Mini Christmas Cakes! Great to serve at gatherings and ideal for gifting – long shelf life, packages up beautifully, easy to make and economical. Made with my classic Christmas cake batter, the rich fruit cake is moist and velvety.
Mini Christmas Cakes
Here are the Mini Christmas Cakes I promised in last weeks’ Holiday Gift Guide!! This is just my classic Christmas Cake converted into mini form. They look so great on a platter to serve at gatherings, and are also ideal for gifting because they have a long shelf life. The cake is beautifully moist, rich with dried fruit, perfumed with Christmas spices. Dense, but soft pudding-like, not like a brick as many store bought ones are.
I also like that they’re easy to dress up for serving and gifting, because this Christmas Cake is designed to be eaten plain. So you don’t need to fuss to work around frosting or add a sauce for serving. Just dust with icing sugar, then for an extra Christmassy touch, tie a ribbon around each one and add a sprig of rosemary!
Also – the option to add a Christmas pudding drippy glaze!
What you need to make Mini Christmas Cakes
A LOT of dried fruit and very little cake batter!! 🙂
1. SOAKED DRIED FRUIT (booze optional)
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).
Dried fruit mix speedy option – While I like to chop my own dried fruit (cake is softer, you get better flavour and I can use the ratios I like), feel free to use a store bought mix of pre chopped dried fruit for convenience.
Use any dried fruit you want – As long as it weighs 855g / 30 oz in total. The selection above is the mix I like!
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 with a pudding-like texture. But it’s still got a distinct “cake” texture – unlike some Christmas Cakes that are so dense they are like eating fudge!
Brown sugar – Dark brown sugar gives the cake a richer colour and that is what I use for my classic single large Christmas cake. For individual ones, I prefer a slightly lighter coloured crumb so the fruit bits stand out more, so I use regular brown sugar.
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!
Eggs – This is what makes the cake hold together rather than being crumbly.
Flour – Just regular plain / all-purpose flour. Self raising flour can be used to substitute the flour and baking powder but the cake may dome a little more than pictured.
Spices – All spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Classic Christmas cake flavours!
How to make Mini Christmas Cakes
The only difference between this and my classic Christmas Cake is that I bake it in a square pan so I can cut into square individual cakes.
Pan size – I use a 20 cm / 8″ square pan which makes a 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall cake so when cut into 9 squares, they are a nice tall height and impressive gift-giving size. Feel free to use a larger pan – for example, a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13″ pan will make a 2.3cm / 1″ tall cake which you can cut into more pieces. You can also use a muffin tin lined with silver foil patties.
1. Baking the Christmas cake
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!
Soak fruit – Microwave the dried fruit with the juice/brand for 1 1/2 minutes or until hot. Stir to coat then set aside for 1 hour to let the fruit soak up the liquid and plump up.
Batter – Beat the butter and sugar for 1 minute until light and fluffy. Because of the volume of sugar vs butter, it won’t look creamy but you can tell it’s soft from the texture. Then beat in the oil and molasses, then the salt, spices and baking powder. Then beat in the eggs one at a time, beating until just incorporated.
Mix in the flour using a wooden spoon.
Soaked fruit – Then mix in the dried fruit, including any residual liquid left in the bottom of the bowl.
Pan – Pour the batter into a lined 20cm / 8″ pan. It will fill it right to the top and that’s fine, the cake barely rises. As noted above, it’s a dense cake but it’s not brick-like! It’s still distinctly cakey.
Bake 2 1/2 hours – Cover the cake with a sheet of baking paper (which will peel off without ripping the cake surface off), then foil. Then bake for 2 hours, remove foil and paper, then bake for a further 30 minutes uncovered to colour the surface.
Cool – Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferred to a rack to fully cool.
2. Cutting mini cakes
I like to cut into 9 squares because I think the proportions look nice and the cake is a gift-worthy size. To be specific, they are 6.5cm / 2 1/2″ squares that are 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall. As noted above, feel free to use different size pans. For example, a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13″ pan will make a cake that is 2.3cm / 1″ tall and you will be able to cut many more pieces.
