This Easy Christmas Cake, inspired by Mary Berry, is beautifully moist and totally delicious! A classic British fruitcake which can be made well ahead of Christmas and left to mature, fed with brandy for an even richer flavour.
Make sure to read all my tips and notes before baking this Christmas fruitcake!
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Love Mary Berry as much as I do? Check out my Mary-inspired Banana Bread!
Strange as it might sound, I used to bake Mary Berry’s Christmas Cake year-round when I was in college. That has to show how much I – and all my student friends – loved it!
The fact that it would stay lovely and moist for weeks meant we always had a treat at hand for late night study sessions…
Naturally of course this rich fruit cake is usually served as a traditional Christmas Cake, topped with marzipan and royal icing or a medley of fruit and nuts.
When should I bake my Christmas cake?
This easy Christmas cake can be made two or even three months before Christmas to allow for the cake to mature.
I usually wait until late October or early November – close enough to Christmas to start getting in the festive mood!
The cake is then “fed” every couple of weeks with brandy, rum or whisky intensifying the flavour and helping preserve the cake.
Can I make this cake last minute?
Fear not, this Christmas cake will still be totally delicious even if you bake it closer to the holidays!
Allow for a couple of weeks, if you can, so that it is not too crumbly when you slice it.
Christmas Cake Ingredients
I have tweaked with Mary Berry’s Christmas cake recipe over the years – in fact I have been inspired by TWO of her recipes, the other one being her mincemeat loaf.
I am using mincemeat in place of the dried vine fruit which keeps the cake incredibly moist and rich. There’s also glacé cherries, dried apricots and dates along with the usual suspects of flour, sugar, eggs and butter.
You can play around with types of dried fruit if you like, as long as you keep the volume the same.
There’s also plenty of tipple in this cake – brandy, rum, whisky, sloe gin, cherry brandy or amaretto can all be used. If you love my cocktails you probably have most of these in your drinks cabinet!
Useful Tools and Equipment
- Deep sided 8 inch cake tin
- Cake release spray
- Digital scales – I use a scale for all my bakes
- Electric hand mixer
- Rolling pin with spacer rings for rolling out the marzipan
- Offset spatula (palette knife)
How to make Christmas Cake
Full measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page. Please take a look at the steps and video before attempting this recipe!
Preheat the oven to 140°C (285°F). Mist a 20cm (8inch) deep cake tin with cake release or grease with butter. Line the bottom and sides with a double layer of baking paper (don’t skip this step).
Chop the apricots and dates into small raisin-size pieces. Add the brandy (or your choice of alcohol) and heat in the microwave for 60 seconds to plump up the fruit. Set aside.
Add the flour and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl and briefly stir together to combine.Now add the eggs and butter and beat together until you have a smooth batter, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway.
Time to add the mincemeat, soaked fruit and cherries. Use a spatula to fold into the batter until everything is mixed in.
Transfer the batter to the prepared tin and level. Make a small indent in the centre of the cake to help it bake evenly. Bake for 4 – 4 ½ hours, until the cake is risen, golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
Use a skewer to poke holes over the cake. Feed the cake with four tablespoons of brandy and wait until the alcohol soaks into the cake.
Leave the cake in the tin, well wrapped in the baking paper and a layer of foil. Keep in a cool place, feeding the cake with your choice of alcohol every fortnight if time allows.
Icing a Christmas Cake
Traditional Christmas cake is usually covered with a layer of marzipan and royal icing. I prefer to only cover the top of the cake as I find the traditional toppings far too sweet. Do this just before you are ready to slice the cake.
Dust your worktop with icing sugar and soften the marzipan in your hands. Roll out the marzipan and then cut a circle the size of your cake.
Brush the Christmas cake with sieved apricot jam and use small pieces of the marzipan to fill any small holes on the cake to create a level surface.
Position the marzipan circle over the cake and press down so that it sticks. Smooth the top and sides and leave it to dry for a few hours.
Spoon the Royal Icing over the cake and spread using an offset spatula. Leave to dry and decorate with frosted cranberries, rosemary sprigs or iced gingerbread cookies.
How to Store Christmas Cake
If you bake the cake before the holidays you will need to wrap it and store it, feeding with your choice of liqueur every two weeks.
Leave the cake to dry after the first feeding and then wrap it with baking paper and two layers of foil. Keep in a cake container or you can store in the tin it is baked in.
You can also freeze the cake for up to three months. Wrap well, as above, and place in a freezer bag. Remove the wrappings and allow the cake to thaw overnight at room temperature.
