Easy Christmas Cake Recipe

A slice of Christmas cake on a white flowery plate with a partially-visible larger plate with cake in the background.

4 from 2 votes

Easy Christmas Cake Recipe, beautifully moist and rich, and full of festive flavour. This classic Christmas fruit cake is made with rum-soaked mixed dried fruit folded into a luxurious batter with an orange touch. It's topped with a smooth rum icing that adds just the right amount of sweetness and a pop of colour.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 30

Total Time1 50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: English

Servings: cake

Calories: 4499kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

For the sponge

520 g mixed dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, currants, cranberries, candied orange and lemon peeling - 3 ¼ cups)
150 ml rum (5 oz)
125 g butter (soft, ½ cup + 1 tbsp)
125 g dark brown sugar (½ cup + 2 tbsp)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
125 g plain flour (1 cup)
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 tablespoon mixed spice (pumpkin spice)
50 g ground almonds (½ cup)

For the icing

150 g icing sugar (confectinoners' sugar, 1 ¼ cups)
1 teaspoon rum
2 tablespoon milk

Instructions

Add the dried fruit and rum to a pan set over a low to medium heat.
Cover with a lid and simmer gently for 10 minutes until the fruit soaks up the rum.
Remove from the heat, and leave the lid on for a further 5 minutes.
Beat the sugar with the butter until you get a thick paste.
Add the eggs one by one beating well after each addition to avoid the mixture curding.
Add the baking powder, mixed spice, ground almonds and orange extract, and mix.
Sift in the flour and soaked fruit, and mix to get a thicker batter.
Grease and flour a round cake tin (19 cm/ 7.5 inches) - ideally a tin with removable walls.
Spread the mixture evenly.
Bake in the preheated oven at 160 degrees Celsius (320 Fahrenheit) for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Leave to cool completely.
To make the icing, sift the icing sugar, add the rum and milk, and mix well to get a smooth thin mixture.
When the cake is cool, spread the icing over, and decorate with sprinkles, cake toppers, dried orange slices or any other decorations of your choice.

Video

Notes

Soaking the dried fruit in rum not only adds tons of flavour, but also makes the fruit juicy and delicious. Some shops sell ready-soaked mixed dried fruit, if you use those, you can skip this step.
Allow the cake to cool down completely before adding the icing, or it will just run off it and make a mess. Any decorations can be added after the icing is on.
The cake can be stored at room temperature for weeks, it's literally one of the longest-lasting cakes, as the alcohol and dried fruit extend the shelf life.

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