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    Home » Recipes » Cakes, biscuits and dessert recipes

    Last minute Christmas cake

    Published: Dec 8, 2021 · Modified: May 31, 2024 by VJ · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

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    This last-minute Christmas cake is a life-saver when you are trying to get on top of all the Christmas preparations. Filled with fruit, nuts, and cherries and flavoured with a hint of brandy, but mixed, baked, and ready to eat in less than two hours. No overnight soaking of fruit, no feeding with brandy for weeks on end - just a moist juicy Christmas fruit cake that tastes absolutely delicious - with minimal effort.

    A christmas cake on a glass plate with a slice cut and offset to show the inside of the cake.

    You can decorate the cake with blanched almonds before you bake it, or if you prefer to cover the cake with marzipan and fondant icing you can just leave the nuts off.

    Jump to:
    • Last-minute Christmas cake
    • Ingredients
    • How to make the last-minute Christmas cake
    • How to blanch almonds
    • Save for later
    • Related recipes
    • 📋The recipe

    Last-minute Christmas cake

    If you are anything like me, you always go into the festive season full of enthusiasm and good intentions for getting all the Christmas prep done by the beginning of December. Unfortunately, things don't always work like that in real life and I find myself scouring the shops in search of that must-have last-minute present on Christmas Eve, and the Christmas cake I was going to make in the middle of November nothing but a far distant memory.

    That's why I devised this recipe for a last-minute Christmas cake. Honestly, you can even mix it up on Christmas Eve and it will be ready for eating on Christmas Day. No feeding with brandy for weeks on end, no letting it sit to mature for weeks at a time. This is truly the perfect recipe that you just mix and bake, and you can eat it almost as soon as it comes out of the oven (just let it cool first 🙂 ).

    This last-minute Christmas cake is my go-to recipe for when I can't get myself organised (ie every year). There's no need to soak the fruit overnight. You can just use my cheat's shortcut and boil the dried fruit for 2 minutes in a mixture of alcohol (I like to use cherry brandy) and orange juice, and it turns from a packet of dried, rather hard raisins and sultanas, into a bowl of delicious plump and juicy fruit that you can just mix straight into the cake batter.

    And as for the spices. Well, who has the time or inclination to measure out a few grams of cinnamon, a few more grams of cloves, a pinch of ginger etc. etc. etc. I've discovered Schwartz Mixed Spice, which is a fantastic blend of all the Christmassy spices in one bottle. All you have to do is measure it out by the teaspoon and you have the perfect mix of spices to add to your cake. Do yourself a favour and buy a bottle, then open it and take a sniff. Now tell me that doesn't smell like Christmas!

    Once you've made the cake and baked it (it only takes an hour and a half to bake) you end up with a Christmas cake that's packed with fruit, cherries, and nuts, that is so moist and juicy that people will think you spent weeks feeding the cake with brandy and leaving it to mature

    The last-minute christmas cake showing the texture.

    Trust me, this last-minute Christmas cake recipe is one that you won't want to lose!

    Ingredients

    This recipe makes one 8" round fruit cake, or you can use a similar-sized square pan.

    **You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this last-minute Christmas cake on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

    Ingredients for a last-minute christmas cake.

    Fruit mixture

    Dried fruit - this is a mixture of raisins, sultanas, currants, and dried orange and lemon peel. If you don't particularly like dried peel then look for a packet that does not include it, or you could just buy separate packets of raisins, sultanas, and currants and combine them in equal quantities.

    Liquid - this is a mixture of alcohol and orange juice. For the alcohol component, I like to use cherry brandy as it adds a nice touch of fruitiness. You can substitute this for normal brandy or sweet sherry. If you don't want to use alcohol, substitute it with more orange juice. For the orange juice, I use a freshly squeezed orange,

    Cake batter

    Flour - You can use either plain all-purpose flour (or cake flour), or self-raising flour. If you use plain flour then you will need to add baking powder.

    Butter - for easier mixing, let your butter come to room temperature before using.

    Muscovado sugar - or dark brown sugar. This adds a caramel taste to the cake. You can get away with using white granulated sugar, but you will lose out on the extra flavour that you get from muscovado sugar.

    Eggs - this recipe calls for 2 large eggs - if your eggs are on the small side then use 3.

    Black Treacle - this is optional, but in addition to the flavour it provides, it helps to keep the cake moist.

    Mixed spice - this is a blend of cinnamon, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Rather than buying a bottle of each, and trying to get the balance of flavours correct, I prefer to use a bottle of mixed spice that has been pre-blended. I've included a link to Amazon so you can see it for yourself. You can buy smaller bottles in the spice aisle in your supermarket.

    Salt - this is optional, but I think the cake benefits from a half teaspoon of salt.

    Additional ingredients

    Other ingredients you will need are:

    Glace cherries - finely chopped

    Walnuts - also finely chopped. If you don't have walnuts you can substitute for pecans or other chopped nuts such as brazils or hazelnuts (or a mixture of them all).

