People associate Christmas with beautiful and delicious cakes like plum cakes and rum cakes. There are also modern cake variations like Yule Logs and Whisky Dundee. They often make a moist Christmas cake at home by tradition and eat it on this auspicious day with their family and friends. This Christmas cake brings joy to holiday parties and family gatherings. But you don’t know how to make a moist Christmas cake easily at home? Take no worries!
Let us learn how to make a moist Christmas cake easily at home without any mistakes. We will also explore the art of fruit soaking and feeding in easy steps. Let us learn about the Christmas cake first.
What is a Christmas Cake?
A Christmas cake is a moist and dense fruit cake that people make with dried fruits and nuts for Christmas. It is an old tradition to soak this moist Christmas cake in alcohol like rum. It also has a spicy flavor of nutmeg and cinnamon.
People prepare this moist Christmas cake a few weeks or a month before Christmas because the flavors of the cake will age and mature with the timely feeding of alcohol. Don’t like soaking with alcohol? Then you can eat it without soaking on the day you make this cake. It would still be moist and dense with full of flavors. There are also alcohol free alternatives for those who want to avoid alcohol.
History and Traditions Behind the Christmas Cake
The history of the moist Christmas cake is rich and diverse. The origin of the Christmas cake is ancient Rome where people served it in celebratory feasts as a honey and barley loaf. This loaf was more about the need than the want. Roman soldiers ate it as a rich energy source. Then it evolved in medieval England as a healthy starter plum porridge that lined people’s stomachs after a day of religious fasting. This plum porridge later changed into a boiled plum cake with the addition of flour, butter, and eggs around the 16th Century.
Soon, other dried fruits and nuts joined the plums with honey and spices from the east. The spices represent the precious gifts of the Magi. Originally, people called the Christmas cake the Twelfth Cake because they served this cake at parties and gatherings on the Twelfth Night ending the 12 days of Christmas on January 5th.
Rich families started decorating them with royal icing and marzipan as they could afford it. The Christmas cake gained its name with British royal influence and the Industrial Revolution. During that time, it symbolised prosperity and celebration. This became the modern Christmas fruit cake. Then, fondant replaced icing after the 1980s in the US. This moist Christmas cake became a visually appealing dessert today.
The tradition of the moist Christmas cake began in India in 1883. A British planter, Murdoch Brown, requested a local Keralite baker, Mambaly Bapu, to bake a plum cake for him. This led to India’s first Christmas Plum Cake with local spices and liquors instead of brandy. It was a famous variation of the traditional and moist Christmas cake.
The Christmas cake choice is Buche de Noel or Yule Log in France. People eat Stollen in Germany and Panettone in Italy on Christmas night. This tradition of having Christmas fruit cake on Christmas symbolizes togetherness and happiness with family and loved ones. It also shows generosity with festive indulgence.
Important Ingredients For a Moist Christmas Cake
Fruit Mixture for Soaking
- 650 gm dried fruits such as raisins, currants, and sultanas
- 150 gm diced dried apricots
- 150 gm red glace cherries, cut into halves
- 150 gm green glace cherries, cut into halves
- 100 gm glace mixed peel, chopped
- 180 gm dates, chopped
- 120 gm chopped walnuts
- 1 lemon zest and 1 orange zest
- 1.5 cups of rum or brandy/apple juice or orange juice for non alcoholic alternative
Cake Batter
Dry Ingredients
- 2.5 cups/ 375 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp mixed spice
Wet Ingredients
- 250 gm unsalted butter
- 1.5 cups dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 tsp molasses or golden syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp almond essence (optional)
- 5 eggs at room temperature
For Serving and Decoration
- 500 ml pouring custard
- 250 g marzipan
- 250 g white fondant
- Fresh red cherries with icing sugar or drippy white glaze
Easy and Stepwise Instructions to Prepare a Moist Christmas Cake
The Beautiful Art of Fruit Soaking
First of all, soak the fruit mixture in alcohol for two days in the kitchen. Gather all the fruit mixture into a large glass bowl. Then add a good quality of rum or brandy. You can also use whiskey or sherry. You don’t need to place it in the fridge.
Add apple juice or orange juice to soak for a non-alcoholic alternative. You can also use strong tea instead of juice for soaking. The combination of alcohol and juice in 2 parts alcohol to 1 part juice or 1 part alcohol to 2 parts juice would also work well. All in all, the soaking liquid all depends on your palate and preferences. But juice will not preserve the cake as well as alcohol. So, the soaked mixture in juice will need to be put into the fridge and regularly mixed. The fruit-to-liquid ratio should be roughly one part liquid to one part fruit mixture.
You can also follow a fast and highly effective fruit soaking method. Just microwave the fruit mixture with rum or juice in a microwavable container for 1 1/2 minutes or until it is hot. Mix gently to coat all fruit with liquid. Then, cover with a lid and let it soak up the liquid for just one hour.
