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Try our Christmas cake recipe then check out our Christmas pudding, mince pies, vegan Christmas cake and more Christmas baking recipes.

If you are following a free-from diet, then also check out our vegan Christmas cake and gluten-free Christmas cake

Recipe tip: Fill any holes and dips in the Christmas cake with extra marzipan before you cover it with the marzipan layer. For an alternative decorating option, whip up a batch of our homemade royal icing to cover this cake, instead. Discover more of our Christmas cake decorating ideas.

How to store your Christmas cake

This make-ahead Christmas cake will keep up to three weeks if stored in an air-tight container in a cool place. Otherwise wrap the un-iced cake in airtight wrapping and store in the freezer for up to six months, then defrost thoroughly before icing.

Ingredients

  • 600g currants, sultanas and raisins
  • 100g glacé cherries
  • 50g mixed peel, chop a couple of whole pieces if you can
  • 50g glacé ginger or crystallised ginger, roughly chopped
  • 100g glacé or diced pineapple, roughly chopped
  • 60ml Cointreau or Grand Marnier
  • 60ml ginger wine
  • 2 tbsp Angostura bitters, the orange version is good
  • 225g light muscovado sugar
  • 250g butter, softened
  • 225g plain flour
  • 1tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ of a whole one nutmeg, grated

  • 1 tsp
 cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 100g whole blanched almonds
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 orange, zested

CAKE DECORATION

  • 2 tbsp apricot jam, mixed with 1 tbsp water and sieved
  • 500g marzipan
  • corn flour, for rolling
  • 4 tbsp vodka
  • 500g ready-roll fondant icing

Method

  • STEP 1

    Soak the dried and glacé fruit in the alcohol and Angostura bitters for up to 2 days.

  • STEP 2

    Heat the oven to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1. Line an 18cm square or 20cm round cake tin with 2 layers of baking parchment. Beat the sugar and butter together then sift in the flour and spices and mix briefly. Add the vanilla, almonds, eggs, orange zest and the fruit and alcohol mix and stir together. Spoon into the tin and make a dip in the centre with the back of a spoon so that when the cake rises in the middle you get a at top. Bake for 3-31/2 hours then cool in the tin in the oven.

  • STEP 3

    Peel off the paper and brush off any crumbs, then brush the top with the jam. Roll out the marzipan on a work surface dusted with corn flour until it is big enough to cover the cake. Lift it over the cake using a rolling pin and smooth down all the way around. Trim any excess. Brush with vodka then roll out the icing and cover in the same way. Trim the icing around the edges and neaten. Roll out the icing off-cuts and cut out different sized stars, brush with a little vodka and stick to the cake. Finish with a ribbon.

Try these five twists on a classic Christmas cake:

White velvet snowball cake

Impress your friends and family this Christmas and make our standout snowball cake. It might not be snowing outside, but one bite of this cake and you'll feel like you're in a winter wonderland. Filled with coconut and covered in white chocolate, it's sweet and indulgent, making it the perfect Christmas Day centrepiece.

Snowball Cake (Coconut Cake Recipe)

Gluten-free Christmas cake

This gluten-free Christmas cake uses ground almonds for texture instead of flour. It's also been soaked in brandy for added flavour, moisture and decadence.

An iced Christmas cake with one slice taken out of it

Rum and almond fruit cake

Want an easy fruit cake with no fuss? Impress your guests this Christmas and jazz up your cake with rum and a simple almond buttercream. Make it now or save the recipe to whip-up a quick, last-minute Christmas cake.

Christmas Cake Recipe with Almond Buttercream

Baileys cake

A real showstopper of a cake, this three-tiered beauty is all dark chocolate and Baileys Irish Cream. It's perfect for an impressive Christmas dessert.

An impressive three-layered iced chocolate cake with fairy lights in the background

Vegan Christmas cake

Everyone will enjoy a slice of this dairy-free and egg-free Christmas cake, which can be baked and matured up to eight weeks before Christmas. Feed the cake weekly with your choice of brandy, rum or whisky for extra moisture and a warming flavour

A vegan christmas cake with icing and decorations placed on a white cake stand
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