Cutting – Trim the edges (to make the sides neat). Then cut the cake into pieces as desired. I do 9 squares.
Trim surface – The surface of the cake is ever so slightly domed. So to make the Christmas Cake into perfect uniform pieces, I trim the surface then turn them upside down and decorate the base.
Flip and dust or ice – Flip the cake upside down so the base of the cake is the side you decorate. Then either dust with icing sugar (easy option I use when gift-wrapping), or decorate drippy-style with white frosting (for a classic Christmas Pudding look) or top with fondant (see classic Christmas Cake recipe for directions).
Gift wrapping
As I mentioned earlier, Mini Christmas Cakes have in their favour as a homemade gifting idea. They are:
Easy to make
Economical – especially if you use a mixed fruit option instead of getting individual dried fruits
Easy to decorate – Just a dusting of icing sugar makes them instantly Christmassy! Though tying ribbon around the cake really is an easy way to make them even more gift-worthy. 🙂
Easy to gift wrap – no need to find specific size jars of gift bags. Just wrap in cellophane and tie with ribbon.
Long shelf life – This one is important to me! A few years ago I did cookies but they just don’t have a great shelf life. It’s rare for any cookie to truly remain in top-notch fresh form beyond 2 days. Wheres the Christmas Cake? I’ve kept mine in the fridge for a month and it was still like freshly made. How good is that!
Love to know how you present these Mini Christmas Cakes if you try them, or how you customise the cake to your taste. Share in the comments below – readers love getting inspiration!
Also, spoiler alert for my friends – you’re all getting Mini Christmas Cakes this year. 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Mini Christmas Cakes – ideal for gifting!
Ingredients
Fast soaked fruit (Note 1):
- 300g / 10 oz raisins
- 150g / 5 oz diced dried apricots , chopped 8 mm / 1/3"
- 75g / 2 1/2 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 brown sugar , packed (or dark brown sugar for a darker crumb, 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 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 2/3 cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 3/4 cup walnuts , chopped (optional)
Decorating
- Icing sugar, for dusting
- Christmas fondant – see directions here
Christmas Pudding Drippy Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp / 15g unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 – 3 tbsp milk
Instructions
Fast Soaked Fruit:
- Heat – Place dried fruit and juice/brandy in a large microwavable container. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes on high or until hot.
- Soak – 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 20cm / 8" square cake pan with baking paper / parchment paper, or larger pan to get more cakes out of it. (Note 5 on pan size).
- Beating – 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 with a wooden spoon, then the dried fruit (including all the extra liquid in bowl) and walnuts (if using).
- Pour into the cake pan, it will fill it right to the top (it won't spill over, the cake barely rises). Cover the surface with paper then cover with foil.
- Bake 2 1/2 hours – Bake for 2 hours, remove the foil and paper, then bake for a further 30 minutes. A skewer inserted into middle should come out clean with no batter on it.
- Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Cool completely before cutting.
- Cutting – Trim off the sides (to make them neat). Then cut into 9 squares (or more, if you want). Trim the surface (to make them level as the cake slightly domes). Then flip upside down and decorate the base of the cake.
Decorating, gifting and serving
- Simple – Dust with icing sugar. That's all this cake needs, it's so full flavoured and moist! Wrap with cellophane and ribbon to gift.
- Ribbon – Wrap and tie a ribbon around each cake. Nice way to present for serving. (Optional to include for gift wrapping too, but then there's a double ribbon situation happening – ie ribbon and cake, ribbon on cellophane!)
- Drippy white glaze – Mix the icing sugar, butter, vanilla and start with 2 tbsp milk. Mix really well (it will take time to come together, be patient). Then adjust thickness using 1/2 tsp milk at a time. BE CAREFUL – it goes from too thick to too thin very easily! Goal: Thick glaze that will ooze "pudding style", as pictured, rather than dripping in long streaks. Spoon onto cake, coaxing it down the sides. Allow to set before wrapping.
- Fondant – See directions in my classic round Christmas Cake.
- Serving – serve with custard for a traditional experience! Either homemade custard or store bought pouring custard.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Pleading for help.
