The Granny-Approved British Christmas Cake Everyone Will Love

Jessica Sager

Tue, December 19, 2023 at 10:00 PM UTC

7 min read

British Christmas Cake

Chef Jon Ashton already knows what you're thinking when it comes to fruit cake — or as he adorably calls it, British Christmas cake.

"I know everybody's scared of fruit cake," he says. "But this Christmas cake is truly, truly phenomenal and I hope you get to make it at home."

Ashton grew up enjoying Christmas cake during the holiday season as a "wee lad in Liverpool."

You'll want a lot of fruit—two pounds worth of it. If that sounds overwhelming to chop up yourself, fret not: Depending on where you live, you'll likely be able to find at least some of the options, including glazed cherries, apricots, golden raisins, figs, cranberries and prunes, pre-chopped at your local supermarket, saving you (or your food processor) a lot of work. (If you're opting for dried fruits, Ashton recommends re-hydrating them before baking for the best consistency in your final product.)

Ashton uses sliced almonds for his recipe, but you can try pecans or walnuts to mix it up in your own, or a combination of any.

You'll also want to raid your liquor cabinet to get into the Christmas (cake) spirit in more ways than one. Ashton recommends brandy for his recipe, but you can also use cognac in a pinch, or apple juice or tea if you want your Christmas cake to be a virgin one.

The items to not substitute if you can help it, however, are your fresh citrus (ideally lemon and orange), because you'll want the juices and zest from each, as well as your allspice, cinnamon and cloves, which Ashton says are quintessential "classic Christmas" cake (and pudding!) flavors.

Your first step once all of your ingredients are sorted is to combine all of that glorious chopped fruit, the lemon and orange juices and zests, and brandy with butter and soft brown sugar. Boil it, then let it simmer on low heat for five minutes. Once you're done, let it cool for half an hour.

While it's cooling, adjust your oven rack to the middle position and heat it to 325°. He recommends using parchment paper and springform pan, but if you don't have parchment paper, you can just spray or butter the pan really generously.

Next, whisk your dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then in a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk your eggs and vanilla extract. Once your fruit concoction is cooled, add it with the egg and vanilla to the large bowl of dry ingredients, mixing with a spatula. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and bake it for about an hour and a half, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Once your cake is done baking, remove it from the oven and cool it for about half an hour. Ashton calls the next step "feeding the cake," but if we're being honest, you're just going to get the cake drunk.

"I used to watch my granny do this, and what she'd do is, she'd take a cocktail stick or a knitting needle actually," Ashton recalled. "She pokes holes [in the cake], and then you pour some booze over it."

After loading it up with your spirit of choice, Ashton recommends topping your Christmas cake with a crème anglaise — or, if you so choose, whipped cream and even more booze. No wonder the British think this stuff is so delicious!

Your finished British Christmas cake should serve 10 to 12 people. Depending on what liquid ingredients you opted for, you may want those people to be over 21 and to Uber home after dessert.

Here's everything to know about the British Christmas cake, as well as Ashton's full favorite British Christmas cake recipe.

What's the difference between a fruit cake and a British Christmas cake?

Good question! Christmas cake is typically just a variation of a traditional fruit cake. Most of the ingredients are similar, though many Christmas cake recipes call for more fruit and the addition of spices (typically allspice, cloves and cinnamon) that aren't present in everyday fruit cake.

Though Christmas cake has a lot of ingredients and flavors in common with another U.K. favorite, Christmas pudding, there's a distinct difference, Ashton notes: Christmas pudding is steamed, while Christmas cake goes in the oven.

How far in advance can you make British Christmas cake?

A good thing about Christmas cake is that you can prepare it a month or more in advance, which will leave you plenty of time to focus your time and energy in December on preparing your Christmas dinner, shopping, wrapping and general coping with your relatives.

How to store British Christmas cake?

Christmas cake is typically stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Depending on how long you plan on storing it, you may also want to wrap it in parchment paper, then in foil, then in the airtight container. Some people like to store their Christmas cake upside down, and some like to keep "feeding the cake" with booze and/or juices every few weeks depending on how far ahead it's prepared. A bonus to using alcohol to feed your cake is that it can actually prevent it from getting moldy!

Can you freeze British Christmas cake?

You sure can! Wrap your Christmas cake tightly in plastic wrap, then in foil. Place it in an airtight container and freeze it for up to a year. You can do the same with individual leftover slices as well.

What kind of fruit should you use in British Christmas cake?

The fruit you use in Christmas cake is up to you! Just know that you'll need plenty of it — about two pounds worth! Options can include golden raisins, glazed cherries, and dried figs, prunes, cranberries, dates, currants and apricots. You can snag pre-chopped prepared fruit cake mixes to save time and energy if you need.

You'll also want a fresh whole lemon and/or orange for their juices and zest.

Up next: 200+ Christmas Cookie Ideas Your Family Will Love

My Granny's British Christmas Cake

Ingredients

2 lbs. mixed dried fruit (use a mix of raisins, apricots, golden raisins,dried cherries, cranberries, prunes, and figs)
Zest and juice of 1 orange
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2/3 cup brandy
2 sticks, plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup ground almond flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sliced almonds
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Place mixed dried fruit, the zest and juice of citrus, brandy, butter, and soft brown sugar in a large pan and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes.

2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325°. Heavily spray a nonstick 9-inch springform pan with baking spray.

3. Whisk flour, ground almond flour, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and salt together in a large bowl.

4. Whisk eggs and vanilla together in a medium-sized bowl.

5. Add fruit mixture and egg mixture to flour bowl and mix with a spatula until evenly mixed and no flour remains.

6. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until skewer inserted into middle of cake comes out clean, or when the internal temperature reaches 195-205° on a thermometer, approximately 90 minutes.

7. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes.

8. In England, we like to poke holes in the cake with a skewer and spoon over a couple more tablespoons of our favorite brandy. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.

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