For many countries, a Christmas cake is a traditional holiday dessert. Its distinctive feature is the use of a large number of spices and dried fruits. And if other pastries lose their attractiveness every day, then with such a dessert the opposite is true - the longer it is insisted, the tastier it becomes.

Secrets of making a Christmas cake

  1. The baking dish must be greased with butter, close the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Some confectioners fasten paper joints with a stapler.
  2. In order for the cake to be well baked, and the dried fruits not to burn, the dessert must be baked at low temperatures for 1 to 3 hours. It all depends on the size of the form, the density of the dough and the quality of the ingredients.
  3. Before you get the dessert out of shape, you need to wait until it has completely cooled. This is important to ensure that the cake is compacted and resilient.
  4. The dough can be sweetened with honey or jam - so the dessert does not become stale ahead of time.

Classic recipe

By tradition, a Christmas cake is baked 6 weeks before Christmas, and after that, it is constantly saturated with alcohol. This is how you can get delicious, juicy and incredibly fragrant pastries.

 

British culinary experts advise making a dessert at least two weeks before the holiday in order to appreciate the true taste of Christmas.Today there are many options for making a Christmas cake, but you can achieve the classic taste of holiday baking if you use the recipe from a real English pastry chef.

Ingredients:

  • 250 g of flour;
  • 4 eggs;
  • 480 g of dried fruits;
  • 220 g of sugar;
  • 120 ml cream (20%);
  • 2 tsp spices;
  • 50 ml of brandy;
  • 2 tsp baking powder;
  • 60 g almonds;
  • zest of orange and lemon.

Cooking method:

  1. Prepare the filling. We take dried fruits (prunes, dates, dried apricots), candied orange, as well as dark and light raisins of 140 grams. It should turn out 280 g of raisins and 200 g of other dried fruits. All dried ingredients need to be washed well, remove seeds from them and cut into small pieces.
  2. Put the chopped “dryer” in a small container, fill it with cognac, mix and put in the refrigerator for a week. Periodically, the composition must be mixed so that all dried fruits can absorb the aroma of cognac.
  3. Almonds also need to be prepared and dried. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees, put the nuts on a baking sheet and set them to dry for 7 minutes. Grind the cooled almonds into small pieces.
  4. As soon as everything is ready for the filling, you can begin the process of preparing the cake itself. To begin, beat the sugar (here you can use white, and preferably cane) with softened butter. Without turning off the mixer, we begin to introduce eggs one at a time.
  5. Add the zest of one lemon and orange. Pour ground spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, star anise and cloves. Gradually pour flour with baking powder and add cream.
  6. Now you can add nuts, aromatic dried fruits to the dough and mix everything thoroughly.
  7. We take a special muffin baking dish and grease it with oil. We cover with baking paper, spread the dough on top of it and put in the oven preheated to 140 degrees for 3 hours.
  8. The finished cupcake, without removing it from the mold, is directly saturated with cognac, wrapped in foil and left for 12 hours.

Then we get the dessert out of the mold, wrap it in paper, then in foil and, finally, in cling film. We store the month at room temperature, not forgetting to lubricate it with cognac at least once a week. During storage, the entire alcohol evaporates, and the incredible flavor remains.

With the addition of dried fruit

Modern housewives prepare a Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts in a slightly different way. The difference is that they do not devote so much time to the cooking process.

But in order to give the pastry a traditional taste, they use a special marinade for filling with alcohol and strong tea.

Ingredients:

  • 400 g flour;
  • 300 g cane sugar;
  • 300 g butter;
  • 4 eggs;
  • 1 tsp baking powder;
  • 100 g hazelnuts;
  • 100 g almonds;
  • 1 kg of dried fruit;
  • 300 ml of alcohol;
  • spices.

Cooking method:

  1. In order to enjoy a fragrant dessert, the filling should be prepared in a few days. To do this, take any dried fruits, soak them in brandy or rum, mix and put in the refrigerator.
  2. Dry the nuts in the oven or in a dry frying pan, chop.
  3. Beat butter with sugar, then beat eggs into it. Add spices, baking powder and flour during kneading. Combine the mass with nuts, dried fruits and mix everything thoroughly.
  4. We put the dough into the prepared form and bake the cupcake in the oven at a temperature of 150 degrees, for at least 3 hours.