Feeding your cake
I personally love a bit of a kick in my Christmas cake and I know Mary Berry likes a bit of a tipple! Feeding the cake with a couple of tablespoons of brandy or an equally strong liqueur every couple of weeks intensifies the flavours and helps to preserve the cake.
You can use brandy, rum, whisky, sherry or Amaretto to feed your cake. Don’t splash out on an expensive new bottle for the cake – a half bottle of budget tipple will work just fine.
Alcohol-free Christmas Cake
If you would rather have a booze-free fruitcake you can replace the liqueur with orange or apple juice and soak your dried fruit with hot tea.
I would suggest you make this cake closer to the holidays however, or bake it in advance and freeze it until needed.
Recipe notes and tips
- Use a double layer of baking paper to line the sides of the cake tin. This helps prevent the cake from getting too dark while baking.
- This cake is nut-free (check the mincemeat doesn’t contain any nuts) and can be made dairy-free if you use a plant-based baking spread.
- This is a rich cake so feel free to slice into more servings than specified in the recipe card.
HAVE YOU MADE MY CHRISTMAS CAKE RECIPE? Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes. I can’t wait to see your take on it!
Christmas Baking Recipes
As you know I LOVE baking, and Christmas gives me the best excuse to bake up a storm! Try my festive recipes to treat your loved ones this holiday season.
Easy Christmas Cake
Ingredients
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) brandy or rum / whisky / amaretto / cherry brandy etc.
- 150 g (5.3 oz) dried apricots
- 200 g (7oz) dates or prunes stone removed
- 250 g (2 cups) plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 250 g (1 ½ cups) light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 225 g (1 cup) softened butter
- 660 g (1.4 pounds) mincemeat from a jar
- 200 g (7 oz) glacé cherries quartered
Feeding the cake
- 3 tbsp brandy (or your choice of liqueur) every time you feed the cake
Royal Icing
- 60 ml (¼ cup) egg whites from a carton or two large eggs
- 450 g (1 pound) icing sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp liquid glucose
To decorate (optional)
- 4 tbsp apricot jam sieved, to glaze, or as needed
- 450 g (1 pound) marzipan you will not need to use it all
Instructions
Make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 140°C (285°F). Mist a 20cm (8inch) deep cake tin with cake release or grease with butter. Line the bottom and sides with a double layer of baking paper (don’t skip this step).
- Chop the apricots and dates into small raisin-size pieces. Add the brandy (or your choice of alcohol) and heat in the microwave for 60 seconds to plump up the fruit. Set aside.
- Add the flour and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl and briefly stir together to combine. Now add the eggs and butter and beat together with a hand mixer (or a stand mixer) until you have a smooth batter, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway.
- Add the mincemeat and beat in on a low speed setting. Fold the soaked dried fruit and glacé cherries into the batter with a spatula.
- Spoon the batter to the prepared tin and level. Make a small indent in the centre of the cake to help it bake evenly.
- Bake for 4 – 4 ½ hours, until the cake is risen, golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Check the cake at the 3 hour mark and tent with foil if it is getting too dark. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
- Use a skewer to poke holes over the cake. Feed the cake with the brandy and wait until the alcohol soaks into the cake.
- Leave the cake in the tin, well wrapped in the baking paper and a layer of foil. Keep in a cool place, feeding the cake with your choice of alcohol every fortnight if time allows.
Make the Royal Icing
- Traditional Christmas cake is usually covered with a layer of marzipan and royal icing. I prefer to only cover the top of the cake as I find the traditional toppings far too sweet. Ice the cake 2-3 days before serving.
- Beat the egg whites until frothy then gradually add the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time mixing on low speed.
- Add the lemon juice and glycerine and beat on high speed setting until the icing until it holds firm peaks. Cover the surface of the icing with plastic wrap to keep from drying out unless you are using straight away.
Decorate the cake
- Dust your worktop liberally with icing sugar and soften the marzipan in your hands. Roll out the marzipan (slightly larger than 20cm/8inch) and then cut a circle the size of your cake using the cake tin as a guide.
- Carefully flip the cake over so that you are using the flat underside. Brush the cake with warm sieved apricot jam and use small pieces of the marzipan to fill any small holes on the cake surface.
- Position the marzipan circle over the cake and press down so that it sticks. Smooth the top and sides and leave it to dry for a few hours or overnight.
- Spoon the Royal Icing over the cake and spread using an offset spatula. Leave to dry so that it hardens and decorate with frosted cranberries, rosemary sprigs or iced gingerbread cookies.
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