HI fruit cake bakers.my fantastic mother-in-law always produced 3 christmas cakes for us to take away on our 3 week camping holidays every year.Sadly, she passed away this year and the recipe was in her head. I'm going to give Gardies cake a go, but,I have always had difficulty with making them - never wanted them to be dry, but they always end up under cooked.How do I test for done-ness - the traditional skewer insertion and see if there's cake stuck on it doesn't seem to work on fruit cakes!Anyhelp would be appreciated - I really want to take cake away with us again - to remind the children of grandma.
gardie,
Sep 27, 6:28am
If you follow my recipe closely, you will find the cooking time pretty accurate.Its tends to take take the longer time though but this will depend upon your oven.A skewer should come out clean.Provided the oven is not too hot, there is not a lot of chance of it getting dry as there is so much fruit in it.I left it in for 4 hours once cos I was outside and forgot and although the very outside was quite dark, the inside was beautiful.Better to leave it a little longer and have it cooked well.Nigella's cake as mentioned here is also a beautiful moist cake - doesn't keep as long though.You'd need to bake that just before you go and eat it first- that's not too hard though.Its quite hard to resist.
griffo4,
Sep 29, 3:49am
Made my small cakes this morning using Alison Holst's pineapple recipe and now have my big cake in with 4kgs of fruit and it says cook for 6hrs, oops l need the oven for dinner and the cake isn't due out till 8.30pm l have put the dividers in so will get 4 cakes
gardie,
Sep 29, 5:12am
Oh no!You might have to get takeaways tonight!
griffo4,
Sep 29, 5:56am
Um we are a bit far from town for that, we will survive ;-))
yvonne_j66,
Sep 29, 11:27am
I have never made my own xmas cake before.but after reading all these posts I am definitely going attempt to do Gardie's one this year.My grocery shopping budget is very tight but I am determined to stretch it over the next couple of weeks.Thank you all for your lovely recipes
bea2,
Sep 29, 9:14pm
Oh Gardie !guess what!.now about your cake recipe.Yes It looked so lovely and I had visitors coming , and nothing special in the tins, so what did I do!.I dressed it with nuts and yes cut it .It was so lovely, nice texture but lovely . I cut small thin slices, and it did me proud. I had been dying for an excuse to cut it anyway, being a new recipe for me. Now Guess what !.I now have another one underwayand will be baking it tomorrow .A big thank you .
mydebe,
Sep 29, 9:56pm
Only 8 weeks!! Holy moley best I get my skates on. My grandmother, the Christmas cake baker in our family, had the baking of hers timed down to the last millisecond. I remember many discussions between her and my mother about when to begin the Christmas cake baking procedure.This is the time of year I miss her the most.
hlblanchett,
Sep 29, 10:05pm
Oops, need to buy some Cointreau today, to keep my fruit moist, then baking day will not be until the end of October due to my LL handing me a 42 day notice!
gardie,
Sep 30, 5:49am
Oh bea!Lucky you.I remember my very first cake that I kept in the fridge for 6 months (like the recipe said) before eating.I wanted a slice every day.My mouth is watering now.I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
griffo4,
Sep 30, 7:37am
l am pleased l made Nigella's cake and we have eaten it so l can let the others sit till Christmas time Bea you are a legend and yes gardie's cake is really nice l have one in the cupboard along with your cake and l can't wait to try them both
figjamto,
Oct 2, 11:03pm
Have not started mine yet, last year made Alison Holsts pineapple one, with a brandy butter cream icing (Jo Seager) A great hit everybody loved it, will be doing the same this year
griffo4,
Oct 8, 9:12pm
l am mixing up the fruit for Alison Holst's Golden Christmas cake which is a light golden coloured cake with papaya, mango, pineapple, and melon sultanas and cherries in it so looking forward to tasting that l am going to let it sit on the bench for a couple of days in a cup of white wine instead of cooking it as per recipe
grandma,
Oct 8, 10:46pm
Will you post Jo Seager's Brandy Butter Cream Icing please figjamto! I always use Alison Holst's pineapple one too, but an going to try butter icing this time.
bev00,
Oct 17, 9:16am
Hi Nauru . yep you're onto it - it's an AWW recipe alright.Thanks for your recommendation - it sounds lovely and i have all the ingredients now and the cake is ready to go.