Marie says
My husband makes mixed peel which we eat ravenously and then have to make more for his delicious stollen. Julienne lemon and orange peel and then crystallise in white sugar and water. No big chunks, just little pops of citrus
Nagi says
WOW!! You luck lady, you 🙂 N x
Sue Thompson says
Perfect timing! I made my cake last week with the intention of dividing it into mini gift cakes. Thanks to all of your help and suggestions above they look 1000% better than they otherwise would have. They would always have tasted great as it was your recipe. But now they look fantastic too. Thank you Nagi and Merry Christmas. Sorry Dozer I laughed when I saw you all dressed up 😆
Nagi says
He he Glad you laughed when you saw his outfit!!! More to come 😈
Aisha says
Can’t wait to try this recipe! If I’m cooking individual portions in a muffin pan, is the cooking time the same? 2.5 hours seems too long for mini-cakes?
Christopher says
That’s what I’m trying, too. The finicky knife work would do me in. Good luck to us! Nagi notes:
5. Cake pan size – You can also use a muffin tin – silver liners look lovely. They take around 25 minutes to bake (no need to cover, just bake uncovered).
Nagi says
It’s not finicky, I promise!! Christmas Cake is SOLID 🙂 So easy to cut!! N xx
Aisha says
Thanks Christopher! Happy baking! 🙂
Elizabeth says
Thank you for sharing a wonderful Christmas cake recipe Nagi and team! Can the eggs be replaced with an alternative as a couple of family members are allergic eggs. Thanks once again for the recipe and all the other wonderful recipes you create!
Liz
Nagi says
Hi Elizabeth! I’m sorry I don’t know, I haven’t tried for this cake 🙁 Sorry! N x
Cheryl Hamilton says
Navi, can I use these for a Christmas pudding. Are they moist enough?
Nagi says
YES absolutely. We also steamed it last year in a big pudding basin in a giant pot of water. It took around the same time as baking a single large cake (see that recipe, it’s linkedin this one). It’s even MORE moist and soft because of all the steaminess! N x
Lee Pevely says
Hi Nagi, I was wondering if gluten free flour can be substituted in this Christmas cake recipe, it sounds delicious?
Thanks
Nagi says
Hi Lee! I’m afraid I don’t know for this one 🙁 I’m sorry! N x
Dora says
I Can’t wait to try it this weekend. I have always used pre cut dried chopped fruit. Great gifting idea, cause they can end up pricey.
Nagi says
AGREE. I did all the testing using pre cut dried fruit 🙂 N x
Jeanette says
Yummmmmmmmmmy. One of my all time favourite Xmas recipes from Nagi. Use this recipe annually for Xmas, birthdays, celebrations and any excuse I can think of. However I have never thought of slicing into individual portions, adding ribbon, decoration and gifting to others. Nagi, you are absolutely brilliant. May health, happiness, love and peace, always walk alongside you, Dozer, your family, staff and friends.
Will this recipe work in large muffin tins?
When’s Dinner book 2 being released 😉
Nagi says
Aww, I love hearing that Jeanette!! Re: book 2…I am yet to recover from book 1!! 😂 N xx
Chef JB (RecipeTin) says
Hi Jeanette, thank you for your kind words! Yes it can work in muffin tins (see note 5).
Brooke says
Where to find chopped dried fruit and peel? I’m in the US. I could buy individual bags of the suggested fruits and chop them myself, but I’m trying to make it easier. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen chopped peel…
Betsy G says
Brooke – chopped peel can be found in the baking aisle of most major grocery stores, it’s usually in clear round tubs like the deli puts out. My local Jewel/Mariano’s (Kroger) usually has them in the baking aisle, but during the holidays will have them on endcap display. Usually cherries are on their own, and then citrus is a different container. Hope that helps! Like mincemeat, more prevalent during holidays than during the year. Dried fruit will be down the fruit aisle, you usually need to chop on your own. Dates we can find in the produce department too.
