Tomorrow is Stir Up Sunday and this is the Christmas cake recipe I will be baking. I made it last year and, even though I’m not generally the biggest fan of rich fruit cakes, I thought it was absolutely delicious and so it has to be made again.
It’s essentially Guardian columnist Felicity Cloake’s recipe from her How to cook the perfect… series, but instead of using whisky I flavour my cake with amaretto, that deliciously perfumed, sweet-tasting almond-flavoured liqueur. It’s the drink I most associate with Christmas. My husband and I buy a bottle for the festive season every year, and we just about make it last until twelfth night.
Stir up Sunday traditionally falls on the last Sunday before Advent, which this year is 24 November. The name is thought to come from a prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, which is always read in church this Sunday:
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Since the prayer readies Christians for the start of Advent, this day has also become synonymous with the start of other Christmas preparations, including the mixing of the Christmas pudding. With just over four weeks to go until the big day, it’s also the perfect time to bake the Christmas cake, giving sufficient time for ‘feeding’ with your alcohol of choice – be it rum, brandy, whisky or, in my case, amaretto.
Last year I let the children help me decorate the top of the cake with figures made from coloured icing sugar. We ended up with a penguin and a snowman but I have absolutely no recollection as to what the third character was meant to be! I didn’t have the heart to leave it off the cake as my youngest was just so proud of it.
Amaretto Christmas cake
250g currants
250g sultanas
100g dried figs, chopped
100g glacé cherries, halved
100g mixed peel
125ml amaretto, plus extra to feed
125g soft butter
125g demerara sugar
4 eggs, beaten
130g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
50g ground almonds
grated zest of 1 lemon
50g blanched almonds, roughly chopped
25g crystallised ginger, chopped
Start by soaking the fruit in the alcohol. Place the dried fruit and mixed peel in a bowl, cover with the amaretto, and leave to soak overnight.
Preheat the oven to 140C / gas mark 1. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour and baking powder into another bowl and then stir in the mixed spice, ground almonds and salt. Fold this into the butter and sugar mixture. Give the soaked fruits a good stir and add these, along with any remaining amaretto, the lemon zest, chopped almonds and ginger. Stir well.
Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth the surface. I appreciated Felicity’s tip of scooping out a small hollow in the middle of the mixture to prevent it doming during baking.
Bake for about an hour, before covering with foil and baking for another half an hour or so. The cake is ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.
With a skewer, poke some holes deep into the cake, and generously brush the surface with more amaretto. Remove the cake from the tin and with the baking parchment still in place, wrap in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin.
Feed again with amaretto every week until it’s time to ice the cake just before Christmas. I cheat at this stage and use a layer of shop-bought marzipan, followed by a layer of shop-bought royal icing. But if you’d like to make your own icing, I can recommend Delia Smith’s recipe. Sorry – I’ve never made my own marzipan, so wouldn’t know where to point you for that!
This cake has become one of our family Christmas traditions. What are yours?
I’m entering this cake into Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen at Lavender & Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked as it contains heaps of dried fruit which just happens to be this month’s theme.
Bangers & Mash 
Looks amazing and I love amaretto!! Even better with the figures on top too Xxxx
This recipe sounds lovely. I do love Christmas cake. I’m not a fan of whiskey or brandy so your idea of using Amaretto (which I do like!) is great for me! The cake must smell wonderful using Amaretto!
Great job Vanesther! My mum will love this x
LOVE the idea of this! Have wanted to make a Christmas cake for my Italian family for some time now and think this may just be the perfect recipe!
Looks lovely and I do like those penguin decorations. Am thinking of decanting a few of my boozy fruits (sloes etc) from home-made drinks to add to the cake – do you think it will work? On a less natural note, have to admit that our Christmas cake last year featured a Sylvanian festive scene. Obviously not my idea but Ruby was very keen to donate her toys (they washed up fine afterwards) and I had a very enthusiastic cake decorator!
I LOVE it Vanesther! Such a PRETTY colour cake too, sort of golden and not at all heavy and dark! Quite delectable! Thanks so much for bringing it to the tea time treats table! Karen
I made this cake but it was really flat it didn’t rise 😦
So sorry you were disappointed Aisha. Mine didn’t rise much either but you generally find that with rich fruit cakes. How does it taste?
Couldn’t make this with self-raising flour instead to resolve the flatness of the cake?
It’s worth a try. Most fruit cake recipes tend to be plain flour and baking powder, but you do sometimes see the addition of self-raising flour as well.
I have just used this recipe for the top layer of a friends wedding cake i’m making, we had the cake tasting with weekend and they LOVED it! I substituted the cherries for chopped apricots and for a less seasonal and less alcoholic cake I only used 125ml of Amaretto.
Thank you so much for this!
Benjamin Bee
Hi Benjamin – what a lovely idea to use this in a wedding cake! I’m absolutely delighted that it went down well with everyone and thank you so much for coming back to let me know! I hope your friends have a wonderful wedding 🙂
I am making this cake tomorrow, just put my fruit in to soak, smells wonderful 🙂 I can’t wait, it has made me feel so Christmassy! I will let you know how it turns out.
Oh yes, that smell is gorgeous isn’t it? I do hope you enjoy it!
Can you tell me please, Once you wrap it in paper and put in an air tight container, does it sit on the counter or in the fridge? I was wondering about bacteria. I want to make it, my first time ever, but want to be correct. The pan you are using is a bread pan? Thank you!
Hi Bonnie. I keep the tin in a cool room – a larder or pantry would be perfect, but sadly I don’t have one of those! Instead I keep my tin in the dining room, which is considerably cooler than our kitchen. And I use a round 20cm cake tin. Let me know if you do try the recipe. I’d love to hear how you get on!
Due to out scorching weather here in Sydney, how and where does one store this beautiful cake so that it does not become rancid quickly with the heat. Thanks
You could keep it in a tin in the fridge or if you have a cool room, perhaps with air con?
I’ve made a similar recipe for years and it is my all time [and now my only] Christmas cake I make. I also made if for my daughter’s wedding cake.
I don’t care for raisins or dates or figs or peel so use only candied red and green cherries and pineapple. I soak them chopped in both amaretto and 1/4 cup orange juice. The only spice I use is nutmeg.
I don’t understand British quantities so couldn’t compare those but I’m sure they would be similar. For several years I made several cakes and gave as gifts to friends.