Iced Delia Smith Irish whiskey Christmas cake comes as four small fruit cakes, soaked a week in Irish whiskey, with marzipan and whiskey icing. You bake one 20cm square cake at 140°C for 3½ hours, then cut it into four 10cm squares. Each little cake gets a ribbon, so they make lovely homemade Christmas presents.
These cakes first appeared in her How to Cook series (Book One, 1998) and again in The Delia Collection: Baking (2003), which her website follows. Delia calls them dead easy for anyone who has never made a Christmas cake. The marzipan and icing are kept thin here, and the Irish whiskey goes into the icing as well as the cake.
These cakes share their fruit, spices and week-long soak with her creole Xmas cake, so the two recipes can look alike. But the drink, the baking time and the finish are different, and the table after the FAQs shows each one side by side.
Delia Smith Iced Irish Whiskey Christmas Cakes
Four small square fruit cakes, soaked in Irish whiskey with prunes, cherries and almonds, then covered in marzipan and a swirled whiskey icing.
24
servings1
hour3
hours45
minutes520
kcalIngredients
- For the pre-soaking:
275ml (10fl oz) Irish whiskey
1½ teaspoons Angostura bitters
3 tablespoons water
450g (1lb) raisins
225g (8oz) currants
110g (4oz) no-soak prunes
50g (2oz) glacé cherries
50g (2oz) whole unblanched almonds
110g (4oz) whole mixed candied peel
½ rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon molasses sugar
grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
½ teaspoon salt
- For the cake:
250g (9oz) self-raising flour, sifted
250g (9oz) demerara sugar
250g (9oz) unsalted butter, very soft
5 large eggs, at room temperature
- For the marzipan:
1 heaped tablespoon apricot jam
1 tablespoon Irish whiskey
500g (1lb 2oz) block of marzipan
a little icing sugar, for rolling
- For the icing:
1 large egg white
1 dessertspoon molasses syrup or black treacle
570g (1lb 4oz) golden icing sugar, sieved
2½ tablespoons Irish whiskey
Directions
- Soak: One week before baking, put the whiskey, bitters and water in a large saucepan. Roughly chop the prunes, cherries and almonds, finely dice the peel, and add them with all the other pre-soaking ingredients.
- Simmer: Bring the pan up to simmering point, then keep the heat very low and simmer gently, without a lid, for 15 minutes. Leave it to cool completely, then tip it into a large lidded jar or airtight box. Keep it in the fridge for 7 days, shaking it now and then.
- Tin: On baking day, heat the oven to 140°C, fan 120°C, gas mark 1. Grease a 20cm square cake tin and line the base and sides with a double layer of baking parchment that stands 10cm high.
- Mix: Put the flour, sugar and butter in a very large bowl, add the eggs and whisk or beat with a wooden spoon until evenly blended. Fold in the soaked fruit a little at a time, then spoon it into the tin and level the top.
- Bake: Bake in the centre of the oven for 3 hours without opening the door. Cover the top with a double sheet of parchment and bake for 30 minutes more, until the centre feels springy when lightly touched.
- Cool: Leave the cake in its tin for 45 minutes, then cool it on a wire rack. Once cold, wrap it in a double layer of parchment and then foil, and keep it in an airtight container.
- Marzipan: Cut the cake into four 10cm squares. Warm the jam with the tablespoon of whiskey until smooth and brush it over each cake. Roll a quarter of the marzipan into a 20cm square on a little icing sugar. Cut it into four and press one piece on top of each cake.
- Sides: Halve the rest of the marzipan and roll each half into a 15 x 40cm strip. Cut each strip in half lengthways, wrap one strip round the sides of each cake and pinch the joins to seal.
- Ice: Whisk the egg white and molasses with an electric hand whisk, then add the icing sugar a spoonful at a time. When it starts to crumble, add a tablespoon of whiskey and more sugar. Add another tablespoon of whiskey, then the rest of both, and whisk until smooth.
- Finish: Spread a quarter of the icing over the top and sides of each cake with a palette knife dipped in simmering water. Dip the knife again and make swirls, then leave the cakes to dry overnight. Wrap each one in parchment and foil, and tie on a ribbon to give.
Notes
- Her 1998 book says a gas oven made after 1992 needs gas mark 2 for this cake.
- For four cakes, you need four lengths of ribbon, each 1.2m long and 4cm wide.
FAQs
Can I make one big cake instead of four?
Yes, keep the Irish whiskey cake whole as one 20cm square cake, as her 2003 book and her website suggest. Roll one quarter of the block into a 20cm square for the top, and the rest into two 7.5 x 40cm strips for the sides.
Ice it in the same way with swirls, and tie it with a 2m length of ribbon.
When should I put the icing on?
Leave the marzipan to dry for a week under a clean tea towel before icing, if you want to keep the cakes for a while. Delia gives this tip in both her 1998 and 2003 books, and her marzipan recipe explains why.
Can I feed the cakes with more whiskey?
Yes, you can feed these Irish whiskey cakes, her website says. Spoon 2 to 3 teaspoons of alcohol, such as more Irish whiskey, over the whole cake. Do it every week to ten days, as for her classic Christmas cake.
How do I make a smaller cake?
For a smaller whiskey Christmas cake, her website suggests a 2-large-egg mixture in a 15cm round or 13cm square tin. A 3-large-egg mixture fits an 18cm round or 15cm square tin.
Start checking the smaller cakes for a springy centre well before the full 3½ hours, which is my own advice.
Irish whiskey cakes and creole cake compared
Both recipes start with the same fruit, spices and 7-day soak in the fridge, and both bake at 140°C. These are the parts that differ.
| Irish whiskey Christmas cakes | Creole Christmas cake | |
|---|---|---|
| Her books | Her How to Cook series, 1998 (Book One), and The Delia Collection: Baking (2003) | Delia’s Happy Christmas (2009), Delia’s Cakes (2014) |
| Soaking drink | 275ml Irish whiskey | 3 tablespoons each of rum, brandy, cherry brandy and port |
| Nuts | 50g whole unblanched almonds | 50g mixed chopped nuts |
| Tin | 20cm square | 20cm round (2014) or square (2009) |
| Time at 140°C | 3 hours, then 30 minutes covered | 3 hours, then 1 hour covered |
| Finish | Cut into four 10cm cakes, with marzipan and whiskey icing | A nut topping, or a thin layer of marzipan and icing |