Preparing the Batter and Baking Process
This moist Christmas cake uses a high ratio of fruit to batter. It will work well in a 20cm/8 inch deep round tin. Grease it well with butter. You need to wrap the tin so the cake cooks evenly in the oven because the cake will need 3 hours to be ready. Take baking paper and fold a long length of it into 3 to line the inside of the tin. The paper needs to be 5 cm above the tin. Place a baking paper in the base of the tin. Preheat the oven to 150°C without the fan bake.
Wrap 4 layers of brown paper or parchment paper around the outside of the tin. Secure this brown paper with a kitchen string to prevent the edges from burning. Then, take a baking paper that is larger than the tin and fold it double. Make a cross cut in the center to let out the steam. You will need to place this double square paper on top while baking.
Sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set this bowl aside after mixing them. Soften the butter and cream it with dark brown sugar in another bowl until it turns fluffy. Add vegetable oil and golden syrup to it and beat them until they combine. Add vanilla essence and mix. You can choose to add the almond essence or any other essence. Add one egg at a time and mix them well until you use all the eggs. Not prefer eggs? Take 1 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk per egg. It will add moisture and tang to the cake.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and fold them until they combine. Add the soaked fruit mixture along with the liquid. Mix them with the batter gently. Pour the batter into the round baking tin. Spread them well and smooth the surface. Place the cross-cut cover paper over the high paper sides. Bake for 2 1/2 hours in the oven at 150°C, low temperature. Then, insert a skewer into the middle to see if it comes out clean. Take it out of the oven and cool for 20 minutes. Then, cool it completely on the rack. You can serve the cake and eat it plain since it is moist and full of flavors.
Moist Christmas Cake Decoration
Your Christmas fruit cake decoration will depend on your mood and the festive feel. Want everything traditional? Go for marzipan and fondant to decorate it like a traditional moist Christmas cake. Mood for a simple Christmas fruit cake? Top it with fresh red cherries and dust it with icing sugar. You can also use a drippy white glaze. To make a drippy glaze, just add 3 tsp milk into 1 cup powdered sugar with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and give it a whisk until it becomes smooth.
Drizzle over your beautiful and moist Christmas cake immediately as this glaze will set and thicken as it sits. You can also serve it with custard for a traditional feel. Feel free to add edible decorations around the cake for a nice Christmas feel.
Feeding the Christmas Cake
Feeding your traditional Christmas cake keeps it moist and deepens the flavors. It could be with alcohol or with alcohol. You need to poke a few holes into the top of the completely cool cake with a fine skewer and feed it with 2 tsp of rum or brandy into the top of the cake every three days until Christmas. Use apple juice or orange juice for feeding to replace alcohol. Cover the moist Christmas cake tightly with an aluminium foil or parchment paper and place it in an airtight container. Store it in a cool cupboard. Flip the cake regularly to distribute the moisture evenly.
Alcohol enhances the flavor of the moist Christmas cake and gives a more complex taste. It deepens the fruitiness and also adds mature notes to the cake. It gives a longer shelf life to the cake as it acts as a preservative that allows the cake to mature over weeks. Alternatives like juice or tea will give a bright and fruity flavor. But they will not achieve the same deep and aged complexity.
Tips To Remember for Making a Moist Christmas Cake
- Add flour to the batter slowly and mix them gently so it does not develop gluten. Don’t overmix the cake batter.
- Since the Christmas cake is dense, it needs a low and slow baking in order to cook all the way through without drying out the edges and surface without fussing over water baths.
- Use good quality alcohol to keep the cake moist and to give flavor to the cake while it matures. Or use apple juice or orange juice to replace alcohol. Apple cider or strong tea is also a good option.
- The cake batter should be a little airy to avoid too heavy cake. Butter is an important ingredient for this texture in this cake. It helps create the right texture, while the oil makes the batter too dense. So, don’t replace butter fully with oil.
- Do not use too much liquid for feeding, as it will make the cake soggy.
Conclusion
Try out this recipe in this guide on how to make a moist Christmas cake easily at home this Christmas season. This is the best moist Christmas cake recipe. It will be perfectly moist and dense. It will be full of flavors, even without any icing or frosting. Eat it fresh without soaking or any decorations for a beautiful Christmas night. Or feed it alcohol or juice every three days for a few weeks ahead of Christmas to let it mature.
Everything is beautiful and amazing about this moist Christmas fruit cake. The mouthwatering aroma that fills the kitchen after it is out of the oven, and the rich dark color that feeds your eyes and soul, before your stomach. The fruity and nutty flavor, or the deep and boozy flavor that can be optional, will make you forget everything around you. The spiced taste with moist and dense texture will be heavenly and amazing on a beautiful Christmas night.
So, bake your own moist Christmas Cake with the help of our guide. Sing carols or play jingle bells while savoring this flavorful Christmas fruit cake with family and friends on Christmas night. Merry Christmas to all in advance!