Christmas, as we all know, is the season for giving. Though, often it can be difficult choosing gifts for loved ones who seemingly have 'everything'. They already have more than one bottle of their favourite perfume / aftershave, a bookshelf of novels by their favourite authors, and that chunky knit woolly jumper is folded away in the draw next to their seasonal one, decorated with Santa carrying a bunch of mistletoe!
For those friends and relatives why not present them with a hamper, large or small, full of delicious goodies. Imagine that hamper packed with homemade goodies like relishes, chutneys, biscuits, cheeses, fudge, truffles and mini Christmas Cake. Surely a homemade gift, that you've spent time and care over, that you've made yourself with love and finished off with a Christmassy ribbon says 'Merry Christmas, I love you' far more than any unwanted gift hurriedly picked from a department store shelf.
In fact, why reserve those gifts just for those who seemingly have everything. I'm sure many others would love such a homemade hamper of edible delights! I know I would! To provide inspiration and whet your appetite, you will find a selection of delicious recipes from other food bloggers just before the recipe at the bottom of the post, perfect for a homemade Christmas food hamper.
For this very reason last week I made a batch of Mini Christmas Cakes, an integral part of the season's festivities in much the same way as Mince Pies, Stollen and Christmas Pudding are. Measuring just 8cm in diameter these dinky cakes are still jam packed with flavour from the fruit and seasonal spice of cinnamon and mixed spice.
The batter for these small individual Christmas cakes is seriously easy to make. There's no creaming or beating with stand mixers or wooden spoons (which can produce sore blisters - I've had the war wounds in the past to prove it!) The mixture itself is made using the melting method and produces a cake full of plump fruit which is fabulously moist and flavoursome. In fact, the Christmas cake recipe which Mum and I have used for many many years, which was passed down from Grandma, has been playing second fiddle for the past 2 years to this easier, moister, boiling recipe.
Although these small individual Christmas Cakes are nut and alcohol free, they are far from being flavour and aroma free. I really wish you could have been in the Only Crumbs Remain kitchen when they were lifted from the oven after the bake and then removed from their tinfoil and greaseproof paper jackets for their photo shoot yesterday afternoon. After just 10 days of maturing they smelt absolutely
amazing. So,
although I would ordinarily make our fruit cakes many many weeks in
advance of Christmas, I'm confident that these mini Christmas Cakes will
be absolutely delicious when eaten by the lucky recipient!
The Christmas Cake recipe below is sufficient to make 12 dariole / pudding mould sized cakes, but it can easily be adjusted to make fewer, or even more, as necessary. It's just as easy to make a lot as it is a few with this easy recipe. The quantities outlined below would also be ideal to fill a 16cm round (deep) cake tin or a 900g loaf tin if you prefer an oblong cake which is easier to slice....though of course the baking time will be increased (guidance for this can be found in the recipe notes).
Although some people may prefer to eat their Christmas cake naked - the cake not the person I hasten to add - Christmas Cakes, large or small, are ordinarily finished with marzipan and icing. Check out here how I decorated these mini Christmas cakes, though the ideas could easily be transferred to a larger cake.
Before we get onto the recipe, as promised, here are a handful of delicious homemade goodies from food bloggers which would be great as part of a Christmas hamper, sat alongside a Christmas cake of course!
So, let's get to it and bake Mini Christmas Cakes.
print recipe
family, either as a small gesture or as part of a delicious homemade
foodie hamper.Specific Equipment
Dariole or Pudding Moulds measuring 8cm diameter
Prep time: about 30 mins Cook time: around 1 hour 20 mins Yield: 12 mini cakes
- 200g Butter, unsalted, plus extra for preparing the cake tin
- 200g Dark Muscovado Sugar
- 200g Currants
- 200g Sultanas
- 200g Raisins
- 100g Marmalade
- 60g Glace Cherries, chopped
- 160ml Water
- 2 Large Egg, lightly beaten
- 280g Plain Flour
- 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Ground Mixed Spice
Notes:
a) Use a mixture of dariole and pudding moulds if that's what you have available, like us. b) This quantity of batter will also be sufficient to fill a 16cm round (deep) cake tin or a 900g loaf tin (measuring 26cm x 13cm x 7cm), though of course the cooking duration will need to increase to a total of 2 hour 30 minutes - 2 hour 45 minutes. c) The quantities are straight forward to scale up or down to make fewer or more cakes as desired.
Julie McPherson
I simply adore Christmas cake, your mini cakes are so incredibly cute and would make wonderful Christmas gifts. Commenting as BritMums Baking Round-up Editor. 🙂
Natalie Dawn
Can these be fed with alcohol?
