Fruit cake, Christmas cake, last minute hacks

Never let anyone tell you you are too late! This fruit cake can be made at any time at all- even the day you want it. It’s a boiled fruit cake that can be mixed all in one pot before baking.

It really is as simple as that. No marinating no creaming just mix, simmer stir then bake. This is the fruit cake lovers cake because it is so quick simple and delivers on fruity moist texture.

I use a mix of fruit including citrus peel, cherries, raisins, currants and sultanas and then I added dates so they would break up a bit like they do in a sticky date cake.

It has a quick royal icing. This is made with nothing more than icing sugar, lemon, and egg white. Of course, you don’t need to decorate your if you don’t want. It is lovely enough to be served hot with custard too.

How to make quick fabulous boiled fruit cake at the last minute

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Putting the cake together couldn’t be easier:

1. Start with a kilo and a bit of fruit. Mine is mixed and includes chopped dates for colour. These are also great in the mix as they break down just as they do in a date cake.
2. Next, add butter and brown sugar for richness and caramel flavour
3. Follow that with brandy ( or sherry ), zest and juice and molasses (if using)
4. Next up you bring this just up to a simmer and stir until everything is melted then set aside to cool.
5. Add the eggs to the cooled mixture and stir well while it is still in the pot
6. All that is left is the flour, spices and vanilla. Add these to the pot and stir until well combined
7. And it’s all done! Add the mixture to a 23 cm / 9.5-inch tin lined with baking paper
8. Bake the cake in a slow oven, about 160C / 320 F
9. Halfway through the baking I gently take out the cake. It should look nice and golden going to brown
10. Cover the top with foil and tuck it around the sides using a tea towel because it will be hot! Put the cake back into the oven. It will take about 3 hours.
11. Take the cake out of the oven and set on a rack. Test the centre with a skewer. This should come out clean.
12. You can paint the cake with syrup if you like. This adds a nice flavour but it isn’t a compulsory step. See the recipe for the syrup below.

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Quick Christmas Cake decorations

Here’s a quick way to decorate your Christmas cake

1. Turn the cake out of the tin and flip it over so that the bottom is now the top. This will give you a smoother surface to decorate
2. Whip up a white frost icing. Add as much or as little of this as you like. It is a soft icing that dries so it is often better to just put it on the top of your cake.
3. Spread the icing over the top and sides of your cake if you like
4. I used a long length of liquorice around mine but the decorating is up to you. You can leave the sides free of icing.
5. This is now fully iced and has candy around the sides.
6. I finished with sprinkles. You could use any kind of Christmas decoration. You could even use flowers
7. Try these other quick Christmas recipes

If you love fruit try these recipes too:

Fruit Mince Crumble Slice

Fruit Mince Muffins