Christmas Cakes in a Bread Maker

Published on 30th November 2013

Since the bread maker first made its appearance one of the biggest debates has been whether you can successfully make a Christmas cake in one. There are more threads on bread maker forums for this than anything else. This is understandable to be honest as making a Christmas cake is not for the faint hearted. The cost of the ingredients, the mixing, the long slow cooking and the subsequent 'feeding' with alcohol makes many look for a quicker alternative.

Christmas cake

Can a beautiful cake like this come from a breadmaker? (image source: Flickr)

Too Much Fruit?

The general consensus is that the sheer volume of fruit that goes into a traditional Christmas cake would cause most bread makers to jam. There have also been concerns raised as to whether the high alcohol content could damage the interior of cheaper models. Taking a trawl around online and you will hard pushed to find a traditional recipe that can make the transition to bread maker, however, there are some delicious fruit cake recipes that with a bit of imagination, and alcohol and icing, makes for a pretty good replacement.

Christmas Cake in Your Bread Maker

You still have just about enough time before Christmas to give this cake a trial run and if you like it great, if not you still have the option of sticking to your traditional recipe and method or buying one. If you want to try a fruit cake in your bread maker give this recipe a whirl as it has received much praise online. The ingredients are:

350g of mixed dry fruit
50g of chopped walnuts
50g of chopped dates
50g of chopped cherries
3 medium eggs beaten
250g of plain flour
75g of butter
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
300ml water

Put all the fruit and nuts, butter and water together until the butter has melted and is hot. You can do this on the hob in a pan or in the microwave on high for 4-5 mins. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before adding the flour, eggs and bicarb before mixing well. Remove your kneading blade from the bread maker and line the bottom and the sides with baking parchment.

Place the mixture into the pan making sure the it is totally enclosed by the baking parchment. Set to bake only and set the timer for 55 minutes. When the time has elapsed test the cake is cooked before removing and give it more time if needed. Remove the bread pan from the maker wearing oven gloves and leave it to cool for 5-10 mins before removing the cake and allowing to cool completely before cutting.