    Flaked almonds - these are small enough to measure directly from the packet.

    And finally, if you want to decorate the cake before you bake it, you will need some blanched almonds.

    How to make the last-minute Christmas cake

    My top tip here would be to measure out all your ingredients and have them to hand before you start. This cake comes together quickly, and it makes it much easier to have all your ingredients pre-prepared.

    You will need an 8-inch (20 cm) round springform pan. The springform makes it easier to get the finished cake out of the tin, but you can use a normal round cake tin if that's all you have.

    Line the tin with baking parchment or greaseproof paper to prevent the cake from sticking, or grease the tin well with butter before adding the cake.

    Steps to prepare the ingredients for the chirstmas cake.

    Prepare the dried fruit

    Start by boiling the fruit. Place the dried fruit mixture in a saucepan and add the cherry brandy and orange juice.

    Bring it to the boil and let it boil for 2 minutes (no longer). Then give it a good stir, turn off the heat, cover the saucepan with a lid and leave the mixture to cool for about 20 minutes. During this time all the liquid will be absorbed into the fruit.

    While the fruit is cooling you can get on with the next steps.

    Prepare the cherries and nuts

    Chop the glace cherries into quarters and chop the walnuts finely. Set aside until you are ready to mix them into the cake.

    Mix the cake batter

    Steps for mixing the christmas cake.

    Place the butter and the muscovado sugar into a large mixing bowl and cream them together. You can use a wooden spoon for this, but if you have an electric hand mixer (or even a stand mixer) you will find it much less work to use this instead.

    Once the sugar and butter have been creamed, add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.

    Add the black treacle and stir well to combine.

    Now fold in the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, and salt.

    Finally mix in the chopped cherries and nuts, and the cooled dried fruit.

    Steps for baking the last-minute christmas cake

    Pour the cake mixture into the prepared baking tin and smooth the top of the cake with a spatula to flatten it. If you are not going to ice the cake, you may like to decorate it with whole blanched almonds before baking. See below for how to blanch almonds.

    Bake the cake in a preheated oven (160C / 320F) for 90 minutes. I like to cover the cake with a sheet of aluminium foil for the first hour to prevent the top from browning too much.

    Check the cake after 80 minutes by inserting a toothpick or wooden skewer into the centre of the cake. It should come out cleanly, with no batter sticking to it. My cake was done after 85 minutes, but all ovens are different, so do start to check at around the 80-minute mark.

    Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin, covered with aluminium foil.

    I'm not a lover of marzipan so I prefer to leave the cake plain. If you prefer you can decorate this last-minute Christmas cake with marzipan and fondant icing, as you would any Christmas cake.

    Store the cake in an airtight tin, or wrap it in aluminium foil, and it will stay fresh for up to a month (although this cake is so tasty it will probably be eaten long before that 🙂 ).

    Just look at how it's packed with fruit and nuts.

    If you'd like to be notified of new recipes, why not subscribe to my newsletter? To say thank you, you will receive a free recipe e-book containing some of my most popular cakes and desserts.

    How to blanch almonds

    Whole, shelled almonds are sometimes sold with their skins still on. It's a simple matter to remove the skins by blanching the almonds in boiling water.

    • Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil.
    • As soon as the water is boiling, tip in the almonds.
    • Leave for 60 seconds - no more, no less. Anything more will start to cook the almonds, and anything less means the skins will not slip off easily.
    • Immediately pour the almonds into a colander and then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
    • Squeeze each almond in your fingers and the skins will slip straight off.
    • You can use them immediately to decorate your Christmas cake or you can store them in an air-tight container and use them later.
    A plain unfrosted last-minute christmas cake decorated with blanched almonds.

    Save for later

    If you would like to make this last-minute Christmas cake why not pin the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click on the image below.

    Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

    Related recipes

    Here are some of my other fruit cake recipes that you may like to try.

    • Two slices of no-bake Christmas cake on a glass tray, showing the texture of the cake.
      No-bake Christmas cake (with chocolate)
    • A slice of condensed milk fruit cake on a patterned plate.
      Condensed milk fruit cake (with Baileys Irish Cream)
    • A silver dish of Christmas mince pies in front of a pile of red and white tinsel.
      Christmas Mince Pies
    • A slice of fruit mincemeat star bread covered in a tangy glaze being pulled out of the star.
      Fruit mincemeat star bread

    You can find all of these plus similar recipes on my cake, biscuits and dessert recipes page.

    📋The recipe

    A christmas cake on a glass plate with a slice cut and offset to show the inside of the cake.

