Making a traditional Christmas Cake couldn't get any easier than with this 4 Ingredient Christmas Cake recipe. It's rich and deliciously moist, full-bodied boozy and requires minimal attention -just what you need to make Christmas baking stress-free!
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The Easiest Traditional Fruit Cake
Traditional Christmas Cake is a fruit cake that's been soaked in alcohol (usually brandy or whiskey) for up to 3 months. But this simple, 4 ingredient Cake is soaked overnight and takes less than 10 minutes to mix together. The fruit is soaked in Baileys Irish Cream, a smooth, velvety whiskey liqueur and it creates the most decadent moist fruit cake. Not too heavy and not dry or crumbly, this fruit Cake is the easiest, most enjoyable Christmas Cake you'll ever make!
How to Make a Christmas Cake
Have you been put off making a Christmas Cake, thinking it's too labour intensive? Think again, because this cake is embarrassingly easy....but none of your guests need to know that! There's a few minutes of prepping your tin, then your good to go. Here's what you do:
- Mix the dried fruit (of your choice, plus you can add nuts to your fruit mix if you like) with a can of condensed milk, Baileys Irish Cream and some water
- Cover the mixture and allow it to soak overnight. I've left mine for around a week before, only because I didn't get a chance to bake it, but overnight is well and truly long enough
- Bring the mixture back to room temperature while you preheat your oven and prepare your cake tin
- Once the fruit mixture is at room temperature, simply fold through the self-raising flour, then pour batter into your prepared tin
Preparing your cake tin
- Spray your cake tin with cooking spray
- Cut a strip of baking paper to go inside the cake tin. Fold about 1 inch along the long edge, then cut 1 inch tabs up to the fold. This will help the paper to fit neatly into the cake tin.
- Now trace along the outside of the cake tin onto baking paper, then cut slightly inside the circle. This will fit neatly to the base of your tin, on top of the tabs
- Pour mixture into the cake tin, then wrap a double strip of brown paper around the outside of your cake tin. This will insulate the cake and prevent it from drying out during the long bake time
- Clip or peg the paper to your tin, then tie kitchen string along the outside, to secure the paper. Remove clip or tin, then bake your Christmas Cake
How to Store your Christmas Cake
Your Christmas Cake can be enjoyed straight away, or you can make it in advance and have it ready to enjoy when Christmas comes around. Once your Cake has been baked and cooled, you can store it in the paper it baked in! Simply remove it from the cake tin, wrap another piece of baking paper around it, then tightly wrap it in 2 sheets of aluminium foil and store in a cool place, Your Christmas Cake can last several months stored this way
How to Decorate your Christmas Cake
Surely you know by now that I love simplicity! My Christmas decor is simple (and may I say, stylish?) and so is my food. My family are not fans of fondant, so I just tie a bow around my Christmas Cake and my decorating is done! Of course, serving it on a gorgeous cake stand makes it a centrepiece dessert, but you can also try:
- Use rosemary sprigs to make Christmas trees -insert different lengths upside down to create a mini Christmas tree forest, then dust with icing sugar
- Christmas baubles or holly is another simple Christmas Cake decoration
- Mini gingerbread people, ready-made fondant decorations or Christmas chocolates are fun (and tasty!)
How to Serve Christmas Cake
This Christmas cakes serves a lot of people! It's lovely and rich, so a small slice is enough (no, we didn't really eat those big wedges below!). Try it with:
- French Vanilla Ice Cream
- Chantilly Cream
- With custard, for a delicious dessert
- Or just serve it on it's own -perfect with a cup of tea!
I know you will love the simplicity of this amazing Christmas Cake. The recipe was given to me by a friend of my Mother in-law's and I don't think I'll ever make my Christmas Cake any other way! I hope you make it and enjoy it with the people you love most this Christmas. And please.....share the love, share the recipe and don't forget to let me know what you think.
Happy Christmas Baking!
Four Ingredient Christmas Cake
Equipment
- 2 20cm (8 inch) deep round cake tin
Ingredients
- 1 kg mixed dried fruit either a bag of mixed dried fruit, or your own combination of fruits and/or nuts
- 395 g tin sweetened condensed milk
- ¾ cup Baileys Irish cream
- 300 g Self raising flour
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mixed dried fruit, sweetened condensed milk and Baileys Irish cream, along with ½ cup of water.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight *see notes
- After soaking the fruit, remove it from the fridge and stir again. Let it sit until it comes to room temperature
- While the mixture comes to room temperature, preheat your oven to 150°C/300°F, then spray your 20cm cake tin and line it with baking paper.
- Add the self-raising flour to the fruit mixture and fold through until combined
- Pour batter into prepared cake tin and smooth over with a silicone spatula or offset spatula
- Wrap a double strip of brown paper around the outside of the cake tin and secure it with kitchen string *see notes
- Bake the cake for 2 hours, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean
- Remove cake from the oven and allow it to cool inside the tin. Once cooled, it can be wrapped in the baking paper and then 2 layers of tightly wrapped foil.
- Cake can be eaten straight away, or stored sealed in paper and foil for a few months
Notes
- soaking the fruit: the mixture can be soaked overnight or longer. I soak my cake for around a week and make it whenever I get a chance.
- brown paper used as a collar around your fruit cake tin prevents the cake from drying out during the long cooking time. You can use a peg or clip to hold the paper onto the tin while you tie the kitchen string. Be sure to remove the peg after tying the string
- I like to keep my cake simple and just tie a Christmas ribbon around it
- use fondant or gingerbread figures to decorate, or cover the cake with fondant.
- insert rosemary sprigs (upside down) to create Christmas trees, then dust with icing sugar for snow
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