Photography: John Paul Urizar. Styling: Michele Cranston.
As the name suggests, this rich Christmas fruit cake recipe results in a super-moist cake with a similar texture to Christmas pudding.
It’s everything a traditional fruit cake should be. Rich, deeply flavoured and studded with jewel-like fruit, with a generous splash of brandy for good measure.
Ingredients
Method
Combine fruit, honey and brandy in large bowl, cover, stand overnight.
Preheat oven to 150°C (130°C fan forced) to slow. Line base and sides of deep 19cm-square cake pan with three thicknesses baking paper, bringing paper 5cm above sides of pan.
Beat butter and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until just combined, beat in eggs, one at a time, until just combined between additions. (Mixture may curdle at this point, but will come together later).
Add butter mixture to fruit mixture with flour, mix thoroughly with one hand.
Drop dollops of mixture into corners of pan to hold baking paper in position, spread remaining mixture into pan.
Drop cake pan from a height of about 15cm onto bench to settle mixture into pan and to break any large air bubbles, level surface of cake mixture with wet metal spatula.
Bake cake in slow oven about 4 hours. (Cover cake loosely with foil during baking if it starts to overbrown. Give the cake quarter turns several times during baking to avoid it browning unevenly.)
Remove cake from oven, brush with extra brandy. Cover pan tightly with foil, cool cake in pan.
Can I use a different alcohol in this moist Christmas cake recipe?
Rum, sherry or your favourite liqueur can be used in place of brandy. Choose something you enjoy the flavour of, as it will come through in the finished cake.
Can I make the fruit mixture ahead of time?
With this moist Christmas cake recipe, the fruit mixture can be made up to one month before required and stored in a cool, dark place – the refrigerator is ideal.
How to store this rich fruit cake
To store cake: wrap cold cake tightly in plastic then in foil. Wrapped cake can be kept in a cool dark place for about three months; however, if the climate is humid, it is safest to keep the cake in a sealed plastic bag or tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. This moist Christmas cake can be frozen for up to 12 months.
How to serve fruit cake
Because this cake is exceptionally moist and soft, it cuts much more cleanly when cold. Pop it in the fridge to chill before slicing for neat pieces.
Make this moist Christmas cake recipe as a festive family dessert to serve with homemade custard, or, traditionally, for more special occasions such as milestone birthdays and weddings.
What makes this Christmas cake recipe so moist?
This cake is very moist, due to the proportion of fruit to flour, which gives it a similar texture to Christmas pudding.Â
If you prefer something lighter than this moist christmas cake recipe, try our golden fruit cake. Can’t choose between the two? Our light and dark fruit cake gives you the best of both worlds in one stunning bake.
How to store flour so it stays fresh (video)