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Hi Natalie, I've posed this question to a great FB group I'm in as we, personally, don't particularly care for alcohol in our bakes. My trusted FB friends have advised that that they would pour a little alcohol (about 2 tsp, though no more than 1 tbsp) over the dariole sized cakes as soon as they come out of the oven. Being made with the boiling method these cakes are already super moist and 'fudgey' so I'd go steady with the alcohol and stop once you see it absorbed. I hope this helps Natalie. Do let me know how you get on with them if you decide togive them a try.
Angela x
Helen Costello
I adore your Mini fruit cakes - I always intend on having a stash of mini cakes ready all year around to give as presents. There's truly nothing like receiving homemade food produce to make you feel loved! Thanks once again for joining in with #BakeoftheWeek - we are back after our winter break this Tuesday and hope you will be joining us once again x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Aw thankyou Helen 🙂 You're right, for a lot of people it's lovely to recieve homemade foods as a gift. And what a great idea to have some stacshed away throughout the year - especially as fruit cakes store so well. Ah, lovely, I'll be round tomorrow - it's a lovely linky 🙂
Angela x
Charlotte Oates
Such a lovely Christmas present idea and much more thoughtful than something grabbed quickly from a department store. Thanks for including my Amaretti x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Tjankyou Charlotte, I know I'd prefer it over a pair of boring socks! You're welcome, they look amazing, and one recipe I want to try,
Angela x
Jenny
this is such a wonderful idea and if you are the only person in your house who likes a christmas cake, then a mini one would make the perfect size and then you can give some away as gifts. I really love your decorated cakes too Angela - they look amazing! thank you for linking up to Bake of the week and sorry i have taken so long to comment x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Thankyou Jenny, it really did prove to be a lovely size. A friend / neighbour that Mr E & I gave one of the cakes too commented on it the other day saying that he'd had a a few slices of it - so despite it's dinky size it still gives a few portions.
Oh gosh, don't worry about that Jenny, the period before and after Christmas and New Year is always so manic for many of us.
Thanks for your lovely comment, and Happy New Year,
Angela x
Louise Fairweather
These look so cute - I wish I liked Christmas cake #bakeoftheweek
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Awe what a shame Louise, though I do think fruit cake seems to be like marmite - love it or loath it! Thans for popping by and commenting though,
Angela x
Eb Gargano
Love the idea of making mini Christmas cakes - but it would never do for us. We manage to polish of a maxi one at lightning speed! I just adore Christmas cake. Thanks so much for including my star biscuits and thanks too for linking up to #CookBlogShare 🙂 Eb x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
To be honest Eb, they wouldn't be any good for us either, cos we too love our Christmas cake....but I was thinking of it being more of a gift gesture for perhaps those on their own etc. Or we could happily enjoy one mini one per day 😉 They certainly won't go to waste 🙂
You're more than welcome Eb, I love the simplicity of them and recipes suitable for baking with youngsters are always lovely 🙂
Angela x
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins
I love making foodie hampers. You have reminded me I need to bake my Christmas cake! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
It's great fun isn't it, squeezing all of those delicious goodies into the hamper for loved ones. Ooh you'll have to get your mixing bowl out soon Kirsty, though I'm confident this one would still be very good even if it was made just a week or two before Christmas actually arrives, it's so beautifully moist having been boiled.
Angela x
Anca
Mini Christmas cakes is such a great idea. I might do it this year. I love Christmas cake, it's delicious.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Ooh so do we Anca, all of that fruit and richness is lovely. We usually make it a couple of times in the year - for Christmas and birthdays and it's always well recieved and enjoyed. Do let me know how you get on with it if you give it a try.
Angela x
Jenny-Apply to Face blog
What a wonderful idea.They look gorgeous even naked!x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Hahaha 🙂 Just wait until they're fully dressed Jenny 🙂
Angela x
Sarah James
What a lovely Christmas cake recipe Angela, I like the idea of boiling the fruit and simmering with the butter and sugar so much easier than the creaming method. Thanks for including my Homemade Chilli Sauce x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
It really is a lot easier and it actually seems to produce a moister cake which doesn't need to be fed (I'm not a fan of alcohol in bakes personally). You're more than welcome, it's a lovely sounding recipe.
Angela x
Debra Fernandes
Just perfect, here there are Christmas cake only fans. Cake with marzipan only or cake with everything on fans completely solves my dilemma thank you x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
You're more than welcome Debra. We're like that too, hubby likes his cakes naked (so to speak) whereas I love it with the marzipan and icing. Glad I could be of help 🙂
Angela x
Jacqui Bellefontaine
Oh my with all those foodie goodies in I want a hamper!
I cant wait to see how you have decorated your cakes.
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
You and me both Jacqui, it'd be so lovely to receive a homemade food hamper wouldn't it :-).
It wont be long now before our decorated mini Christmas cakes appear on the blog,
Angela x