Christmas Cake is a traditional fruit cake with a rich, velvety texture that’s so full flavoured and moist it can be eaten plain. But no one turns away a slosh of custard! Usually Christmas Cakes need to be started the day before, with overnight soaking of dried fruit. But not mine!
For gifting, make Mini Christmas Cakes. They look adorable when wrapped!
Christmas Cake
I’m fussy about Christmas Cake because (speaking frankly) there are too many not-so-great-ones out there. Here’s how I like / don’t like my Christmas Cake:
With or without alcohol – cake has to be just as good with or without booze (I mostly make it without – so it can be widely shared!);
Not too much peel or citrus flavour – I’m just not a fan of biting into giant chunks of orange rind. I just like a subtle hint of citrus flavour;
Soft and velvety is how I like the texture to be when you slice through it – it’s how “good fruit cakes” should be. As opposed to “crumbly” with a muffin-like texture. I make muffins all year round, I don’t want my Christmas Cake like that!
Moist and fudgy – but still distinctly cake like, not brownie-like. Some cakes I tried to compare leading up to sharing this recipe were just far too dry.
Quite dense but NOT brick like! Some Christmas Cake recipes are WAY too dense, and you feel like you’re cutting into a block of firm fudge. No thank you!
Decorating is optional!! The cake should be tasty enough and moist enough to eat plain, without any frosting / fondant or custard.
So if that sounds good to you, then I think you’re really going to love this Christmas Cake!
This fruit cake uses a highly effective FAST fruit soaking method by heating in the microwave then soaking for just 1 hour. Works 100% perfectly!
What goes in Christmas Cake
You need a LOT of dried fruit and very little cake batter ingredients!!
1. Soaked Dried Fruit
Here’s what you need for the Soaked Dried Fruit. The fruit is soaked in either apple juice OR a combination of apple juice and brandy (for those who like boozy Christmas Cake).
Use any dried fruit you want – as long as it weighs 855g / 30 oz in total. You could even use a store bought mix of pre chopped dried fruit – but just know that chopping your own will yield a more moist cake (pre chopped is not as moist), but having said that, this cake is ULTRA moist so has the flex to use pre chopped!
Mixed peel is a store bought mix of dried, crystallised (ie sugared) lemon and orange peel. Usually it comes pre chopped – I like to chop it a bit finer. I like less citrus peel than some recipes because I’m too scarred by all those times I bit into a huge piece of orange peel. Just not to my taste! Don’t use FRESH orange and lemon peel, it will be too strong and too bitter. I do not know how much fresh peel to substitute this for.
Juice and/or booze – for a traditional boozy Christmas Cake, just switch 1/3 of the apple juice with brandy. Can also sub apple juice with orange juice if you want a stronger��citrus flavour.
2. Christmas Cake Batter
And here’s what you need for the cake batter part. The cake has very little baking powder because it’s quite a dense cake. But it’s still got a distinct “cake” texture – unlike some Christmas Cakes that are so dense, you’d swear you were eating a block of fudge!
Dark brown sugar – makes the cake a rich dark brown colour. Can sub with normal brown sugar – will make cake lighter (also looks nice as fruit stands out!)
Molasses / golden syrup – adds to the richness of flavour and colour of cake. Either is fine – I interchange year on year;
Walnuts – sub with any nuts of choice, or leave it out completely;
Oil AND butter – oil is what gives this cake a superb moistness. Butter is for flavour!
How to make Christmas Cake
And here’s how the making part goes down.
The key step that makes this so much faster to make than other fruit cakes is the fruit soaking step. Most recipes call for dried fruit to be soaked overnight.
I take a speedy approach: just microwave the dried fruit with juice and/or brandy, then stand for 1 hour to soak up the liquid. So much faster – and just as effective!
Other than that, there’s nothing unusual about how this fruit cake is made.
Because it’s a dense cake, it needs to be baked long and slow in order to cook it all the way through without drying out the edges and surface (without fussing with water baths). I bake it for 2 1/2 hours covered with foil, then another 30 to 45 minutes without foil to brown the surface (check with skewer to know when it’s cooked).
Christmas Cake Decoration ideas
A plain Christmas Cake does look like a big, dark brown block so it is nice to decorate it! Here are some ideas – but remember, it’s purely decorative. This fruit cake is full flavoured and very moist so unlike other cakes, you don’t need a frosting to make it ultra delish to eat!
Simple – just dust with icing sugar, or pile on cherries or other fruit and dust with icing sugar;
Christmas TREE decorations – yes, really. Inedible decorations is FINE!!
