According to a long-standing tradition, Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts is prepared 2-3 weeks before the holiday. While waiting, the product is soaked from time to time in alcohol to prevent molding and to impart a refined taste and aroma. However, nothing will prevent you from tasting the delicious delicacy even after it has cooled.

How to make a Christmas cupcake?

A Christmas cake is baked with dried fruits and a portion of nuts, which are complemented by delicate dough and all kinds of spicy additives.

1. Dried fruits are pre-soaked in alcohol, and nuts are browned.
2. Knead the dough, combine with additives, bake until done.
3. The finished Christmas cupcake with dried fruits and nuts is decorated with icing and appropriate decorative elements.

English Christmas Cake – Recipe

For many years, cooks in England have perfected the traditional recipe for holiday baking so that the result is beyond praise. Prepared by following the recommendations below, a classic English Christmas cake will allow you to get incredible gastronomic pleasure from tasting it

Ingredients:

• dried fruits – 800-900 g;
• cognac – 400 ml;
• eggs – 4 pcs.;
• flour, butter and sugar - 230 g each;
• ginger, nutmeg, cardamom and pepper - a pinch each;
• honey and orange zest - 1 tbsp. spoon;
• almonds – 100 g;
• hazelnuts and pistachios - 50 g each.

Preparation

1. Soak dried fruits in cognac (300 ml).
2. Grind butter with sugar and eggs.
3. Add honey, spices, zest, flour, and then dried fruits and nuts.
4. Bake the cake in the mold for 1 hour at 150 degrees and another 3 hours at 130 degrees under foil.
5. The product is soaked in cognac and kept in foil for 2-3 weeks.

German Christmas cake Stollen - recipe

No less magnificent is the one prepared by German housewives for the holiday. The peculiarity of this recipe is the use of yeast dough with dried fruits and marzipan filling. Nuts are often simply mixed into the dough, which is then rolled out and folded in half before baking.

Ingredients:

• raisins, dried apricots – 200 g each;
• almonds – 250 g;
• cognac – 50 ml;
• eggs – 2 pcs.;
• butter – 250 g;
• cinnamon and vanilla - 1 teaspoon each;
• milk – 200 ml;
• sugar – 75 g;
• lemon – 1 pc.;
• fresh yeast – 50 g;
• powdered sugar, salt.

Preparation

1. Dried fruits are soaked in cognac.
2. Yeast is diluted in warm milk, a spoonful of sugar and flour is added, and left for 30 minutes.
3. Mix sugar, salt, butter and flour into the dough and leave the dough to rise.
4. Add dried fruits, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla and zest, knead and let sit again for 3 hours.
5. Divide the lump into 2 parts, roll it out, fold it in half.
6. Bake a cupcake with dried apricots, raisins and nuts for 1 hour at 180 degrees.
7. Generously lubricate the hot product with oil and sprinkle with powder.

Italian Christmas panettone cake

Italian Christmas cake is similar in taste and appearance to. A delicacy is prepared with raisins, nuts and candied fruits from yeast dough with a large amount of baking. If desired, add citrus zest, cut dried apricots, and other dried fruits to the composition, and flavor the base with vanilla.

Ingredients:

• dried fruits, nuts and candied fruits – 300 g;
• eggs – 2 pcs.;
• yolks – 6 pcs.;
• butter – 120 g;
• flour – 700-800 g;
• vanilla - to taste;
• milk – 250 ml;
• sugar – 130 g;
• dry yeast – 15 g;
• salt.

Preparation

1. Dissolve yeast in milk, adding 2 tablespoons of sugar and flour, leave for 10-15 minutes.
2. Add eggs with sugar, yolks, butter, salt, vanilla and flour.
3. Knead the dough, adding dried fruits, nuts and candied fruits, leave in a warm place for 2-3 hours.
4. Fill the molds halfway with dough and bake the products at 180 degrees.

