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Traditional British Christmas Cake - Bake-together

Close fornt on shot of a deep brown fruit cake with one to the background and both British Christmas cakes.
Part 2 in a Traditional British Christmas Cake bake-together. Part 1 was soaking the fruit, now is baking the Christmas Cake. A 100 year old Be-Ro recipe, used by 3 generations & as authentic as you will get to a true British Christmas Cake.
Caro @ Caroline's Easy Baking Lessons
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Cooling Time 30 minutes
Total Time 5 hours
Serving Size 18 Slices

Equipment

  • 9" (23cm) Round Deep Tin (at least 3"/7½cm deep)
  • OR 8" (20cm) Square Deep Tin (at least 3"/7½cm deep)
  • *** Alternative Tin shapes/sizes (see notes)
  • Digital scales or measuring cups
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Stand-mixer or Hand-mixer
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Sieve
  • Baking/parchment paper
  • Butchers' String
  • Cake Release Spray (Cooking spray, Lining Paste/Cake Goop, or butter to grease)
  • Scissors
  • Pegs or Metal bull-dog clips (optional)
  • Wooden Cocktail stick
  • Cooling rack
  • Tin Foil (Aluminium foil, or newspaper & cling film/plastic wrap)

Ingredients

  • 340 grams Self-Raising Flour (12 oz, 2¾ cup) OR Plain/All Purpose Flour PLUS 4⅛ tsp baking Powder)
  • 1 tsp Mixed Spice (Alternative is Pumpkin Spice)
  • 113 grams Ground Almonds (4 oz, 1¼ level cups. Almond Meal alternative, not Almond Flour. See notes)
  • 226 grams Butter, unsalted & softened (8 oz, 1 cup, 2 sticks)
  • 226 grams Caster Sugar  (8 oz, 1⅛ cup Extra/Super Fine Sugar,   OR Granulated Sugar)
  • 4 Eggs, (Medium to large) (US Large to Extra Large eggs)
  • 120 ml Milk (or ½ milk & ½ Brandy/Orange Juice)   (4 fl oz, 8 tbsp, or ½ cup)
  • 900 grams Pre-soaked Mixed Dried Fruit (32 oz dried fruit, pre-soaked in alcohol or fruit juice, see notes*)
  • 2 tbsp Alcohol or Orange Juice (same kind as used for soaking fruit, for 1st 'feed' DO NOT use the drained liquid).

Instructions

SOAKING THE FRUIT

  • See Part 1 of the Traditional Christmas Cake recipe for the fruit soaking details, & soak for 7 to 10 days. Spirits such as Brandy, Rum, Vodka, Whisky can be used, or orange juice as an alcohol-free alternative.

PREPARE THE CAKE BATTER

  • Drain all the liquid from your pre-soaked mixed dried fruit, by leaving over a sieve for at least 10 minutes. (**Do not use in cake batter, or feeding the cake).
  • Meanwhile, 'cream' the softened butter and sugar together, until soft, fluffy and paler in colour. Whisk the eggs with milk/juice or alcohol in a separate bowl. In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients together.
  • Add some of the flour mixture, then some of the egg/milk mixture into the creamed sugar & butter, alternating till all is added.  Mix through in-between each addition.
  • Lastly add the pre-soaked & drained fruit - fold in increments for even distribution.
  • Heat the oven to  275-300°f (Gas Mark 1 - 2/140°c - 150°c/ 120°c - 130°c Fan Oven.

PREPARE THE CAKE TINS

  • For round tins, cut a circle of paper for the bottom of the tin.  Also strips to line insides of the tin too, (no need for one continuous piece & you can use left over pieces).  Hold in position with some baking spray, butter or lining paste.   
  • Wrap 2 layers of paper around the outside of the cake tin, about 2" (5cm) higher than the top of the tin. Hold in place with butcher's string.

BAKE THE CAKE

  • Spoon batter into cake tin & bake 3 - 4 hours. Cover the tops of the cakes with paper after about 1 hour, once batter on top is set. Wooden cocktail stick will come out clean of crumbs when ready.
  • Cool in the tin, on top of a cooling rack.  Whilst still a little warm, poke some holes in the top of the cake and spoon over 2 tbsp of alcohol or orange juice.
  • Cut the string & remove the outer paper. (Keep the paper). Release the cake onto a cooling rack.  Peel back the paper & leave to cool completely.  

STORING

  • When completely cooled, wrap in paper, hold in place with tin foil/aluminium foil or cling film/plastic wrap.  Never wrap directly in foil as it will affect the taste of the cake. Store in a cool dark place until December.   

'FEEDING' THE CAKE

  • Regularly 'feed' the cake by spooning & spreading on 2 tbsp alcohol/orange juice every 7 to 10 days, until December, when ready to decorate it.  Just keep away from heat and light.  Go to Feeding A Christmas Cake video.
  • For cakes with only fruit juice, best to only feed the cake up to week 3, and then wrap really well with 2 layers of new paper & freeze till 2 days before decorating in December. Otherwise fruit will start to ferment. During the 3 weeks, you should store somewhere cool & dark or place in the fridge.  When feeding, replace paper if soggy to prevent mould forming & wrap again in 2 layers of paper.  Leave out to defrost at room temperature, decorate when fully thawed & dry. Store in an airtight container or tin.  Decorate as instructed

Video

Notes

Ground Almonds - alternative if Almond meal, not Almond Flour.  (See main article information stage before detailed process). 
Egg/Milk Mixture - alternative to milk is orange juice or alcohol (spirits).
Pre-soaked Mixed Dried Fruit - details & process found in Part 1 -Soaking The Christmas Cake Fruit.
Citrus peel & Glacé cherries.-  Candied Citrus & Maraschino cherries can be used.  Other good dried fruit substitutes are apricots, cranberries and dates.
Drained Liquid - do not use the drained liquid from the soaked fruit to make the cake batter, or to feed the cake.  Can be used for making Mincemeat - here is Delia's Mincemeat recipe.  Then use in mince pies or  quick mincemeat swirls. 
Alternative Cake Tin Sizes/Shapes -  details for amount of batter and bake times for smaller round/square cake tins/pans, or other shapes, can be found in 4 tables, in the main blog, before this Recipe Card. 
All Parts & links to the Christmas Cake Bake-together can be found at:  Traditional Christmas Cake Bake-together.
View the next stage Part 3 - Feeding A Traditional Christmas Cake.
For everything else, please see the full length recipe above this Recipe Card.
White royal iced deep Christmas cake with bottle green ribbon on sides, homemade trees and tree to the back in a white setting with title.
Nutrition:   I am not a qualified nutritionist, so all values are estimates, based on ingredients listed & calculated via FitnessPal.com. Information based on serving of 1 slice (undecorated), assuming 18 equal-sized pieces are cut. If more or less slices are cut, these value will change. Paste recipe link into website/app MyFitnesPal.com to see these values, & log them for future use if tracking your food.
Nutrition Facts
Traditional British Christmas Cake - Bake-together
Amount per Serving
Calories
384
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
21
g
32
%
Saturated Fat
 
7
g
44
%
Cholesterol
 
42
mg
14
%
Sodium
 
32
mg
1
%
Potassium
 
27
mg
1
%
Carbohydrates
 
57
g
19
%
Fiber
 
2.3
g
10
%
Sugar
 
14
g
16
%
Protein
 
13
g
26
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.