Drippy white glaze – use the recipe in this Lemon Cake with Drippy Glaze but skip the lemon in the glaze. Flip cake upside down for a perfectly level surface;
Traditional white fondant (pictured above) – I know some people really don’t like fondant. Too many bad wedding cake experiences!! But nowadays, store bought fondant is actually much nicer than it was in the past. It just tastes like a softish sheet of plain sweet frosting. See below the recipe card for a step by step visual of how to apply the white fondant on your Christmas Cake.
The cake in the photos is the 2nd time in my life I’ve used fondant. So if I can do it, you can do it too!
How to serve Christmas Cake
This Christmas Fruit Cake is rich and moist, with a ton of flavour from the fruit so it’s absolutely delish eaten plain. No frosting, no fondant – nothing needed – and it’s certainly how I pick away at the leftovers for weeks and weeks!
But if you really want to make it special, serve it with custard. Homemade custard, if you can. But if you opt for store bought, do my little pimping up trick – just stir in some vanilla bean paste. The little black specks gives it a little “extra special” look and it does wonders to freshen up the flavour too!
And lastly, you’ll be very happy to know this keeps for weeks and weeks! 3 months in the fridge, a year in the freezer.
Will yours last that long??! – Nagi x
PS How did I get all the way down to here without telling you where all my Christmas recipes live?? Right here -> Christmas Recipes
Watch how to make it
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Christmas Cake – EASY moist fruit cake
Ingredients
Fast soaked fruit (Note 1):
- 300g / 10 oz raisins
- 150g / 5 oz diced dried apricots , chopped 8 mm / 1/3"
- 75g / 2.5 oz mixed peel , diced 5mm / 1/5
- 150g / 5 oz glace cherries , chopped 8 mm / 1/3"
- 180g / 6 oz dates , diced 5mm / 1/5"
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp apple juice, OR 1/3 brandy + 2/3 juice (Note 2)
Cake:
- 115g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , softened (1 US stick)
- 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar , packed (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or canola, peanut, grapeseed)
- 3 tbsp molasses or golden syrup (Note 4)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp all spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 2/3 cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 3/4 cup walnuts , chopped (optional)
For serving (optional)
- 500ml / 1 pint pouring custard , homemade or store bought (Note 5)
White Christmas Cake decoration, as pictured (optional)
- 250g / 8 oz "ready to roll" marzipan
- 250g / 8 oz "ready to roll" white fondant
- Cherries dusted with icing sugar
Other Decorating Options (optional)
- Cherries or other fruit dusted with icing sugar (on plain cake, looks very pretty!)
- Drippy white glaze (directions below)
Instructions
Fast Soaked Fruit:
- Place dried fruit and juice/brandy in a large microwavable container. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes on high or until hot.
- Stir to coat all fruit in liquid. Cover then set aside for 1 hour (to plump up/soak and cool).
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 160°C / 320°F (140°C fan). Grease and line a 21 – 22 cm / 8 – 9" round cake pan with baking paper (parchment paper) (7 cm / 2.75" tall).
- Using an electric beater, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute on speed 5).
- Add oil and molasses, beat until combined.
- Add salt, spices and baking powder – beat until incorporated.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated
- Stir in the flour.
- When mostly incorporated, stir in the fruit mix (including all the extra liquid in bowl) and walnuts (if using).
- Pour into cake pan, cover with foil and bake for 2 1/2 hours. Remove the foil then bake for another 30 to 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into middle comes out clean with no batter on it (check first at 30 minutes).
- Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Cool completely before serving.
- Cake is moist and so full flavoured, it can be eaten plain. But see below for decorating and serving ideas (traditionally served with pouring custard).
- Cutting: Either cut into thin wedges, or cut cake into thin strips (2cm / 0.75" or so), then cut those strips into serving size pieces.
Christmas Cake Decorating options:
- Traditional White Christmas Cake (pictured in post) – Marzipan and fondant, see Decorating Note.
- Simple – pile top with fresh cherries or other fruit, dust with icing sugar (powdered sugar). Wrap a ribbon around the cake for extra touch!
- Drippy white glaze – use the glaze in this Lemon Cake recipe, but leave out the lemon juice (ie make a plain sweet white glaze). Flip cake upside down for flat surface then glaze per that recipe.
- Serving – serve with custard for a traditional experience! Either homemade custard or store bought pouring custard (jazz it up by mixing in vanilla seed paste!).
Recipe Notes:
- Best to use a cake turntable or similar (I used a small lazy susan!)
- Marzipan layer mainly for creating perfect smooth surface for fondant layer.
- Dust work surface with icing sugar. Shape marzipan into a disc then roll out so it’s large enough to cover cake and sides (250g/8oz marzipan covers this cake perfectly with some excess).
- Roll marzipan onto rolling pin, then unroll it over the cake.
