Nigella Christmas Cake Recipe
Nigella Christmas Cake Recipe is a rich, fruit cake filled with raisins, currants, cherries, and nuts, soaked in bourbon for deep flavor. The batter combines butter, brown sugar, eggs, flour, and warm spices. Slow baking ensures a tender texture. Storing wrapped and occasionally fed with alcohol enhances taste, making it a festive, long lasting holiday dessert.
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Saucepan or microwave safe bowl (for soaking fruit)
- Electric mixer or wooden spoon
- 23 cm (9-inch) round deep cake tin
- Parchment paper and brown paper (for lining and wrapping tin)
- Cooling rack
- Spatula
- Sieve
Ingredients
- 300 g plain flour all purpose flour
- 300 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 150 g pecans or walnuts, chopped
- 400 ml bourbon or dark rum/brandy, optional
- 700 g raisins
- 300 g currants
- 100 g glace cherries chopped
- 2 tbsp black treacle or molasses
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 180 g dark brown sugar
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 150 g ground almonds
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Step 1: Soak The Fruit
- Put the raisins, currants, chopped cherries, and pecans into a large bowl. Pour in the bourbon, black treacle, and almond extract, then stir everything together. Cover the bowl and leave it to soak overnight or up to a week if you have time stirring it every so often to keep the fruit moist and evenly coated.
Step 2: Prepare The Cake Tin
- Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F), or 130°C if you’re using a fan oven. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 23 cm (9-inch) round cake tin with two layers of parchment paper. To stop the cake from getting too dark on the outside, wrap the outside of the tin with a strip of brown paper or foil.
Step 3: Make The Batter
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and dark brown sugar together until the mixture looks pale and fluffy. Add the lemon zest, then beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is fully mixed in before adding the next. Sift the flour, ground almonds, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon together, then gently fold these dry ingredients into the creamed mixture until you have a smooth batter.
Step 4: Add The Fruit
- Tip in the soaked fruit along with any leftover liquid. Stir well with a wooden spoon so the fruit is spread evenly throughout the batter.
Step 5: Bake The Cake
- Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin and smooth the top. Make a small dip in the center to help it bake evenly. Place it in the middle of the oven and bake for about 3 to 3½ hours, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the cake starts to brown too quickly, loosely cover it with foil after about 2 hours.
Step 6: Cool And Store
- Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack. Once it’s cooled, take it out, peel off the parchment paper, and wrap it tightly in fresh parchment and foil. Store the cake in an airtight container somewhere cool and dark until you’re ready to enjoy it.