Cook, writer and food stylist, Debbie's reputation for foolproof, delicious recipes is second to none. She is renowned for her dedication to seasonal home cooking and her love of all things rustic and authentic. Simplicity over cheffy is her motto!
See more of Debbie Major’s recipes
Debbie Major
Cook, writer and food stylist, Debbie's reputation for foolproof, delicious recipes is second to none. She is renowned for her dedication to seasonal home cooking and her love of all things rustic and authentic. Simplicity over cheffy is her motto!
See more of Debbie Major’s recipes
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Ingredients
For day 1
250g raisins
250g currants
100g dried cranberries
100g dried cherries
100g chopped mixed peel
100ml orange-flavoured liqueur, such as Cointreau, plus 3 tbsp for feeding
grated zest and juice of 4 clementines (about 8 tbsp)
For day 2
200g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), chopped
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp ground mixed spice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
200g soft salted butter
200g dark muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
3 large eggs
1 tbsp fine-cut marmalade
100g ground almonds
100g blanched hazelnuts, roasted and coarsely chopped
50g blanched almonds, roasted and coarsely chopped
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Step by step
Get ahead
Make up to 3 months ahead, keep well-wrapped. Once decorated, store in an airtight container.
The day before baking the cake, put the dried fruits, chopped mixed peel, orange liqueur and clementine zest and juice into a large saucepan. Bring up to the boil, turning the fruits over as you do so, then cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Tip into a mixing bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 150°C, fan 130°C, gas 2. Move one of the shelves so that it is towards the bottom of the oven. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 20cm round cake tin with baking paper. Tie a thick, wide strip of folded newspaper or brown paper around the outside of the tin and lay another folded newspaper on a baking sheet and put the cake tin on top (this stops the outside of the cake cooking too quickly).
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Leave to cool.
Sift the flour and spices together into a bowl. Whisk the butter in another large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer until it is creamy, then add the muscovado sugar and vanilla and beat well for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a tablespoonful of the flour mixture with the second and third egg to help stop the mixture from curdling.
Fold in the remaining flour mixture followed by the melted chocolate, soaked fruits and any soaking liquid, the marmalade, ground almonds and chopped nuts. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level with a spoon. Push the handle of a wooden spoon halfway down into the mixture at intervals all over the cake – this helps keep the top flat.
Tear off a double thickness sheet of baking paper, large enough to cover the top of the tin generously, and cut a hole in the centre, about the size of a 10p coin. Lay on top of the cake tin, transfer to the oven, and bake for 2¾- 3 hours or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes away clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.
Remove the cake from the tin and discard the lining paper. Wrap in clean baking paper then foil, flat base-side up, and store in a cool, dark place. The next day, unwrap the cake and spike the base with a skewer. Drizzle over 1 tablespoon of the remaining orange liqueur and re-wrap. Repeat the feeding process twice more as the cake matures, leaving at least a week to dry out before decorating so that the icing won’t discolour.
Tip
DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES: You can also bake this in a deep 23cm round tin, or a 20cm square tin. Both will take 21⁄4-23⁄4 hours to bake.
WANT A SMALLER CAKE? Halve the quantities and bake in a deep 18cm round tin, for 11⁄2-13⁄4 hours.
MAKE IT GF Use GF self-raising flour and add 1⁄2 tsp xanthan gum. The GF flour will need more liquid, so add the juice of 2 extra clementines (or 1 orange) when making the cake batter.
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Whoever finds the fava bean in their slice is considered to have good luck for the coming year. Additionally, a small trinket or figurine is sometimes hidden in the cake, and the person who finds it is said to be the "king" or "queen" of the celebration.
Grease and line a 28cm bundt cake tin. Beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, add the eggs and milk and mix, then fold in the flour spices and fruit until well mixed. Fold into the wet mix. Bake for 1¼ to 1½ hours until golden brown and firm in the middle, spoon over brandy then cool.
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.
The Japanese Christmas cake is a layered spongy cake, filled with fresh whipping cream and strawberry slices in between layers, often referred to as strawberry shortcake. The cake is finished with a whipped cream frosting and decorated with strawberries, chocolate, or other seasonal fruits.
In the 1980s, a woman unmarried by 25 was dismissed as "Christmas cake" — thrown out on Dec. 26. These days the big number is 31, and women unmarried by that age are "New Year's Eve noodles," noodles being a typical New Year's Eve dish.
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.
If you're looking for a dry cake, simply over-bake it! In all seriousness though, over-baking cakes dry them out. It could only be a 30 second window between perfectly baked and over-baked, so make sure you're keeping an eye on the cake. Begin checking it 1-2 minutes before the recipe instructs.
A Christmas cake is a heavy cake containing much driedfruit and usually having a covering of icing. It is made to be eaten at Christmas. It can also be called a fruitcake. A common favorite of many is the traditional Scottish Christmas cake, the "Whisky Dundee."
You can use rum, brandy or whisky for spice, or if you like citrus flavours, try an orange liqueur. Cherry brandy and amaretto will also work well if you prefer these.
1. Panettone, Italy. Originating from Milan, Italy, this cake has become one of the most popular Christmas cakes around Europe and in many parts of the world. The panettone is a dome-shaped spongecake with a sweet, yeasty taste.
It's best to get baking around two or three months before Christmas. This gives you plenty of time to let it mature and 'feed' your Christmas Cake regularly as the big day approaches.
Although the original tradition overseas is to bake Christmas dishes and treats at home, in Korea, consumers head to bakeries to make purchases of Christmas pastries. Here, the quintessential Christmas specialty is a sponge cake frosted with white whipped cream and adorned with strawberry toppings.
Roscón de Reyes, or Kings' Cake, is a traditional Spanish pastry enjoyed during the holiday season, especially on Three Kings' Day. It's a ring-shaped sweet bread often adorned with candied fruits, symbolizing the crowns of the three wise men.
Christmas cakes generally include mixed spice and a blend of allspice, cinnamon and cloves. These are warming, aromatic spices that go well with the fruit but shouldn't have a big impact on the flavour.
For a long time it's been common practice to include silver Christmas pudding coins, charms or tokens into Christmas pudding. Finding a Christmas coin in your slice of pudding is believed to bring good luck and especially wealth in the coming year.
A king cake, also known as a three kings cake, is a cake associated in many countries with Epiphany. Its form and ingredients are variable, but in most cases a fève ( lit.'fava bean') such as a figurine, often said to represent the Christ Child, is hidden inside.
A silver sixpence was placed into the pudding mix and every member of the household gave the mix a stir. Whoever found the sixpence in their own piece of the pudding on Christmas Day would see it as a sign that they would enjoy wealth and good luck in the year to come.
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Prep time: 40 mins 
