Christmas Cake (or other fruit cake/traditional Recipes)?

[Galant]

I know it's only October but Christmas Cakes being what they are, you have to start early.

My wife likes to bake but being American tends towards all sorts of fruit pies - which are lovely.

However, since we're over this side of the pond, she's enjoyed learning different British recipes.

Does anyone have a good recipe for Christmas cake they can recommend? (Bearing in mind this will be her first Christmas cake - if that matters.)

Or if not Christmas Cake, any other good British fruit cake or other traditional cake/dessert recipes?

Cheers!

[Ttaskmaster]

The wife does a Xmas Pud every year, though it's the 'family secret' kind which I'm not allowed to disclose... but is basically the same as all the others you'll find online!
Plan to make lots of puds, as you'll have to mix the stuff up in a big bowl... in wife's case, a big 45L container. If you don't have anyone to give the spares to, they'll keep for several years.
You really need to start September at the latest, and use decent quality ingredients, especially the stout and brandy.

[Galant]

The wife does a Xmas Pud every year, though it's the 'family secret' kind which I'm not allowed to disclose... but is basically the same as all the others you'll find online!
Plan to make lots of puds, as you'll have to mix the stuff up in a big bowl... in wife's case, a big 45L container. If you don't have anyone to give the spares to, they'll keep for several years.
You really need to start September at the latest, and use decent quality ingredients, especially the stout and brandy.

Well it's a bit late to start in Sep!

Just had a quick Google though, for recipes after Sep, and apparently there's a traditional day of 'Stir Up Sunday', the last Sunday before Advent - so always late November, as the traditional date to start making Christmas puddings etc.

[Ttaskmaster]

Always worth a try...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You can do Christmas cake even a week before Christmas if you want to - the time is more for the maturation period when you feed it with alcohol. I did mine last month,so it gives roughly three months of maturation,so if you start now its two months. Last year I did mine only a few weeks before Christmas and fed it with some 12 year old Bourbon,and it turned out fine. I am feeding the current with a combination of Spanish Brandy and 12 year old Glenfiddich Whisky. I had extra and make a smaller cake and matured it for two weeks as a test with some of the Brandy and it turned out fine.

[Galant]

Any recommended recipes or tips?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Any recommended recipes or tips?

There are so many different variations,so you need to decided what fruit/spices/alcohol you want(or how much you want to spend).

This year I tried a mix of these recipes:
https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/c...christmas-cake
https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes...hristmas-cake/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/c...mas_cake_04076

I made alterations on what ingredients I had to hand. For example,I didn't have powdered Ginger so used grated Ginger. Also if you want to use mixed spice,I found this sweet spice mixe to work well in fruit cakes(but I did try it out in a normal fruit cake beforehand):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gourmet-Spi...dp/B082VWF95Y/

There are also recipes which use Stout too:
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/...hristmas-cake/

With baking you need to use a low Gas Mark - in my oven I used Gas Mark 2 and baked the cakes for something like 4 hours IIRC.

[Galant]

Update - my American wife and my brother's Brazilian wife, along with our English stepmother, have decided they want to try their hand at some traditional British recipes. So it's hands-off for me, I think, and they're going to figure out a few puddings/cakes to try some time in November, I think.

This should be interesting!

[Ttaskmaster]

This should be interesting!

I'm not massively into Friends, but there's a famous episode where Rachel tries to make a traditional British Mince Pie, using minced beef.
I am worried you'll suffer your own personal repeat... and that it will repeat on you in a bad way!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Mincemeat used to actually have meat in at one point!

[Ttaskmaster]

Mincemeat used to actually have meat in at one point!

Yes, but it was not purely minced meat. It was typically the sorts of meat & fruit combinations we still enjoy today, like pork & apple or venison and redcurrant.
But then, meat also was a term used to refer to food in general....

[Spreadie]

Replace the brandy and matchstick with petrol and a blowtorch.

Xmas pud is vile.