Recipes for a Light Christmas Cake are becoming very popular. Some families just don’t like or want a heavy fruit cake alongside all the rich food at Christmas time, so want to make a much lighter Christmas cake than the traditional recipe provides.

Not everybody likes rich fruit cakes so many home bakers will be planning to bake a Chocolate Christmas Cake and ice it with a snow scene. The cake will need to be a rich and moist, maybe with some alcohol in it and then iced with a festive white icing. Here are some ideas for a Chocolate Christmas Cake.

Here’s a recipe I came across on EzineArticles for homemade mini fruit cakes. That’s something I hadn’t come across before so I thought I’d re-publish the recipe here. The idea of little, individual fruit cakes is quite appealing so I think I may well give them a try!

Mini Fruit Cake Recipe

During the holiday season, I like to spend an afternoon making some delicious homemade mini fruit cakes. Making and serving these delectable goodies has been around for centuries. You will usually see them served around the holiday season or at wedding celebrations.

You will find that various cultures will have a different twist on the traditional recipe, however, the following recipe is done in the American tradition. When I make this fruit cake, I bake them in a muffin tin or in mini loaf pans. If desired, you can certainly bake them in a regular loaf pan or round cake pan.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups eggnog

1 1/2 cups mixed candied fruits

1 1/2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

additional eggnog

(optional) candied cherry halves

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the granulated sugar with the softened butter until it’s light and creamy. Beat in both eggs until combined. In another bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture and then beat in the eggnog until all ingredients are well combined. Fold in the chopped candied fruits. If the mixture is stiff, stir by hand.

Lightly spray your muffin or mini loaf pans with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Spoon the batter into your desired pans. Place pans into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until they are done and the centers test clean with a toothpick. Remove from the pans and let cool on a wire rack.

In a small bowl, combine the confectioner’s sugar, nutmeg and ground cinnamon. Add in enough eggnog to make the mixture of drizzling consistency. Drizzle the glazed over the cooled fruit cakes.

If desired, top the fruit cakes with candied cherry halves for garnishing and store them in an airtight storage container.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a manager with Tupperware. Shelly enjoys cooking and baking for her friends and family, especially during the holiday season. You can visit Shelly online at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for additional free recipes.

Author: Shelly Hill
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

This is a really easy Christmas cake recipe. The fruit and other ingredients are boiled together first which means that the finished fruit cake is very moist and there is no arm-aching creaming together of sugar and fat. To finish the cake an easy lemon white icing is used. The sharpness of the lemon balances the sweetness of the cake nicely. Why not try it? It really is an easy homemade cake that makes a nice fuit cake to eat any time of the year.

Ingredients

1500 g…3 lb 5 oz of mixed dried fruit
(Buy it mixed or mix your own with sultanas, currants, cherries, raisins, apricots, dates, etc)
6 tbsp brandy, or similar if you prefer a different spirit
250 g…9 oz butter or margarine, chopped into chunks
400 g…14 oz dark brown sugar, Muscovado is ideal
5 medium eggs, beaten
Grated rind and juice of 1 orange
2 tbsp black treacle, or molasses
375 g…13 oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
250 g…9 oz chopped mixed nuts
50 g…2 oz ground almonds

For the icing (frosting):

435 g…16 oz icing sugar
1 egg white, or equivalent water/gelatin mix
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 tsp vanilla essence
Holly leaves (washed) to decorate

One greased, deep 20cm/8in cake tin, double lined wih waxed or greaseproof paper.

Preheat the oven to 150 deg C, 300 deg F, Gas Mark 2.

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Start the easy Christmas cake recipe by placing the dried fruit along with the butter or margarine, sugar, molasses, brandy, orange rind and orange juice in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil gently and the leave to simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.

When cool, add the chopped nuts, beaten eggs and ground almonds and stir thoroughly.

In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and spice together and then stir gently into the mix until completely blended.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin, roughly level the top and place in the centre of the preheated oven for 1 hour. After 1 hour turn the oven down to 140 deg C, 275 deg F, Gas Mark 1 and continue to bake for about 2 1/4 hours.

If the top of the cake is browning too much and drying out, cover it with a layer of foil or greaseproof paper for protection. Test to see if a skewer, or similar, comes out clean when pushed into the centre of the cake. If not test again after 10-15 minutes.

Remove the fruit cake from the oven when cooked and allow to cool in the tin on a wire rack. To store, turn out of the tin, wrap in foil and/or greaseproof/waxed paper and store in an airtight container until time to decorate.

Open from time to time and drizzle with a little brandy for a realy delicious cake!

For decorating – beat together the icing sugar, lemon juice, egg white and vanilla essence in a bowl. If you prefer not to eat raw egg, substitute a few tablespoons of water/gelatin instead. When the icing mix is smooth and well blended, roughly spread it over the cake using a knife, before using a fork to rough it up into an attractive pattern. Finish by decorating with the holly leaves, or any other Christmas cake decorations.

Share this easy Christmas cake recipe with friends and then you’ll have even more to eat yourself. Only joking – share the homemade cake as well, not just the recipe!

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