Cooking in English

In order to bake a real English Christmas cake, you need to soak the filling with alcohol a week before making the dessert. The British traditionally use rum, brandy, cognac or sherry, and for the filling they take assorted dark and light raisins, candied fruits and citrus zest. Today, prunes, dried apricots, dates, and other dried fruits and berries are often found in recipes.

Ingredients:

  • 800 g of dried fruit;
  • 12 eggs;
  • 400 g butter;
  • 450 g of sugar;
  • 600 g flour;
  • zest of lemon and orange;
  • 400 ml of rum;

Cooking method:

  1. Pound sugar with butter until lush foam is formed. Gradually drive in the eggs. Add flour with a small spoon of soda or baking powder.Knead the dough thoroughly.
  2. In the resulting mass, add the filling. In addition to dried fruits, crushed nuts (almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios) can be added to the dough, and vanilla and cinnamon for 1 teaspoon are added for flavor.
  3. Put the dough into the prepared form and cook in the oven at a temperature of 140 degrees for 2 - 3 hours.

German Christmas cupcake Stolen

In Germany, the Stolen Christmas cake is considered a true visiting card of the great holiday. On Christmas Eve in every corner of the country you can buy this momentous symbol. In honor of him, they even called the Strizelmarkt Christmas market, where every resident and guest of the country can buy a German Stollen cake.

A distinctive feature of the dessert is the use of a large amount of butter, so baking always turns out to be quite heavy.

Ingredients:

  • 400 g of oil;
  • 750 g of flour;
  • 220 ml of milk;
  • 50 g of yeast;
  • 200 g of sugar;
  • 250 g of raisins;
  • 220 g almonds;
  • 70 g candied fruit;
  • lemon;
  • a pinch of salt, cinnamon, vanillin.

Cooking method:

  1. Before baking the cupcake itself, for several days you need to soak candied fruits and raisins in rum or cognac.
  2. Milk needs to be warmed up a bit and diluted with yeast, adding a little sugar. As soon as the dough “fits”, add the flour, room temperature oil, sugar and a pinch of salt. Knead the dough.
  3. In the mass we spread the filling of candied fruits, raisins and chopped nuts. Add spices, juice and zest of one lemon. Knead the dough well, it should turn out to be heavy and dense. Leave for 3 hours.
  4. Fill the prepared form with dough and bake a cake at 180 degrees 40 - 50 minutes.

Soak the finished dessert in butter and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Quick option with tangerines

In order to make the festive dessert juicy and fragrant, it is baked a few weeks before Christmas. But, if it is not possible to cook it in advance, then you can use the recipe for quick cooking Christmas cake with tangerines. It can be baked a few days before the holiday or served on the table as soon as it cools.

Ingredients:

  • 150 g of flour;
  • 150 g butter;
  • 125 g of sugar;
  • 1 tsp baking powder;
  • 3 eggs;
  • 3 tangerines.
  • cinnamon, ginger, cardamom (¼ teaspoon each).

If desired, for the filling, you can use any dried berries and fruits. It is especially tasty with dried cherries, cranberries and dried apricots.

Cooking method:

  1. If the recipe contains dried fruits and berries, then they need to be washed, poured with a skate and given time to insist.
  2. Tangerines are peeled and white fibers, divided into slices and laid out on a plank so that they are dried.
  3. In a frying pan with the addition of butter, fry the tangerine wedges on both sides. Spread on a plate and let cool.
  4. Now we shift the dried fruits to the pan and heat until the alcohol evaporates.
  5. Now sugar and butter need to be beaten until smooth. Enter the egg one at a time and beat well each time.
  6. Gradually pour flour with baking powder, salt and spices. Knead the dough. It should fall from the spoon in large portions, and not pour.
  7. Add tangerines and dried fruits.
  8. We grease the form with oil, cover it with parchment and lay out the dough. Bake dessert in the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees for an hour.

