About this Mini Christmas Cakes recipe
These Mini Christmas Cakes might be small, but they packed full of the rich, fruity flavour you'd expect from a classic christmas cake recipe. Let's be honest, it can often be hard to finish a whole classic Christmas Cake, so these mini twists on the classic version are the perfect solution. These simple mini cakes are wonderfully rich thanks to Billington's Light Muscovado Sugar which gives subtle hints of warm honey and creamy fudgy flavour, making it one of the finest light brown sugars in the World, and exactly what your Christmas baking deserves this festive season.
How to decorate my Christmas Cake?
Golden in colour, these mini cakes are delicately covered with a thin marzipan layer, brushed with sweet and sticky apricot jam and tidied up with a final layer of white fondant icing leaving your Classic Mini Christmas Cakes ready to decorate however you'd like. The key to ensuring your Christmas Cake is smooth and uniform in shape is using an icing smoother (which you can pick up at most baking stores online), as well as ensuring your apricot jam is applied smoothly without any chunks of fruit. This way you'll create the perfect white canvas to decorate your Christmas Cakes as beautifully as possible. Why not pop a ribbon on your cakes to give them the final 'wow' factor? This is also a nice hack for covering up any untidy edges to your white fondant icing. We used red and green ribbon tied with a bow to give our Mini Christmas Cakes an extra festive finishing touch.
Making a Christmas Cake from scratch is one of the most magical moments of home baking at Christmas. Filling your home with the wonderful scent of spiced fruit and ginger, and gifting these to a friend or loved one is why we love baking at Christmas. If you're looking for baking ideas this Christmas we have a huge selection of baker-approved recipes; from centrepiece showstoppers to quick & easy baking ideas for the kids this festive season.
If you're baking these Mini Christmas Cakes as a gift for someone, we have plenty more edibile gifting ideas to tempt you with; from our simple Christmas Cookies in a Jar, to our Christmas Pudding Cake Balls.
Method
Step 1:
Line the base and sides of four baked bean tins (small 415g, empty, cleaned) with two layers of non stick baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 4).
Step 2:
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.
Step 3:
Add one egg and beat until mixed. Add the other egg with a tablespoon of flour and beat again.
Step 4:
Stir in the rest of the flour, mixed spice, luxury dried mixed fruit and stem ginger.
Step 5:
Divide the cake mixture between the tins and level the tops.
Step 6:
Bake for 1 hour. Leave to cool in the tins for 15 minutes then remove from the tins and finish cooling on a wire rack.
Step 7:
Trim the tops of the cakes with a sharp knife to make the tops flat. Roll out enough marzipan to cover each of the cake. Heat the jam and brush on the tops of the cakes. Position the marzipan in place to stick.
Step 8:
Roll out the white sugar paste icing the same size as each cake. Brush the marizpan with cooled boiled water and then layer with the sugar paste icing. Use a small knife to trim off excess icing from around the edges and wrap ribbon around the base. This can be secured in place with a small dab of royal icing.
Step 9:
Decorate each cake with edible Christmas decorations and box up nicely if gifting.
Ingredients
For the Cakes
- 115g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 115g Billington's Unrefined Light Muscovado Sugar
- 2 Large free range egg(s)
- 125g Self-raising white flour
- 200g Dried mixed fruits
- 1 Piece of stem ginger (in syrup, finely chopped)
- 1 tsp Mixed spice
For the Decoration
- 200g Marzipan
- 2 tbsp Apricot Jam
- 200g White sugar paste icing
Utensils
- 4x Empty baked bean tins (small 415g)
- Non stick baking paper
- Wire cooling rack
- Rolling pin
- Pastry brush
- Ribbon
Recipe Reviews
I love it i give to my teacher it tastes so good!
Great but don’t forget the mixed spice as it’s not mentioned in the method!
This has been amended now, thanks for letting us know. Happy Baking!
Is there a alternative for stemmed ginger or can you leave it out ?
You can leave this out if you prefer it will still make a delicious bake
Made these last Christmas, they turned out really well and tasted great. I've come back this year to try the recipe again.
I soaked my fruit overnight in marsala and the cakes turned lovely and moist.
These cakes baked beautifully. How long do they last for once baked? Can they be frozen? Thanks.
These cake can be stored, similar to larger fruit cakes for a month or so in a cool, dark place. Alternatively, you can freeze them (uniced) Make sure that you wrap them well in cling film to protect your bake in the freezer.
Ingredients
For the Cakes
- 115g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 115g Billington's Unrefined Light Muscovado Sugar
- 2 Large free range egg(s)
- 125g Self-raising white flour
- 200g Dried mixed fruits
- 1 Piece of stem ginger (in syrup, finely chopped)
- 1 tsp Mixed spice
For the Decoration
- 200g Marzipan
- 2 tbsp Apricot Jam
- 200g White sugar paste icing
Utensils
- 4x Empty baked bean tins (small 415g)
- Non stick baking paper
- Wire cooling rack
- Rolling pin
- Pastry brush
- Ribbon