this layer is to create a easy floor for the fondant layer;
- Trim off extra utilizing a knife;
- Roll out fondant the identical means because the marzipan, together with rolling it across the rolling pin to switch to the cake;
- Unroll over the cake, then gently press down the facet of the cake, stretching gently as wanted to make it match with no pleats.
TIP: If in case you have cracks / crevices / tears, simply moist a desk knife then use it to “smear” the fondant to seal the cracks. Use small pinches of surplus fondant if wanted.
The best way to enhance facet of cake
Right here’s how I embellished the facet of the cake:
Use one thing with a clear edge however not as sharp as a knife (I used a cake server).
- Press on a forty five diploma angle on facet of cake about 2.5 cm / 1″ aside throughout the cake;
- Then 45 levels in the wrong way to create “diamond”;
- Dip the blunt finish of a picket skewer into water, then press a light-weight indent into fondant on intersection of diamond. Then press in a silver ball (water makes it stick). Repeat throughout; and
- Prime with cherries, dusting with icing sugar, give it a grand spin to admire your work and serve!
Lifetime of Dozer
An excessive amount of Christmas cheer – and never sufficient cake, in accordance with him! No Christmas Cake for Dozer. Dried fruit is unhealthy for canine!