Christmas cupcake with dried fruits and rum

A spicy Christmas cake takes on an incredible aroma and taste when baked with a savory mix of fragrant spices. Dried fruits added to the dough are pre-soaked several days or ideally a week before the dough is supposed to be kneaded in high-quality rum.

Ingredients:

• dried fruits – 600 g;
• rum – 250 ml;
• eggs – 4 pcs.;
• flour – 240 g;
• ground almonds – 60 g;
• butter – 200 g;
• baking powder – 10 g;
• vanilla and cinnamon - 0.5-1 teaspoon each;
• nutmeg, cardamom, cloves - a pinch;
• sugar – 150 g.

Preparation

1. Soak dried fruits in rum.
2. Beat butter with sugar and eggs.
3. Add flour, almonds, baking powder, spices and dried fruits.
4. Transfer the dough into a mold and bake the cake at 170 degrees.

Christmas chocolate cupcake

Chocolate-nut cake acquires a special juiciness and aroma due to the addition of cocoa, spices and soaking the product with tangerine juice. After cooling, you can cover the treat with chocolate icing from melted chocolate, adding a tablespoon of heavy cream and decorate to your taste.

Ingredients:

• raisins – 400 g;
• cognac – 100 ml;
• walnuts or almonds – 150 g;
• eggs – 3 pcs.;
• flour – 200 g;
• cocoa – 50 g;
• baking powder – 20 g;
• butter – 150 g;
• cinnamon – 2 teaspoons;
• brown sugar – 150 g;
• tangerines – 4 pcs.;
• chocolate glaze. spices.

Preparation

1. Soak raisins in cognac.
2. Beat eggs with sugar and butter.
3. Add cocoa, flour, baking powder, and spices.
4. Stir in raisins and nuts and bake the cake at 170 degrees.
5. Squeeze the juice from the tangerines, remove the zest, boil, pour the juice into the hot cake in the mold, and leave for 20 minutes.
6. Remove and place raisins on a wire rack and cover with glaze.

Gingerbread Christmas Cupcake

Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts is a recipe that perfectly supports various kinds of experiments. The product acquires a special aroma when grated ginger root or ground ginger is added to the dough. In this case, both components are used, which will only enhance the fragrance.

Ingredients:

• dried fruits – 250 g;
• bananas – 200 g;
• rum – 100 ml;
• eggs – 2 pcs.;
• flour – 300 g;
• cocoa – 40 g;
• nuts – 100 g;
• vegetable oil – 130 ml;
• baking powder and soda - 10 g each;
• honey and sugar - 100 g each;
• fresh and ground ginger - 1 tbsp. spoon;
• cinnamon – 1 teaspoon.

Preparation

1. Soak dried fruits in rum overnight.
2. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, dry ginger, cinnamon.
3. Beat eggs with sugar.
4. Add banana puree, honey, fresh ginger, oil and dry mixture, knead, adding nuts and dried fruits.
5. Bake Christmas ginger cake with dried fruits and nuts at 170 degrees for 1 hour.

Christmas cake in a bread machine

The delicious chocolate Christmas cake, which will be presented below, is prepared in a bread maker, which greatly simplifies the task. You just need to prepare all the necessary ingredients in advance and simply put them in the device’s bucket, following the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Ingredients:

• raisins and nuts – 100 g each;
• bananas – 2 pcs.;
• rum – 50 ml;
• eggs – 3 pcs.;
• flour – 280 g;
• cocoa – 50 g;
• nuts – 100 g;
• sugar – 140 g;
• margarine – 150 g;
• baking powder and vanilla sugar - 2 teaspoons each.

Preparation

1. All ingredients for the dough are placed in a bucket.
2. Select the “Cupcake” mode.
3. After the signal, add chopped bananas, raisins soaked in rum and nuts.

Christmas cake in a slow cooker

It is simply prepared with nuts and dried fruits, which, as in the traditional recipe, need to be soaked in alcohol. The filling set can be compiled at your own discretion, using various varieties of nuts, dried apricots, raisins, figs, dates, all kinds of spices and other components.

