I made my first Christmas cake yesterday…so I’m very pleased with myself 🙂 At 43 years old it’s really about time I made one. My mum used to make us one and I used to ice it but over the last couple of years she has stopped making them…and shop bought ones aren’t the same.
The daft thing was though I bought ingredients before I read the recipe…so I didn’t have half the things I needed and I just adapted a recipe. I hope it tastes OK now though, we’ll have to wait until Christmas to find out.
The original recipe I found was on the Odlums site. I have also added it below with the changes I made in bold. I also realised I didn’t have any brown paper so I had to use a brown envelope to cover the cake…it worked just as well 😉 I think our oven is running hot because the cake only took just over an hour and a half to cook.
Ingredients:
225g/8oz Caster Sugar (I used brown sugar)
225g/8oz Margarine
4 Eggs (beaten)
100g packet Ground Almonds (I added flaked almonds)
Juice and Rind of 1 Orange (I added a miniature bottle of whisky)
100g tub Mixed Peel (I don’t like mixed peel so I left it out)
100g tub Cherries (halved)
1 x 375g packet Sultanas
Method:
- Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F/ Gas 2. Line a 20cms/8″ deep round cake tin with baking parchment.
- Put sugar and margarine into a large mixing bowl and cream together. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
- Add the flour and gently stir until well mixed through.
- Finally add the fruit – mixed peel, cherries and sultanas. Mix thoroughly. (I had soaked the fruit for about 4 hours in the whisky with the cinnamon added to it)
- Transfer to prepared tin. Bake for about 2 1/2 hours or until nicely browned and a clean knife inserted into centre comes out clean. After an hour cover top of tin with a sheet of brown paper!
- Cool in tin. When cold wrap in greaseproof paper and store in a cool dry place.
Magnumlady Blog 
Hi there is nothing as nice as the smell of a Christmas cake in the oven 🙂 I have a recipe for a Christmas cake from my Gran and its dated 1949 have not made it yet only found her old recipe book a few weeks ago but yours looks so nice might just try it :).
Well mine was kind of thrown together…so I’m hoping it’ll taste OK. Mind you I have the whole house telling me they don’t like fruit cake!
Mine tell me the same each year but when its cut up they eat it all the same 🙂 I think when its homemade its nicer.