This traditional Christmas cake is very moist, easy to make, and there is no maturing time! Feeling fancy? Decorate with marzipan and royal icing. If not, leave it plain and you still have an amazing cake!
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🎄What is a Christmas cake?
This traditional Christmas cake has been past down from my British grandmother. Her mother used to make it too, so the recipe has had many decades of enjoyment. Christmas cake is traditionally British, with lots of fruit, and Sherry or Brandy in it. It can be covered with marzipan and royal icing.
My Christmas cake is super easy to make, and has no soaking or maturing time. It uses pre-made mincemeat, which is a huge time saver - no steeping time!
This cake is great without decorations. Just dust on a little powdered sugar and serve!
If you decorate with marzipan and royal icing, you will need to let the cake sit for a few days after the cake has been wrapped with marzipan. And then another day, to let the royal icing harden.
Looking for other Christmas cakes, try my Christmas morning coffee cake, Little Debbie Christmas tree cake or Christmas hot cross buns!
🥘Ingredients
📋Ingredient notes
- Apricot jam - this jam is used because it doesn't give any taste to the cake. Only needed if you are decorating the cake with marzipan and royal icing.
- Marzipan & Glycerine - only needed if you are decorating the cake with marzipan and royal icing.
🔪Instructions
Start off by whisking the dry ingredients together - flour, baking soda and salt. Set this aside while you prepare the wet ingredients.
One of the main ingredients is mincemeat. Mincemeat does not have meat in it, like it's name suggests. It is a mixture of chopped dry fruit and spices, and lard. I also use mincemeat in mincemeat tarts.
You will also need glace fruit mix for this recipe. I buy this at the grocery store. The fruit comes all diced up in a container with peels. The other wet ingredients are eggs, sherry and a tin of sweetened condensed milk.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and pour into a 9 inch springform pan that has been greased and lined. Bake for 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center, comes out clean.
Let it cool and then prick the top of the cake all over with a toothpick. Pour some sherry over the top of the cake slowly, allowing the sherry to soak into the cake.
Marzipan and royal icing
Once the cake has cooled, you can leave it as is, or cover it with marzipan and icing. Marzipan is needed as a layer between the cake and royal icing because without it, the icing would soak into the cake.
To make the marzipan stick to the cake, we apply a "glue" of apricot jam. Apricot jam doesn't leave much of a taste, so it will not add anything to the cake. Boil the jam with a bit of water and then sieve out the peel. Brush this all over the top and sides of the cake.
Roll out the marzipan in sifted icing sugar and place it over the cake, smoothing the top and sides. Cut off any excess. Let the cake sit at room temperature for a day, so that the marzipan has a chance to dry.
Now you are ready to ice the cake. I use pasteurized egg whites that come in a carton because we are not cooking the eggs. Mix them until frothy and then add the sifted icing sugar, a cup at a time.
Once the icing sugar has dissolved into the egg whites, add the glycerine. Glycerine helps maintain the colour of this icing, in this case, white. Beat this mixture until the icing is very stiff and stands up in peaks.
To ice the cake, place the icing onto the top of the cake and spread evenly over the top and sides. For a snowy effect, use the back of a spoon to rough up the icing. Wet the back of a spoon to help with this.
Leave the cake loosely covered overnight so the icing can firm up. Store in an airtight container, or freeze.
✨Christmas cake decorating ideas
Without the marzipan and icing, Christmas cake does look like a giant brown blob. This cake doesn't need anything else to make it taste great, but some simple decorations will make it look festive.
- Dust with icing sugar for a simple snowy look.
- Pour a white glaze overtop.
- Decorate with fondant.
Let me know what you choose? 🙂
✔️Expert Tips
- Alcohol - replace this with apple juice or orange juice if you like.
- Instead of sherry, you can use brandy or rum.
- Notice there is no sugar to this recipe? The sweetened condensed milk gives enough sweetness, and also makes the cake moist.
- If you don't like the big chunks of glace fruit, chop them finer.
💭Recipe FAQ's
This cake will last a few weeks in the refrigerator. Los of people say it will last months, but I don't like to chance it. I slice my cake and store it in the freezer. Take some slices out and leave at room temperature for about an hour before you need them.
You can freeze the cake whole or pre slice it. Wrap well with plastic wrap and place in a freezer safe container or bag. It will last 2-3 months in the freezer.
This cake is very sweet and dense so it's very good all on it's own. A dusting of icing sugar is a nice touch though.
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📋 Recipe
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Traditional Christmas Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups mincemeat
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 2 ½ tablespoons sherry divided
- 2 cups glace fruit
Marzipan
- 3 tablespoons apricot jam
- 1 tablespoon water
- 8 oz marzipan pre-made
Royal Icing
- 3 egg whites pasteurized
- 1 ½ lb icing sugar sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoons glycerine
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 300F. Grease and line a 9 inch springform pan. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt together.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add mincemeat, condensed milk, 2 tablespoons of sherry, and glace fruit; mix together. Stir dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and pour into prepared pan.
- Bake for 2 to 2 ½ hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool on a wire rack.
- Poke holes over the top of cake with toothpick. Pour ½ tablespoon sherry slowly over cake. Wrap with aluminum foil and let sit at room temperature for a few hours or overnight.
Marzipan
- Warm apricot jam and water in a small pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then sieve the jam so that no peels remain. Brush the top and sides of the cake with the jam.
- Roll out marzipan on a sifted icing sugar surface. Place marzipan over top of cake and smooth top and sides. Cut away excess. Cover cake with parchment paper and leave at room temperature for 3 days so marzipan can dry.
Royal Icing
- Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until frothy. Mix in icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until all the icing sugar has been dissolved.
- Whisk in glycerine and beat until the icing is stiff and stands up in peaks.
- Spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake. To make a snow peak effect, use the back of a spoon to rough up the icing.
- Leave the cake loosely covered overnight to allow the icing to harden. Store in a airtight container.
Notes
- Alcohol - replace this with apple juice or orange juice if you like.
- Instead of sherry, you can use brandy or rum.
- Notice there is no sugar to this recipe? The sweetened condensed milk gives enough sweetness, and also makes the cake moist.
- If you don't like the big chunks of glacee fruit mix, chop them finer.
Did you try this recipe? Comment below to let me know ☺️