These are the best Christmas cake recipes to make (2024)

FAQs

How many weeks before Christmas should you make a 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.

It is possible to use orange juice instead of alcohol for feeding Christmas cakes but we would suggest as a precaution that this is only done a couple of months in advance of the cake being eaten.

However you do need a fairly deep tin for all sizes of Christmas cake. A regular sandwich tin (cake pan) will not be deep enough - you ideally need a loose-bottomed cake tin or springform pan which is around 8cm/3 1/2 inches deep.

Like most rich fruit cakes, it benefits from a maturing period and being fed with some extra alcohol, though in the book it is suggested that the keeping time is 6 weeks and generally we suggest if keeping the cake for longer than this then the cake should be frozen as it will keep for a year.

Test with a temperature probe to ensure the cake has baked to a temperature between 92 and 94 degrees celsius. Remove from the cooker, leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before removing and storing in a tin, wrapped in further paper or foil until Christmas.

You may find that the cake is damp but still edible. If you feel it is too underdone to eat then you can cut the properly cooked outside pieces off and just discard the very wet centre.

You can repeat the feeding process every couple of weeks for three or four feeds. However, if the cake makes the work surface damp, appears wet or stodgy, discontinue feeding.

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.

Remove the large cake after 3 hours (start checking half an hour before). Remove the cake from the oven, put on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely in the tin. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.

Can I line Christmas cake tin with foil? ›

Lining the inside of the tins with foil can help but you need to have a large piece of foil (so there are no joins) and the foil needs to come up the sides of the tin all the way to the top, with a slight overhang.

The mixture can easily survive overnight. At winter times, usually anything can survive. I used to make many cakes before but no more.

I like to feed my cake with a few tablespoons of brandy every two weeks up until Christmas. If you want to decorate your Christmas cake, you do not want to feed it just before as it will make it wet and sticky so slightly annoying. If you make your cake nearer to Christmas, that is totally okay.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these seemingly indestructible pastries typically stay fresh for six months in the pantry and up to a year when refrigerated. But anecdotally we know that they can last for decades; some of the oldest have been preserved for more than a century.

You'll find that most of your favorite Christmas cookie recipes can be made anywhere from a month to six months before the 25th of December. (Consult this handy how-to guide to the matter.) Generally, most recipes will be best if baked and then frozen.

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.

There's no hard and fast rule about when to ice your cake, but it's best to do it between 24 hours and a week ahead of the big day. A few creative flourishes will make your cake look fabulous.

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.