English Christmas Cake

This is a recipe I have used several times now, and it has worked every time. It comes from Delia Smith, and is very simple to make. I have omitted the almonds that she adds to the cake, and I’ve used gluten free flour for the first time this year, which has worked very well.

English Christmas Cakes should be made in good time before Christmas, so that they have plenty of time to be soaked in brandy before being eaten. They should be ‘fed’ once a week for up to three months, I like to do this for about a month and a half to two months, so I was a little bit late making Christmas cake this year. My cake is now resting, waiting to be fed more brandy every week until I decorate it just before it is eaten.

425g currants

250g sultanas

250g raisins

250g glace cherries

75g mixed candid peel

4 tablespoons brandy +extra for soaking

300g plain flour (I used Dove’s Farm Gluten Free Plain White Flour Blend)

1 tablespoon ground mixed spice

½ tablespoon grated nutmeg

300g butter + extra for greasing the tin

300g dark muscovado sugar

5 eggs

1 tablespoon black treacle

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

apricot jam
marzipan

icing

You’ll need a 23cm round tin or 20cm square tin.

Combine the fruit and candid peel in a bowl, and add brandy. Stir well, cover, and leave over night.

Place the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, and mix gently in a food processor or with an electric mixer. Add the soaked fruit to this mix and stir well.

Grease the cake tin with butter, and line the bottom and side with a double layer of grease proof paper. Spoon the cake mixture into the tin. Level the surface, and cover with greaseproof paper.

Bake the cake at 140^oC for 4 ¾ to 5 hours, until the cake is firm to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the middle of it comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin.

When the cake is cool, pierce it in several places, and pour a little brandy into the holes. Remove the cake from the tin, but leave the grease proof paper on. Wrap the cake in more paper, and also wrap it in kitchen foil.

Add more brandy (about a tablespoon or two) each week until Christmas by gently pouring it over the top. Keep the cake in a cool place until eating.

Decorate the cake with a thin layer of marzipan and icing sugar. You can use ready-made icing to get a smooth surface. The easiest way to make the marzipan stick to the cake is by gently warming some apricot jam and brushing this onto the cake. The icing will stick to the marzipan quite well. 

A good trick for rolling marzipan and icing is to roll them on a silicone rolling mat or any other sturdy soft plastic surface. You can then lift the whole thing onto the cake and peel off the plastic once the marzipan/icing is in place. It makes it easier to transfer thin layers of icing withouth breaking it, and you get a very smooth surface. 


You can use coloured icing, or ribbons, or dried fruit, or anything else that you can think of, to decorate the cake. I've split mine into three this year, and used two of the parts as presents. This also meant I got to decorate three cakes, which was fun.