From Delia Smith's version to Nigella Lawson's take, there are many different Christmas cake recipes out there to try. But former Great British Bake Off judge Dame Mary Berry is an icon for a reason, so her classic Victorian Christmas cake recipe is well worth checking out.
You will need a bit of time for Mary Berry's Christmas cake recipe as the baking Queen recommends three days to soak and flavour the dried fruit but it's well worth the effort and this is a step you can prepare ahead of time. If you're well prepared, you could even freeze the cake for up to three months before defrosting it at room temperature and starting on the decorating.
When it comes to decorating, it's completely up to you how you finish your Christmas cake. Mary recommends ribbons, stars or even some animal figurines to pop on top.
Mary Berry's Christmas cake recipe
Ingredients
175g raisins
350g glacé cherries, rinsed, thoroughly dried and quartered
500g currants
350g sultanas
150ml (¼ pint) sherry, plus extra for feeding
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
250g butter, softened
250g light muscovado sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon black treacle
75g blanched almonds, chopped
75g self-raising flour
175g plain flour
1½ teaspoons mixed spice
To finish
3 tablespoons of apricot jam
sieved and warmed icing sugar
1kg ready-made marzipan
1kg ready-made royal icing
Method
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Grease and line a 23cm deep round tin with a double layer of greased greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 140ºC/Fan 120ºC/Gas 1. Put all the dried fruit in a container, pour over the sherry and stir in the orange zest. Cover with a lid, and leave to soak for three days, stirring daily.
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Measure the butter, sugar, eggs, treacle and almonds into a very large bowl and beat well. Add the flours and mixed spice and mix thoroughly until blended. Stir in the soaked fruit. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and level the surface.
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Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 4–4½ hours or until the cake feels firm to the touch and is a rich golden brown. Check after 2 hours, and, if the cake is a perfect colour, cover with foil. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
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When cool, pierce the cake at intervals with a fine skewer and feed with a little extra sherry. Wrap the completely cold cake in a double layer of greaseproof paper and again in foil and store in a cool place for up to 3 months, feeding at intervals with more sherry. (Don’t remove the lining paper when storing as this helps to keep the cake moist.)
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Decorate with marzipan and royal icing.
Mary Berry's Christmas cake top tips
"If you don’t want to use alcohol, you could use the same quantity of orange juice."
"Instead of covering with marzipan and royal icing, you could simply brush sieved warmed apricot jam over the top of the cake, then arrange glacé fruits and nuts over the jam. Brush again with jam."