Ingredients:

• dried fruits – 600 g;
• nuts – 100 g;
• alcohol – 250 ml;
• eggs – 4 pcs.;
• flour – 250 g;
• brown sugar – 120 g;
• butter – 200 g;
• baking powder and zest - 2 teaspoons each;
• spices.

Preparation

1. Dried fruits are soaked in alcohol.
2. Knead the dough from butter with sugar, eggs and flour, adding spices, baking powder, zest, and then mixing in nuts and dried fruits.
3. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and bake the cake on “Baking” for 110 minutes on one side and another 30 on the other.

Christmas cake recipe from Yulia Vysotskaya

It’s easy to prepare, but the Christmas cupcake from Yulia Vysotskaya turns out to be simply amazing in taste. The finished product can simply be generously greased with butter and sprinkled generously with powdered sugar while it is hot, or covered with glaze and decorated to taste a few hours before it is intended to be served.

Christmas and New Year are the holidays that are celebrated in every family. Often it is during this period that the whole family gathers in one house to spend the old year and make a wish that the next one will bring only joy.

Traditional English muffin

On New Year's holidays, housewives prepare a wide variety of dishes, wanting to please their households with only delicious food. The decoration of any table will be a traditional Christmas English muffin.

It takes little time to bake the dessert. But the main advantage of the English Christmas cake is the ability to prepare it long before the holidays. Such baked goods are the type of desserts that, after heat treatment, must be closed in a dark place where they will “fit.” The entire flavor spectrum of the English Christmas cake is revealed just in time for the New Year holidays. To prepare the delicacy, you can use either a traditional recipe from British chefs or a modern one.

Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cupcake

The process of baking an English Christmas cake is a rather lengthy step-by-step process, which is accompanied by a festive, joyful atmosphere of the approaching Christmas. First, long before preparing the cake, dried fruits and candied fruits are prepared. Then comes the baking itself, which takes several hours. But even after cooking, the Christmas English muffin cannot be served immediately. For about four more weeks it will be wetted and soaked in alcohol. But by Christmas there will be real sweet and spicy pastries on the table.

There are dozens of different recipes for making English Christmas cake. Some people add nuts, rum, cognac, cranberries, and so on to their baked goods. But the classic taste of the dessert can only be achieved by using a recipe from an English chef and pastry chef.

To make Jamie Oliver's English Christmas Cake you will need the following ingredients:

• Flour - 240 g.
• Eggs - 4 pieces.
• Ground mixture of nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, cloves - 2 tsp.
• Butter - 240 g.
• Cognac - 150 ml.
• Dark raisins - 140 g.
• A mixture of dried fruits - dried apricots, candied oranges, prunes, dates - 200 g.
• Brown sugar - 240 g.
• Twenty percent cream - 140 ml.
• Baking powder - 3 tsp.
• Almonds - 60 g.
• Zest of one lemon and one orange.
• Light raisins - 140 g.

Preparing dried fruits

Before preparing the English Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts, you need to prepare the filling. Its components need to be washed well. Remove pits from prunes and dates. Then cut all the dried fruits included in the cake into small pieces. Take a small saucepan and place the crushed ingredients in it, add cognac, stir and place in the refrigerator for at least a week. It is necessary to stir periodically so that the cognac evenly saturates the dried fruits.

The nuts need to be dried. To do this, preheat the oven to 190 degrees and place the baking sheet with the ingredients in it for 6-7 minutes, remembering to mix them. Allow the nuts to cool and chop into small pieces using a knife. About a week later, after the dried fruits have soaked well, you can start baking the cake. All ingredients must be placed in the kitchen in advance, as they must be at room temperature.

Let's start baking

In the bowl of a mixer, beat brown sugar with softened butter until fluffy and fluffy until the sugar is completely dissolved. Gradually add eggs into this whitened mass, one at a time. Beat everything well after each of them. Add ground spices and grated lemon and orange zest.

