Mary Berry’s rich fruit Christmas cake

  • Easy
  • October 2021
  • Serves 30
  • Takes 20 min to make, 4-5 hours to cook, plus overnight soaking

Mary Berry’s rich traditional Christmas cake recipe is filled to the brim with fruit, as well as almonds, brandy and treacle. It’s one of the absolute best if you’re after a rich fruity bake.

Made it? Now discover 10 ways to decorate your Christmas cake to turn your fruit cake into a festive showstopper.

Calories
304kcals
Fat
11g (5.9g saturated)
Protein
3.7g
Carbohydrates
47.1g (41.1g sugars)
Fibre
1.9g
Salt
0.1g

delicious. tips

  1. Soak the fruit overnight so it can absorb the alcohol and plump up. If you’re short on time, warm everything briefly in a microwave so the fruit will absorb the alcohol more quickly. Let the fruit cool completely before making the cake.

    If you prefer, you can feed the cake with spiced rum, sloe gin, whisky, sherry or madeira.

  2. Double-line the cake tin with well-buttered baking paper to stop the outside of the cake from drying out during the long cooking time.

    Put a circle or square of greased baking paper on top of the cake to prevent the upper surface from browning too much.

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