village.green,
Oct 17, 8:38pm
Yep did mine on Monday. Didn't bother last year. This year trying Alison Holst recipe that uses tin of crushed pineapple - hope it's good. Recipe didn't have any alcohol in it and I was out of brandy so poured over a fair bit of sherry instead and have wrapped up in greasproof and teatowels and told the rest of the family where I've stored it because I am bound to forget come Christmas.
crails,
Oct 18, 10:01am
I'm making Gardies cake - my first atempt at a christmas cake.I have prunes, apricots, cranberries, and sultanas mascerating in bourbon on the kitchen bench
gardie,
Oct 18, 5:25pm
Sounds yum!I think this is a very good recipe for first timers - it is so straightforward but allows room for experiment also.
sarahb5,
Oct 22, 9:32pm
I don't have to - I get my Christmas Cake in the post every year from a bakery in the Collins StreetBakery in America - stuffed full of pecans and fruit, very little actual "cake".My auntie orders it in the UK and has it delivered straight to us - she's been doing it every year since we got married and even though none of us likes pecans (I was too scared to tell her this for years but she knows now and still sends it) we slice it up and take it every time we go to a "plate" function.
Hi Gardie.A wee tale for you.I made your cake as a trial.left it for a week, cut into it and thought "nice, but not as delish as I had hoped" - put it in the back of the fridge and forgot it.Had friends over last weekend - boys were having a few whiskey's and commented that a nice piece of fruit cake would be good - so I got yours out, thinking they may not mind it - BOY WAS I SUPRISED.What a difference 4 weeks ageing has made - IT'S GORGEOUS!I am so pleased that I tried it again - was going to turn it into puddings ( well - actually did a wee bit of it - more on that later ).
So - the moral here is LEAVE THE CAKES TO AGE!I have learnt my lesson!
Thanks for a FABULOUS and SO EASY cake recipe - I have 2 more on the go as we speak!
elleneva,
Nov 26, 11:14pm
One of my lads loves fruit cake and custard - in any combination. I had what I had thought of as a disaster, fruit cake ( see above ) so I made pie pastry, cooked it blind, then put a very thin layer of fruit cake inside the pie shell, filled it with a decent layer of homemade custard and baked.New favourite dessert.Christmas cake custard pie.The family raved over it and we have declared it a new Christmas must have!A great way to renew an old favorite!Enjoy.
lodgelocum,
Nov 27, 4:59am
I haven't made my cakes yet, but better get cracking, daughter keeps asking me if I have made it yet.Won't have too much time to 'mature' but will still be tasty and moist.Have a great recipe, called "Allens Cake" but I have no idea where the name came from.
lindylambchops1,
Nov 27, 7:41am
I fancy giving this a go this year.thanks Gardie for sharing
lindylambchops1,
Nov 27, 7:43am
This needs me to give it a serious try!
lindylambchops1,
Nov 27, 8:13am
Hot Toddy Xmas Cake
200ml hot, strong black tea 3 tbsp whiskey 3 tbsp good quality orange marmalade 700g mixed dried fruit 100g mixed peel 100g glace cherries 225g butter 225g caster sugar 4 eggs, beaten 225g plain flour 1 tsp ground mixed spice 1 tsp ground cinnamon finely grated zest of 1 lemon To feed the cake: 2 tsp caster sugar 50ml hot black tea 1 tbsp whisky (or use oj)
Mix the hot tea, whisky and marmalade in a large bowl until the marmalade melts. Stir in all of the dried fruit, the peel and cherries, then cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight. Next day, preheat oven to 160c and double-line a 20cm round deep cake tin with non-stick baking paper. Using electric beaters, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition, then fold in the flour and spices followed by the lemon zest and soaked fruit. Add any liquid that hasn't been absorbed by the fruit too. Spoon into the prepared tin, level the top, then bake for 1.5 hours. Turn the oven down to 140c and bake for another 1.5 hours of until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack in the tin. While the cake is still warm, use the skewer to pepper the cake with holes, poking it all the way down. Dissolve the sugar in the tea, add the whisky or oj, then spoon over the surface. If you're making the cake ahead of time, feed it with a fresh swig of hot toddy every week, but take care not toi make the cake soggy. The cake can be kept for a month, well-wrapped in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
I freeze my cakes once they are cold.If I am going to ice the cake, I get it out a few days prior or if it is a nut and cherry topped one just when we want to eat it
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