Next, gradually add flour mixed with baking powder in small parts and beat well. Add cream and stir. Lastly, add cognac-infused dried fruits and chopped almonds to the dough and mix thoroughly again.

Now you need to prepare the baking dish in which the English Christmas cake will be prepared. It needs to be greased with oil and covered with baking paper so that it covers the sides of the container by 5-7 centimeters. This is done to prevent the cake from burning on the sides.

Place the prepared dough in the mold and place in the oven, preheated to 140 degrees. Bake for at least three hours. The finished cake will have a beautiful brownish color thanks to the use of brown sugar and dried fruits. Without removing from the mold, while hot, you need to grease the surface of the dessert with cognac, immediately wrap it in foil and leave for at least 12 hours.

Then remove the dessert from the mold, pack tightly in baking paper, wrap the next layer in baking foil, and then in cling film. The baked goods should be stored in a warm room with an air temperature of about 20 degrees for about a month, remembering to unwrap and brush the English Christmas cake every week with cognac, and carefully pack it again. During storage, the alcohol evaporates, but the aroma remains. Immediately before serving, the cupcake must be decorated.

English Christmas cake: recipe with photo

The traditional English dessert can be prepared not only in the oven, but also in a slow cooker.

To prepare the cupcake you will need:

• Flour - 500 g.
• Butter - 400 g.
• Set of dried fruits - 1200 g.
• Baking powder - 4 tsp.
• Brown sugar - 200 g.
• Dry sherry - 1 glass.
• Ground cinnamon - 2 tsp.
• Ground cloves - 0.5 tsp.
• Ground cardamom - 1 tsp.
• Almonds - 100 g.
• Eggs - 8 pieces.
• Orange zest - 4 tsp.
• Ground nutmeg - 0.5 tsp.

Preparing the filling

Let's use a proven recipe for English Christmas cake with dried fruits. But first you need to prepare some ingredients that make up the filling. You need to take 200 grams of dried fruits. Rinse figs, raisins, cherries, dates, prunes and dried apricots thoroughly under running water to remove dirt, remove seeds and cut into small pieces.

Place the chopped dried fruits in a suitable sized bowl, pour a glass of sherry into them, stir, cover and place in the refrigerator for 5-6 days. Remove them from the refrigerator only a day before baking the dessert. You will need a tray that needs to be covered with baking paper. Place chopped dried fruits on top of it and leave them to dry.

Preparing the dough

All ingredients included in the English Christmas cake recipe must be brought to room temperature. Grind 10 teaspoons of brown sugar in a coffee grinder with almonds. Combine the cinnamon, flour, cloves, cardamom, baking powder, and nutmeg in a small bowl and sift the dry ingredient mixture into a large bowl.

Measure out 8 tablespoons of the mixture and sprinkle it over the dried fruit on the tray. Mix everything. This must be done so that during baking the crushed dried fruits are evenly distributed and do not sink to the bottom of the cake. Beat 400 grams of softened butter and the remaining brown sugar with a mixer. Without stopping the mixer, add all the eggs one by one.

Add orange zest, almond and flour mixtures to this mass, stir, and then add dried fruits. Knead the dough well. Grease the multicooker bowl with butter. Place baking paper on the bottom. Place the resulting English Christmas cake batter into the multicooker bowl. Set the “Baking” mode and set the timer for 2 hours. Then you need to turn the cake over and continue baking for another 30 minutes.

Once cooked, leave the cake in the slow cooker for another 15 minutes and place it on a wire rack. Mix a tablespoon of dry sherry with a tablespoon of sugar in a Turk. The container should be placed on the fire. Heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Make a large number of punctures in the cupcake. Be sure to soak it in sugar and sherry syrup. Leave on a wire rack to cool completely.

Carefully wrap the cooled English Christmas cake in cling film and place in the refrigerator. It should be stored in a cool place until Christmas. Just before serving, decorate to your taste.

Simple Christmas Cupcake

This recipe will be useful to those housewives who, due to their workload, do not have time to use the classic recipe for an English Christmas cake. But to please your loved ones, you can prepare dessert in a simple way.

