Speedy Delia Smith last-minute Christmas cake is her mincemeat fruit cake, made with a jar of luxury mincemeat and dried fruit soaked in brandy. After a soak of 4 hours or more, you mix the cake all in one go, then bake it at 170°C for 2 hours. One 20cm cake gives about 16 slices, topped with glazed whole nuts.
Her books give this cake three names, but it is one recipe that changed a little over the years. It began as the Quick and Last-minute Christmas Sherry Mincemeat Cake in her Vegetarian Collection (2002). Delia’s Happy Christmas (2009) called it the Last-minute Brandied Christmas Cake, and Delia’s Cakes (2014) and her website use the name on the card below.
This last-minute cake is for anyone who ran out of time. Her 2009 book says it plainly: “you meant to make a Christmas cake in early October”. In 2002 she even said you could bake it on Christmas morning and have it ready for tea. The whole nuts toast as it bakes, which suits anyone who finds Christmas cake too sweet, her 2009 book adds. For a cake with a week’s soak instead, see her Creole cake.
Delia Smith Last-minute Christmas Mincemeat Cake
A moist fruit cake with prunes and cherries, topped with shiny walnuts, pecans and Brazils, and ready in an afternoon.
16
servings20
minutes2
hours425
kcalIngredients
- For the pre-soaking:
150ml brandy
1 x 400g jar luxury mincemeat
110g no-soak prunes, roughly chopped
50g glacé cherries, quartered
175g dried mixed fruit
50g whole candied peel, finely chopped
- For the cake:
225g self-raising flour
3 level teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ level teaspoons mixed spice
150g spreadable butter
150g dark muscovado sugar
3 large eggs
50g Brazil nuts, roughly chopped
zest of 1 small orange and 1 small lemon
- For the top:
about 18 walnut halves, 18 pecan halves and 20 whole Brazil nuts
1 heaped tablespoon sieved apricot jam
1 tablespoon brandy
Directions
- Soak: Mix the brandy, mincemeat, prunes, cherries, dried fruit and peel in a bowl. Cover it with a cloth and leave it somewhere cool overnight, or for at least 4 hours.
- Oven: Heat the oven to 170°C, fan 150°C, gas mark 3. Grease a 20cm loose-based round cake tin and line the base and side.
- Mix: Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and mixed spice into a very large bowl. Add the butter, sugar and eggs and beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth and fluffy.
- Fold: Fold in the soaked fruit, then the chopped nuts and lastly the orange and lemon zest. Spoon it into the tin and level the top.
- Top: Arrange the whole nuts on top in circles or rows. Rest a double square of baking parchment with a 50p-sized hole in the middle on the rim of the lining, not on the cake.
- Bake: Bake it on the centre shelf for 2 hours, or until the centre springs back when lightly touched.
- Glaze: Cool the cake in the tin for 30 minutes, then on a wire rack. Meanwhile, warm the apricot jam with the brandy and brush it over the nuts to make them shine.
Notes
- Kept in an airtight tin, or wrapped in parchment-lined foil, the cake keeps beautifully, Delia says.
- Cutting the 20cm cake into 16 slices is my own choice.
FAQs
Does this cake need feeding?
No, this cake needs no feeding, even if you bake it early, because it already holds a lot of brandy, her website says. Her 2002 book adds that it stays beautifully moist for 3 to 4 weeks in an airtight tin.
Can I use sherry instead of brandy?
Yes, her 2002 version soaks the fruit in 150ml of oloroso or another medium sherry instead. That vegetarian version also uses vegetarian mincemeat and wholemeal flour, and it bakes for 2 to 2½ hours.
How long should the fruit soak?
Overnight is best, but 4 hours is the shortest soak Delia gives in her 2014 recipe. Her 2002 book suggests 3 days if you have the time, and says that just 3 hours will do.
What if I have no mincemeat?
Without mincemeat, her website suggests making her classic Christmas cake instead. Even late in the season, it will still be good for Christmas after a couple of brushes of brandy or Armagnac.
How do I ice it instead of using nuts?
Leave the whole nuts off the top, and cover the cold cake with ready-made marzipan and fondant icing, as her 2009 book suggests. The glaze is then not needed, which is my own note.