Festive pastries

A simple and easy to prepare holiday dessert that will delight your loved ones and guests. For the filling, you can use raisins, candied fruits or felted stick and cherry.

Ingredients:

  • 120 g butter;
  • 300 g of sugar;
  • 10 eggs;
  • 400 g flour;
  • 150 g of raisins;
  • 100 g candied papaya and pineapple;
  • 200 g of dried cranberries and cherries;
  • vanilla to taste.

Cooking method:

  1. We take eggs, we need to separate the yolks from the proteins. Beat the whites separately, and grind the yolks with sugar and butter to a thick consistency.
  2. Gently pour flour into the resulting mass and mix. At the end, add the whipped proteins and knead the dough.
  3. Now pour the filling, mix everything well and put the dough in the prepared baking dish.Bake a cake at a temperature of 200 degrees 50 - 60 minutes.

Christmas cake Belonika

Nika Belotserkovskaya, author of famous cookbooks and the owner of a culinary school in France, also offers her recipe for a Christmas cake.

Ingredients:

  • 700 g of dried fruits;
  • 2 eggs;
  • 100 g of flour;
  • ½ pack of butter;
  • 1 tbsp. a spoon of dark molasses;
  • 50 g of almonds;
  • 1 tsp picking spices, a pinch of salt.

Cooking method:

  1. Cooking the filling. We take figs, dried apricots, light and dark raisins, dried cherries and strawberries. Grind everything, add a little freshly squeezed orange juice and 100 ml of Vena Tallin liqueur. Stir and leave for several hours.
  2. Using a mixer, beat the butter with ground almonds, adding ½ part of the flour.
  3. Pour spices in equal proportions: cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and lemon zest.
  4. Beat eggs with sugar and molasses separately (you can take honey or cherry syrup instead).
  5. Combine the beaten butter with eggs, add the remaining flour, filling and mix everything well.
  6. Put the dough into the greased form, bake for 2 - 3 hours at a temperature of 140 degrees.

How to cook according to the Italian recipe

The Italian Christmas cake resembles Easter cake in appearance and taste. It is baked from yeast dough, vanilla is used for the aroma, and raisins, candied fruits and other dried fruits are used for the filling.

Ingredients:

  • 800 g of flour;
  • 250 ml of milk;
  • 6 eggs;
  • 130 g butter;
  • 140 g of sugar;
  • 15 g of dry yeast;
  • 300 g of dried fruits;
  • salt, vanilla.

Cooking method:

  1. We brew yeast in warm milk, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and flour. Leave for 15 to 20 minutes.
  2. As soon as the dough is suitable, add the eggs beaten with sugar, softened butter, a pinch of salt, flour and vanilla to taste.
  3. Now we combine the dough with the filling of dried fruits and leave it for 3 hours.
  4. We grease the form with oil, fill it with dough and bake dessert at a temperature of 180 degrees for an hour.

Christmas gingerbread treat

A Christmas cake is not just a dough with dried fruits, but also an opportunity to discover new recipes for its preparation. For example, add ginger, which will give the dessert an incredible taste, and most importantly, aroma.

Ingredients:

  • 350 g of flour;
  • 3 eggs;
  • 15 g of baking powder;
  • 120 g of sugar;
  • 80 g of honey;
  • 50 ml of vegetable oil;
  • 300 g of dried fruits;
  • 150 g bananas;
  • 120 g of nuts;
  • 30 g of cocoa;
  • 100 ml of rum;
  • tsp cinnamon
  • tsp ginger (fresh and ground).

Cooking method:

  1. Soak dried fruits in rum for the night.
  2. Mix flour with baking powder, cocoa, dry ginger and cinnamon.
  3. Beat eggs with sugar. Combine them with flour and spices.
  4. Add fresh ginger, oil, honey and bananas, which must be pre-chopped with a blender to a puree consistency. Mix everything thoroughly with the filling of dried fruits and nuts.
  5. Bake dessert in the oven at a temperature of 140 degrees 2 - 3 hours.

Making a Christmas cake is a special ritual that takes time and a reverent attitude. But the result will surely please both the hostess and everyone who happens to try her culinary masterpiece.

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