Ingredients:

• Raisins - 400 g.
• Brandy - 8 tbsp. l.
• Roasted peanuts - 200 g.
• Candied fruits - 500 g.
• Lemon juice - 60 ml.
• Butter - 400 g.
• Brown sugar - 400 g.
• Eggs - 8 pieces.
• Zest of one lemon.
• Wheat flour - 400 g.
• Ginger - 2 tbsp. l.

Let's start cooking

First you need to pour brandy over the raisins for half an hour. Mix peanuts, candied fruits and lemon juice. Knead the dough from flour, sugar, eggs and butter. Stir until it turns into a homogeneous mass. Add lemon zest to the dough. Add nuts, dried fruits, ginger and candied fruits to the dough and mix everything thoroughly.

Grease a baking dish with oil and cover with foil. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Place the dough in the pan and bake for about 80 minutes. The finished cake can be coated with powdered sugar. Dessert can be served at the table.

Not a single Christmas in European countries is complete without baking, but most often it is a Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts, the recipe for which you will find in our article today.

The recipe for making such baked goods may seem very complicated at first glance, but if you follow all our recommendations, you will not have any problems preparing this dish.

English Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts is most often prepared one month before Christmas, this is necessary so that the dried fruits are saturated with rum or other alcohol. If you don’t have time for this, then there’s nothing to worry about, because your finished cupcake will turn out just as delicious.

By the way, these cupcakes can also be prepared using.

Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts - classic recipe

Compound:

50 grams of cream;
4 eggs;
230 grams of flour;
250 grams of almonds;
350 grams of raisins and dried apricots;
120 grams of rum;
120 grams of sugar;
Spices to taste;
60 grams of powdered sugar;
15 grams of baking powder;
sunflower oil.

Preparation:

Wash the prepared dried fruits in running water and dry a little, placing them on a towel. Cut the dried apricots into small cubes, add raisins and pour rum over the entire contents, leave in this form for a whole day. Place the peeled nuts in the oven to dry.

Add a pinch of salt to the eggs and beat together with cream and sugar until fluffy. Add the required amount of flour with added baking powder to the prepared milk mixture and mix all the contents.

Add dried fruits to the dough and knead until smooth. Place the dough in the mold and wait until it sits for half an hour. Bake the cake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Cool the prepared cake in the oven and sprinkle powdered sugar or chocolate on top.

Christmas cupcake from Yulia Vysotskaya

Ingredients:

450 grams of any dried fruits;
230 grams of port wine;
Lemon zest;
100 grams of hazelnuts and almonds;
4 eggs;
230 grams of milk chocolate;
200 grams of flour;
15 grams of baking powder;
250 grams of butter;
2 10 grams of ginger and cardamom;
100 grams of dark chocolate.

Preparation:

To prepare a Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts from Yulia Vysotskaya, you first need to sort out the dried fruits and sort them, cut them quite coarsely. Mix crushed dried fruits with port wine and a tablespoon of honey. Add lemon zest to the dried fruits, pour port again, cover the top and leave for a whole day.

Beat the melted butter with a mixer until fluffy. While beating, add one egg at a time. Separately chop the nuts. Set the mixer to low speed, add baking powder and flour, and then add nuts. A few more revolutions and the mixer can be turned off.
Break the chocolate bars and preheat the oven. Grease the molds with oil. Add chocolate slices, dried fruits and spices to taste to the dough, mix all the contents. Divide the resulting mixture into molds. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until golden brown.

Christmas cake in a slow cooker

Compound:

300 grams of milk;
11 grams of yeast (dry);
800 grams of flour;
3 eggs;
230 grams of butter;
100 grams of candied fruits and dried fruits;
lemon zest.

Preparation:

Before you start preparing the Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts in the slow cooker, turn on the "Multi-cook" mode at a temperature of 100 degrees. Add milk to the multicooker container and heat it up a little. Pour the milk into a separate container, mix with a pinch of salt, sugar and dry yeast, mix and leave in this form for a while. Place the butter in a slow cooker until it melts, then cool it slightly.

