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by Mary Berry

Mary Berry’s been making her traditional Christmas cake recipe for as long as Paul Hollywood’s been alive. She knows what she’s talking about. If you don't have the required tin size, go to her cake calculator to recalculate the ingredients and cooking time for your cake tin.

Cakes and baking

Storage

Keep your Christmas cake wrapped in brown paper and sealed in an airtight tin for the months leading up to Christmas in a cool, dark place.

Preparation

A good Christmas cake is at its best when its been matured – that is, set aside and ‘fed’ with spirits (usually rum or brandy) so that the flavours have time to mingle with each other and simultaneously mellow out and intensify. A cake can be covered in marzipan 3-5 days before eating. Allow a day before icing for the marzipan to dry, plus another day for the icing to set completely.