- Drape over cake, stretching and pressing to cover sides with as few pleats as possible. Use wet table eating knife to smooth pleats, doesn’t need to look perfect – this is Layer 1 to smooth cake, plus also for the subtle almond flavour.
- Use something with a clean edge but not as sharp as a knife (I used a cake server).
- Press on a 45 degree angle on side of cake about 2.5 cm / 1″ apart all around the cake, then 45 degrees in the opposite direction to create “diamond”.
- Dip the blunt end of a wooden skewer into water, then press a light indent into fondant on intersection of diamond.
- Then press in a silver ball (water makes it stick). Repeat all around.
- Top with cherries, dusting with icing sugar, give it a grand spin to admire your work and serve!
Nutrition Information:
Originally published December 2019. Republished December 2020 – no change to recipe, just tidied up some of the writing!
How to ice Christmas Cake with fondant
The pictured cake in this post is decorated with a layer of marzipan (almond flavoured frosting) then topped with white fondant. This combination of marzipan + fondant is a traditional way to decorate Christmas Cake. Marzipan is for flavour and also to create a smooth surface for the fondant.
A visual of the steps is included in the recipe video above the recipe card, and below in photos.
What you need
250g / 8oz of each “ready to roll” marzipan and white fondant, sold in the baking aisle of grocery stores.
How to apply marzipan and fondant to Christmas Cake
Use a cake turn table, if you have one. I used a lazy susan!
Dust work surface with icing sugar (powdered sugar) and shape marzipan into a disc;
Roll marzipan out so it’s large enough to cover the sides of the cake;
Roll the marzipan lightly around the rolling pin (best way to handle because marzipan is prone to tearing, can’t pick it up);
Then unroll it over the cake;
Gently press down around the sides, making it as smooth as possible and stretching / adjusting as needed to avoid “pleats”. Don’t get too hung up about perfection here – this layer is to create a smooth surface for the fondant layer;
Trim off excess using a knife;
Roll out fondant the same way as the marzipan, including rolling it around the rolling pin to transfer to the cake;
Unroll over the cake, then gently press down the side of the cake, stretching gently as needed to make it fit with no pleats.
TIP: If you have cracks / crevices / tears, just wet a table knife then use it to “smear” the fondant to seal the cracks. Use small pinches of surplus fondant if needed.
How to decorate side of cake
Here’s how I decorated the side of the cake:
Use something with a clean edge but not as sharp as a knife (I used a cake server).
Press on a 45 degree angle on side of cake about 2.5 cm / 1″ apart all around the cake;
Then 45 degrees in the opposite direction to create “diamond”;
Dip the blunt end of a wooden skewer into water, then press a light indent into fondant on intersection of diamond. Then press in a silver ball (water makes it stick). Repeat all around; and
Top with cherries, dusting with icing sugar, give it a grand spin to admire your work and serve!
Life of Dozer
Too much Christmas cheer – and not enough cake, according to him! No Christmas Cake for Dozer. Dried fruit is bad for dogs!
Caroline says
Can bake this in cupcakes to reduce baking time?
Nagi says
I played with that idea a bit last year, Caroline, but it wasn’t really successful. When I crack it I will let you know! N x
Sanjana says
Can I omit the all spice ?
Nagi says
Yes you can Sanjana, if you don’t like it! N x
Arch says
Hello love your recipes.
What size cake tin pls?
Nagi says
Hi Arch – that’s in Step 1 of the recipe – grease and line a 22-23cm at least 7cm deep cake tin! N x
Colleen Dsouza says
This cake is amazing! The best I have ever made
Mai Moore says
I made four of these cakes this year for Xmas presents and they looked beautiful. Thankyou
Donna M Harris says
Nagi HELP!! Ok so I just baked mine and the bottom and sides burned like bad. Has this happened to anyone else ? I did 320° for 3hrs 15min. I buttered my pan and lined w/parchment. I cut off the burned bottom but so tempted to do another one. Wondering if the over baking will tk away the moistness ?? 😫
Nataliya says
The baking dish, in which the cake will be baked, was wrapped in foil, put in a large form, filled with boiling water and baked for about 3 hours, periodically adding water as the water evaporates and nothing burns
Bernice says
Put brown paper around the tin and tie it with string, check out YouTube or google for instructions. It will protect your cake.
Donna M Harris says
Thnx Bernice !!
Julie Brillo says
Made the fruitcake last week so moist and all my family loves it .. even. My work colleagues!
Molly says
Hi Nagi, thank you for sharing this great recipe. I have just baked this cake last night and it turned out super moist and super tasty. This recipe is a keeper! cheers!