Add the cooled butter, yolks and the required amount of flour (leave the white for greasing the finished cake). Add lemon zest and candied fruits to the dough. Knead the dough until it comes away from your hands. Cover the finished dough with plastic wrap.

After an hour, knead the dough a little with your hands. Grease the multicooker container with a small amount of oil, place the dough and cover again so that it has time to rise a little within 2 hours. Brush the cake with pre-whipped egg white. Set the “Multi-cook” mode and cook for about 40 minutes.

German Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts

Compound:

175 grams of almonds;
250 grams of dried fruits;
200 grams of candied fruits;
8 grams of vanilla sugar;
6 tablespoons of rum;
lemon zest;
60 grams of yeast;
550 grams of flour;
1/3 teaspoon salt;
120 grams of sugar;
250 grams of butter;
150 grams of milk;
1 yolk.

Preparation:

Pour candied fruits with dried fruits and nuts with rum one day and leave until completely swollen. Add flour to a large container, make a well in it and finely crumble the yeast into it. Sprinkle with sugar and pour in milk.

When the yeast has completely dispersed, mix with a pinch of salt and softened butter. Knead the dough until it is fairly uniform and smooth. Place the container with the dough in a warm place to rise; when it has increased several times, knead the dough a little with your hands.
While kneading, add all the rum-infused ingredients to the dough. Place the dough back in a warm place. Dust the work surface with flour, place the dough on top and form it into a rectangle, folding its long side several times.

Place the formed German Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts into the pan. Wait for the dough to rise for half an hour. Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes. Grease the hot cake with butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

English Christmas cake with dried fruits soaked in cognac, rum or brandy is another way to create a magical atmosphere ahead of the upcoming holidays. Ideal for winter gatherings, complements warm cozy evenings with a cup of hot tea or a glass of spicy mulled wine. This pastry is traditional European, and just like German, it requires a long period of aging before tasting. You need to be patient and let the cake sit for several weeks - during this time it will fully “ripen” and will repay the waiting time with its rich, balanced taste.

The recipe goes back centuries, and as it happens, over time it has acquired different variations of the filling. Any dried fruits, nuts and other additives are suitable for an English Christmas cake - in our example we use two types of raisins, candied orange peel and almonds. We decorate the finished product with icing and berries, adding a winter mood to the image.

Ingredients:

• butter - 180 g;
• eggs - 3 pcs.;
• sugar - 150 g;
• salt - a pinch;
• baking powder - 1 teaspoon;
• flour - 180 g.

• orange zest - 1 teaspoon;
• almonds - 50 g;
• orange (or other) candied fruits - 100 g;
• mixture of dark and light raisins - 150 g;
• cognac (or rum/brandy) - 100 ml;
• flour - 2 tbsp. spoons (for dried fruits);
• ground cinnamon - ½ teaspoon;
• ground ginger - ½ teaspoon.

For registration (optional):

• powdered sugar - 50 g;
• orange juice - 1-2 tbsp. spoons;
• any berries or fruits.

English Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts recipe

1. Dried fruits and candied fruits are poured with cognac or other aromatic alcohol several hours before cooking (can be left overnight).
   
2. Peel the almonds. Pour boiling water over the nuts and leave for 5-10 minutes. Then drain the water and remove the steamed brown shell. If cleaning is difficult, pour boiling water over the almonds again.
   
3. Place the peeled kernels in a hot frying pan without adding oil. Stir the almonds constantly. There is no need to fry the nuts too much - just dry them. Remove from heat, cool.
   
4. Let's move on to the test. Beat soft butter at room temperature with sugar and a pinch of salt until a single fluffy mass is formed.
   
5. Add the eggs one at a time, continuing to work with the mixer.
   
6. Grind the cooled almonds using a blender and add them to the oil mixture. We remove the zest from the orange by grating it on a fine grater - do not touch the bitter white part, only use the thin orange layer of the peel. Add the citrus shavings to the work bowl and lightly whisk the mixture.
   
