How to feed a Christmas cake (2024)

FAQs

How do you feed a Christmas cake? ›

Feeding the cake is a matter of personal preference but it is a good idea to feed it shortly after baking, while the cake is cooling in its tin. Then you can feed the cake one a week or once a fortnight. Use 1-2 tablespoons of alcohol each time and it may help to use a skewer to poke some holes in the cake first.

What should you feed your Christmas cake? Traditionally Christmas cake has a rich, spicy fruity taste, often associated with brandy but whisky, sherry and fortified wine such as Madeira or port can be used.

It is possible to use orange juice instead of alcohol for feeding Christmas cakes but we would suggest as a precaution that this is only done a couple of months in advance of the cake being eaten.

Serving cheese with Christmas cake

Traditionally, Yorkshire folks found that the sharp and crumbly Wensleydale cheese worked perfectly either perched on top or eaten alongside a moist, rich slice of Christmas cake.

It's possible to overfeed your cake, which will make it stodgy and wet. Our advice is to feed it once after it's initially baked, then no more than four times during the maturation period. Try a teaspoonful of whichever alcohol you've chosen before you begin feeding your cake to test its strength.

Some say you should make your Christmas cake 6 weeks before eating, but the advice given on Nigella.com is that 12 weeks before is the optimum time to get baking. Your Christmas cake should be fed every 4 to 6 weeks but in the meantime, after baking, it should be stored away in a secure, air tight container.

Aside from candied cherries, some Christmas cake recipes call for angelica for green colour. Coins were also occasionally added to Christmas cakes as well as Christmas puddings as good luck touch pieces. The usual choices were silver 3d piece, or sixpences, sometimes wrapped in greaseproof paper packages.

Fruitcake aficionados will tell you that the best fruit cakes are matured – or “seasoned” in fruitcake lingo – for at least three months before they are cut. Seasoning not only improves the flavor of the fruitcake, but it makes it easier to slice.

Keep the cake well wrapped, then feed once a fortnight with 1-2 tbsp sherry. Poke holes into the cake with a skewer and slowly spoon over the sherry. If you don't have time to do this, this cake is delicious freshly made, and can be covered and decorated as soon as it has completely cooled down.

The parchment paper and brown paper linings provide some insulation against the heat of the oven, which means that the cake bakes more evenly. If the tin is not lined in this way then the outside of the cake can cook too quickly, leaving the inside undercooked.

How do you moisten a dry Christmas fruit cake? ›

Christmas cakes are also commonly made with pudding while a fruit cake uses butter, however there are Christmas cake recipes that do contain butter. The traditional Scottish Christmas cake, also known as the Whisky Dundee, is very popular. It is a light crumbly cake with currants, raisins, cherries and Scotch whisky.

If the fruitcake holds together well, you can also try toasting a slice until the edges are crunchy and the fruit gets slightly caramelized. Slathered with a bit of butter or paired with a slice of very sharp cheddar, this makes an excellent midday treat. Fruitcake also gets a second life crumbled over ice cream.

A cup of tea is fairly classic, but anything you want. Sweet liquor like Sherry or Madeira is also quite traditional, but any wine would reflect the fruit flavours. Fruitcake doesn't necessarily match with soda, milk or coffee, but there's nothing to stop you if you prefer that.

Perhaps Wensleydale was the cheese of choice to taste alongside Christmas cake for that very reason. And the marriage works so well, it isn't surprising.

OR fill a cake syringe with 10ml of your chosen alcohol, put the tip of the syringe into each hole and press a tiny amount of alcohol into each one. Wrap the cake in greaseproof paper or baking parchment then wrap it in kitchen foil. Store cake in a second layer of foil or in an airtight tin.