Aria says
I’m just about to bake this Christmas cake- I soaked the fruit in a mixture of fresh orange juice and Greek Limoncello liqueur as I didn’t have anything else suitable in my home bar! I also added some chopped almonds into the dough…I will post a photo of my ready cake here tomorrow. Really love your recipes! Your blueberry cheesecake has decorated many of my dessert tables and been eaten to the last morsel-and I cook peofessionally to prestige villa guests here in Greece. Thank you so much Nagi, you are my hero, you are 😘
Louise says
Hi
I made this last night smells amazing can’t wait to try it, did it need to be kept in the fridge if it as alchol in, I also don’t have air right container so I have wrapped it in greaseproof, foil, then cling film. Will the still be OK?
Cheryl says
If I scaled this recipe down to a 2 eggs in a 6 inch tin, how long would it need to cook?
Signe says
Hi Cheryl,
If you go to print the recipe the option to change quantities comes up. I’ve printed it for 12 people and for 25. the length of time would need to be monitored as it was anyway as so many ovens are different. I didn’t read it properly the first time and the outside was much too dark. 2nd time I set the timer for 30 mins earlier and kept an eye on it
Nagi says
Sorry Cheryl I haven’t tested that so don’t know. N x
Priya says
I made this cake as i needed a fruit cake in a hurry. It was perfect even though i didnt ice it. My husband who can be fussy thought it very good. You are my go to for recipes. Thank you. Waiting for the book!
Nagi says
It is coming!!! N x
Elaine says
Hi can you plse tell me how much of flour is needed exactly plz. Thank you I’m frm South Africa
Jenny Hewett says
Best recipe for fruit cake I have made, and I have made a lot of fruitcakes. Lovely and moist. I didn’t have apple juice so substituted elderflower cordial made up. Along with the brandy. Delicious. Thanks again Nagi.
Mrs Mary J Maksymiw says
How long do I need to cook 5 cakes altogether
Donna M Harris says
And if anyone tried to feed the cake, how much, how often and how did it turn out? Thnx!
Donna M Harris says
Hi Nagi, can this cake b fed alcohol until Christmas or will it b too much booze with the soaked fruit?? And if yes, how often? Plz advise bc I’m mking it tomorrow..thnx !!
Euro says
I made 3 of these last year – one naked and two with marzipan and icing. One of the decorated cakes was shipped to my parents and they enjoyed a slice here and there until Easter and had nothing but praise for it. Our cakes didn’t last that long – my husband couldn’t keep his ‘chops’ away xxx.
I baked them end October and fed each one with 30ml brandy every week for four weeks – turning them upside down before each feed and poking a dozen holes with a toothpick first. I left them to ‘dry’ another 2 weeks before decorating.
Each cake got a total of 120ml brandy and they were awesome! I wouldn’t recommend driving after more than a small slice xxx.
Donna Harris says
Oh that is too funny!! Thank u so much for your response! I made my first Christmas cake a few yrs ago with my very English mom in-law and half the fun was feeding/nursing it..lol! However she nvr soaked the fruit in booze so that’s why I was worried. Her’s was difficult, time consuming and dense but very delish. I am looking so forward to Nagi’s bc of it’s moistness and amazing reviews. U have been a huge help! Happy holiday’s to u and good eating! ❤
Ivan Kirsch says
I made your recipe and it turned out wonderful. Nice and moist! Actually reminded me of my Mother’s Christmas cake recipe which I don’t have. I am serving the cake plain in slices as I don’t care for all the icing.
Roger Coates says
First attempt at a Christmas cake, and so far so good!
I used apricot, dates, figs, sultanas and glacé cherrys, ginger wine and apple juice. I only added cinnamon. Just tasted where it overflowed the tins! Nice 🙂
Bec says
Hi N, love your recipes they are always my go-to! My 13 year old is coeliac so I’m always grateful for a GF option, would you be able to test one for this cake? It looks amazing. Thank you again for helping me out awesome meals on the family table!!
Karen says
Hi Nagi, I’m in the UK. I’m going to deviate from my traditional Christmas cake recipe this year, and try yours, as your recipes have never failed me! Please can you advise if it can be kept at room temperature in a airtight tin (bearing in mind I’m in the UK) or why it has to be kept in the fridge? Thank you & Merry Christmas to You & Dozer! x
Nagi says
Hi Karen – it will last longer in the fridge! N x
Sharon says
Can I use a square tin for this. None of my round ones are deeper than 5cm. Thank you
Kim says
Hi Sharon, I made a 24cm square cake last year. It turned out great, I cut in half to make 2 x 12 cm cakes that I decorated the same. Gave rhem as gifts family loved them and said better than store brought.
Nagi says
Hi Sharon – I think it should work in a square tin although I haven’r tried it myself. As long as the volume is similar to the 8in or 9 in round pan I use then it should work. N x