7. Place the infused candied fruits and dried fruits in a colander (the remaining alcohol can be saved for soaking the cake). Mix the additives with two tablespoons of flour, and then add to the butter mixture. Stir the contents of the bowl, distributing the additives more or less evenly.
   
8. Combine flour with baking powder, ginger and cinnamon. After sifting, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in parts.
   
9. Stir with a spoon, removing all dry lumps. We get a fairly thick, sticky dough.
   
10. Place the viscous mass into a suitable cake pan, lightly rubbing the bottom and sides with oil. In our example, the English Christmas cake will be made in the shape of a ring, but you can also use a rectangular elongated shape (like a brick). Bake at 160 degrees for about 40-60 minutes (time may differ from the specified time). We check readiness by piercing the crumb with a wooden skewer - it should remain dry. A cake containing such a large number of additives and designed for long-term storage turns out dense - the dough is quite heavy, so there will be no strong rise.
    
11. Cool the finished cake. Using a skewer, we make frequent deep punctures, and then pour cognac (2-3 tablespoons) over the baked goods. Once the alcohol has been absorbed, wrap the Christmas cake tightly with parchment paper and then with foil. Leave for a couple of weeks in a cool, dry place until final “ripening”. Once a week, you can unwrap the baked goods and soak them in alcohol again.
    
12. Before serving, you can decorate the Christmas cupcake. In England, similar baked goods are decorated with icing and marzipan. In our example, the cupcake is covered in orange fondant. To prepare it, gradually add orange juice to the powdered sugar and stir until it becomes thick but flows off a spoon. Fill the baking surface, lay out berries or pieces of fruit.
    
13. English Christmas cake with dried fruits is ready!
    

Enjoy your tea!

Wash dried apricots and prunes and cut into pieces.

Mix dried apricots, prunes, raisins, candied fruits and pour brandy for 10 minutes. Thanks to alcohol, not only the perfection of taste and aroma is achieved, it prevents spoilage and drying out of the dessert.

Instead of brandy, you can use fruit liqueur, cognac, rum, sherry, Madeira. The amount of alcohol is usually calculated according to this scheme: for 500 g of dried fruit you need to take half a glass (100 g) of strong drink.

Place milk, honey, sugar, chopped butter, spices and vanilla sugar into a saucepan. If desired, you can supplement the list of spices with ground cardamom. Heat the mixture over low heat until it boils.


Pour fruit and brandy into hot mixture. Bring to a boil over high heat.


Add baking powder. Mix.


Add half the flour to the hot mixture. Don't forget to sift the flour before working. Everything should be stirred.


Add nuts. Cool the dough to a temperature of 36-37 degrees.

Nuts that are suitable include not only walnuts, but also hazel, peanuts, cashews, almonds, and pine nuts. The result will surprise you with its unique taste if you pre-fry the nuts in a dry frying pan or on a baking sheet in the oven.

Add room temperature eggs to the dough. Mix. It will be better if you add homemade eggs. They have darker yolks, which gives the dough a beautiful yellow tint.


Add the remaining flour.


Mix the dough with a silicone spatula. Fruits and nuts should be evenly distributed throughout the mixture. The dough should be warm, sticky and heavy.


Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, greased with a thin layer of butter. Bake the confectionery product for about an hour at a temperature of 170-180 degrees.


Cool the finished cake in the pan and, if time allows, wrap it in paper for a couple of hours. This will prevent drying out and preserve the pleasant natural smell of the dessert.


Decorate the Christmas cupcake with powdered sugar. It will turn out beautifully if you place a stencil with a pattern (for example, in the form of snowflakes) on the surface of the product, sprinkle it with powder through a sieve, then remove the stencil. The result is a dark image on a light background. As an option, you can pour melted chocolate over the confectionery delight, grease it with sweet fondant, marzipan, or jam.


The pie does not go stale for 5 days, and even becomes tastier when aged.