    Last-minute Christmas Cake

    The perfect Christmas cake for last-minute baking. Filled with fruit, nuts, and cherries and flavoured with a hint of brandy, but mixed, baked and ready to eat in less than two hours. No overnight soaking of fruit, no feeding with brandy for weeks on end - just a moist juicy Christmas fruit cake that tastes absolutely delicious - with minimal effort.
    Recipe by: Veronica
    Baking, Cakes
    Americn, British
    Calories 306
    Prep 20 minutes minutes
    Cook 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes
    Total Time 1 hour hour 50 minutes minutes
    Servings: 1 x 8" round cake
    Print Pin Comment Bookmark Saved!
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    4.84 from 6 votes

    (Click the stars to rate this recipe)

    Equipment

    • Small saucepan
    • Large mixing bowl
    • Wooden spoon
    • Electric hand mixer
    • 8" springform pan
    • Baking parchment

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound / 450 grams mixed dried fruit
    • 3½ tablespoons / 50 ml cherry brandy or sherry
    • 7 tablespoons / 100 ml fresh orange juice
    • 1¼ sticks / 150 grams butter at room temperature
    • ¾ cup / 150 grams dark brown sugar
    • 2 large eggs or 3 small eggs
    • 1 tablespoon black treacle
    • 1½ cups / 225 grams plain all-purpose flour or use self-raising flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder Leave out if you are using self-raising flour
    • 2 teaspoons mixed spice
    • ½ teaspoon salt optional
    • 12 glace cherries quartered
    • ½ cup / 60 grams chopped walnuts
    • ½ cup / 60 grams flaked almonds
    • Whole blanched almonds for decoration (optional)

    Instructions

    • Line an 8" springform pan with baking parchment
    • Place the dried fruit mixture in a saucepan and add the cherry brandy and orange juice.
      1 pound / 450 grams mixed dried fruit, 3½ tablespoons / 50 ml cherry brandy, 7 tablespoons / 100 ml fresh orange juice
    • Bring it to the boil and let it boil for 2 minutes (no longer). Then give it a good stir, turn off the heat, cover the saucepan with a lid and leave the mixture to cool for about 20 minutes. During this time all the liquid will be absorbed into the fruit.
    • Pre-heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F
    • Chop the glace cherries into quarters and chop the walnuts finely. Set aside until you are ready to mix them into the cake.
      ½ cup / 60 grams chopped walnuts, 12 glace cherries
    • Place the butter and the muscovado sugar into a large mixing bowl and cream them together until they are light and fluffy.
      1¼ sticks / 150 grams butter, ¾ cup / 150 grams dark brown sugar
    • Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.
      2 large eggs
    • Add the black treacle and stir well to combine.
      1 tablespoon black treacle
    • Fold in the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, and salt.
      1½ cups / 225 grams plain all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons mixed spice, ½ teaspoon salt
    • Mix in the nuts, cherries, and the cooled dried fruit mix.
      12 glace cherries, ½ cup / 60 grams flaked almonds
    • Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking tin and smooth the top to flatten it. Take care to fill the baking tin evenly with the mixture.
    • Optionally, decorate the top of the cake with the blanched almonds.
      Whole blanched almonds
    • Cover the cake with a lid of aluminium foil and bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes. Remove the aluminium foil after the first hour.
    • Check the cake for doneness after the first 80 minutes. It will be done when a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out cleanly with no batter sticking to it.
    • Leave the cake to cool, covered with aluminium foil, then remove it from the baking tin and carefully pull away the baking parchment.
    • Store in an air-tight tin for up to 4 weeks. This cake can also be covered with marzipan and fondant icing.

    Notes

    How to blanch almonds.
    • Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil.
    • As soon as the water is boiling, tip in the almonds.
    • Leave for 60 seconds - no more, no less. Anything more will start to cook the almonds, and anything less means the skins will not slip off easily.
    • Immediately pour the almonds into a colander and then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
    • Squeeze each almond in your fingers and the skins will slip straight off.
    Nutrition has been calculated based on cutting the cake into 12 slices.

    Nutrition

    Calories - 306kcal | Carbohydrates - 30.9g | Protein - 5.6g | Fat - 17g | Saturated Fat - 7.1g | Cholesterol - 58mg | Sodium - 189mg | Potassium - 159mg | Fiber - 1.4g | Sugar - 15.2g | Calcium - 36mg | Iron - 1mg

    I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.

    Unless otherwise stated, a cup is the standard US cup containing 240 ml. In all my recipes this cup is assumed to hold 140g of flour. For help converting other ingredients between cups, grams, ounces and other measures, see my recipe conversion calculator.
    All my recipes are developed and tested at sea-level. For tips on adjusting recipes for high altitudes see my post on baking at high altitudes.
    Tried this recipe?If you made this recipe I'd love it if you could leave me a comment and let me know how it went!
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    About VJ

    Before I started my food blog I was an IT Consultant. Now that I've swapped an office for a kitchen I have a lot more time to spend on things that interest me such as trying out new recipes. Most of my cooking is based around quick and easy meals, mostly made from scratch, using everyday pantry ingredients.

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