Nagi says
Hi Brooke! To be honest, just grab a bag of mixed chopped dried fruit. It works a treat! That’s what I used for all the testing of this recipe and it’s so tasty. You won’t notice if you’re missing a particular dried fruit, or mixed peel. The store mixes are made especially for fruit cakes like this 🙂 So they will be good! N x
Ann says
Help Nagi! How long would I cook the cakes for in individual 3 1/2 by 6 inch pans? My Dad loves Christmas cakes.
Nagi says
Hi Ann! Hmm…. I am guessing 1 1/2 hours. But it’s such a forgiving cake, you can wing it. Just pop it in covered and check it at around the 1 hour mark. Once a skewer comes out almost clean, remove the foil and pop it back in the oven until it’s done! N x
MrsSW says
What a terrible thing to do to poor Dozer!
Nagi says
I know. I’m so ashamed of myself 😈
Tilly says
As there is only my husband and I, is it possible to halve the quantities in the receipe to make a small cake? It looks delicious but sadly too big for ourselves….fingers crossed !
Meg says
You could wrap in sections and keep in the fridge or freezer for months and bring to room temperature when you want some, that’s what I do.😊
Meg says
Oops, just saw Nagi’s last note about storage, saying the same!
GLORIA KEDUMLE LAWAL says
Hi Nagi,
Thank you for the Christmas Cake recipe, going through the recipe and instructions alone is already making me smack my lips,
Katie says
Very excited to make these but wanted to say I wholeheartedly share your attitude to peel!!! I think I’m scarred from raisin roast with giant chunks of peel robbing everyone of their happiness!
ENA says
Hi Nagi,
Is All Spice and Five Spices the same? What are the ingredients of All Spice?
In my country All Spice is difficult to find.
Valeria says
Where I live, allspice is known as Jamaican Pepper and can only be found as a dried berry. I grind it myself. It’s lovely, spicy, not at all similar to black pepper or red pimento. Hope that may help.
Joz says
Hi Ena, in answer to your question, no, (Chinese) five spice and allspice are COMPLETELY different. Do not use! Instead, I’d suggest sub allspice with a mix of ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and a tiny bit of cloves. Good luck and Merry Christmas
Dominique says
Allspice is also known as ground Pimento 🙂
Nagi says
Or mixed spices if you have it! Though Joe’s suggestion is better 🙂 N x
Jeani says
What can I substitute for allspice?
The brand also recommends using a trio of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to make a substitute but prefers these ratios: ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves. Use as a 1:1 substitute in a recipe that calls for one teaspoon of allspice.Dec 22, 2021
Kelly says
Hi Ena. Allspice is one spice from a dried “berry”, not a mixture of spices. Hope this helps.
Jan says
Thank you Nagi can’t wait to try. Good hint about peel I too hate biting into a huge chunk.
Pam says
Hey Nagi,
Can’t wait to try this.
Can you clarify one thing, on Step 4 where the cake is to be covered with paper & foil you reference Note 6 but Note 6 doesn’t refer to the covering.
I ask because I’m not familiar with this process…..want to make sure it turns out right. 😸 (a Dozer tease..lol)
Maggie says
In the States, it’s parchment paper. Pretty sure that’s what Nagi meant.
steph says
Look delicious and have been wanting home made Christmas cake for ages. I can not have wheat at all- how do you think it would work if I replaced the flour with almond flour and 1/4 tsp xanthan gum and omit the oil?
Betty Elias says
Hi Nagi
I’m just wondering what you can do with all the off cuts from the mini Christmas cake recipe, apart from the obvious, which is to have them with a cup of tea. Do you use them to make anything extra. Thanks
Sue Thompson says
I used the offcuts to make rum balls which gave me another gift to give
Nagi says
What a great idea!! I have a bowl of the offcuts in the fridge I’ve just been snacking on – time to get rollin! 🙂 N x
Donna says
Blitz in food processor. Make a dark chocolate ganache and let it thicken in fridge (beat periodically). Stir through the blitzed off cuts and scoop/roll into truffles. Return to fridge. Roll in cocoa powder to serve.
Miss-Morgs says
Crumble them, moisten with a little icing, and roll into Christmas cake balls! Decorate like tiny pudding with white chocolate, spearmint leaves and tiny red M&Ms.
Rosanna says
How can I buy your book in Italy!!!