Christmas Cranberry Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What type of cake is traditionally eaten at Christmas time? ›

Christmas cake is a type of cake, often fruitcake, served at Christmas time in many countries.

Yes! Fresh cranberries freeze for up to a year and can often be substituted in recipes that call for fresh cranberries. When cooking with frozen cranberries, do not thaw before using.

If you are making the cake more than 3 months in advance then you will need to "feed" it occasionally to help it to stay moist. Feeding involves brushing the surface of the cake with a couple of tablespoons of alcohol (brandy, whisky or bourbon are the most popular choices).

Method. Combine the dried fruit and candied peel in a large bowl. Add the 4 tbsp brandy and stir in to mix well. Cover and leave overnight.

Christmas Cake is a traditional fruit cake with a rich, velvety texture that's so full flavoured and moist it can be eaten plain. But no one turns away a slosh of custard! Usually Christmas Cakes need to be started the day before, with overnight soaking of dried fruit.

Christmas cake is a rich fruit cake. Christmas pudding isnt. It's a steamed pudding with vaguely similar ingredients (dried fruit, ale etc) cooked with flour, sugar, eggs.

Yes, Craisins® Sweetened Dried Cranberries work well in baked goods; however, there is a 1/4 cup (60 mL) difference in measurement. If a recipe calls for one cup of fresh cranberries you should use 3/4 cup (175 mL) of Craisins®.

You can also look for recipes calling for fresh blueberries and use cranberries instead. Since they're similar in size, fresh blueberries and cranberries can be substituted one-for-one. If your cranberries are on the larger size, we'd cut them in half or quarters before baking.

Don't Over-Bake

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.

What's the difference between a fruit cake and a Christmas cake? ›

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.

It's possible to overfeed your cake, which will make it stodgy and wet. Our advice is to feed it once after it's initially baked, then no more than four times during the maturation period. Try a teaspoonful of whichever alcohol you've chosen before you begin feeding your cake to test its strength.

Soak all your dried fruits in your spirit of choice – whisky or brandy would be the most traditional options, though other aged spirits like rum also work, and sweeter additions like sherry, Cointreau or amaretto will add their own character.

However, if you don't mind that, you'll be very pleased with the results. In short, the answer to “Can I substitute cognac for brandy in a fruitcake?” is a resounding 'YES!

I like to feed my cake with a few tablespoons of brandy every two weeks up until Christmas. If you want to decorate your Christmas cake, you do not want to feed it just before as it will make it wet and sticky so slightly annoying. If you make your cake nearer to Christmas, that is totally okay.

There's no doubt about it—fruit cake is a staple of the holiday season. While it has spent centuries being the butt of countless jokes and often gets a bad rap, we here at Italian Bakery of Virginia still love it – and so do millions of people around the world.

It was around this time that the custom of cooking and eating a special porridge on Christmas Eve started. This porridge is supposed to have consisted of oats, dried fruits, spices, honey, and even meat (not always, though), and would over the centuries be transformed into what we know as the plum cake today.

Fruitcake was historically referred to as plum cake in England from around 1700.

The Traditional Christmas Cake

An elaborately decorated fruit cake, eaten on the twelfth night of Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas have been celebrated since the medieval times. Starting on the 25th December and ending on the 5th January.