I’m a bit late with this since Stir Up Sunday was last week but I’ve tried making a slow cooker Christmas cake. If you aren’t familiar with Christmas cake, this is a traditional rich fruit cake, often fed with alcohol, made in Great Britain at Christmas time.
I’ve found in the past that cakes made in the slow cooker stay lovely and moist (for example my slow cooker plum and almond cake), so the slow cooker seemed an ideal way to bake my Christmas cake too.
Also the long cooking time for rich fruit cakes like this if using an oven can mean a tendency towards burning, whereas in the slow cooker your cake cooks much more slowly so the risk of burning can be lessened.
Read on for my recipe for a slow cooker Christmas cake with plenty of tips to get it right!
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Background
This is a traditional style British Christmas cake, which is a fruit cake made with with dried fruit.
I soaked my fruit in black tea as I love the flavour and prefer a less boozy cake but you can also soak them in booze if you like – brandy, rum, whisky, go wild!
You can decorate Christmas cakes as you prefer before serving.
If just enjoying it as a rich fruit cake then a plain cake is perfect! If not then the glazed nuts and fruit as shown are a really simple way to decorate.
Otherwise you can cover the whole cake with a layer of rolled out marzipan, sticking this to the cake traditionally with apricot jam.
Then cover with royal icing or a sheet of white fondant icing and decorate festively, for example with red and green.
Tastemade has a nice video with some examples for easy Christmas Cake decorations.
Tips for slow cooker Christmas cake
You might well think, why would you make a Christmas cake in a slow cooker?
I find it a good way to make cakes that costs less than running an oven and has less risk of burning. You still need to check your cake regularly and look out for burning but if it does happen it won’t just take minutes.
For this recipe I bake my cake in a large round silicone pan in the bottom of a large slow cooker.
If you can fit in a metal cake tin in your slow cooker you can use that too.
I wouldn’t bake a Christmas cake directly in the pot due to the risk of burning with this dense cake, as you need it to cook right through which takes time.
Check out my post all about baking in a slow cooker (with loads more slow cooker cakes and dessert recipes too!) and get lots of tips in my post on how to make a cake in a slow cooker!
Ingredients
Here is what you’ll need for this traditional fruit cake. See the recipe card for the quantities.
- sultanas
- mixed peel
- apricots
- sweet dried cranberries
- raisins
- crystallised ginger
- 1 small orange
- tea bag (to make the black tea to soak the fruit)
- butter
- light brown sugar
- medium eggs
- vanilla bean paste
- plain flour
- ground cinnamon
- ground allspice
Step by step
- Mix all the fruit in a large bowl. Add in the orange or satsuma zest and juice, then the tea. Mix it well, then cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it to soak overnight.
- When you are ready to make the cake the next day, cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl.
- Next, add in the three eggs and beat well.
- Fold in the flour, spices and vanilla bean paste, and combine well.
- Mix in the soaked fruit and any remaining liquid.
- Grease and line a 20 cm round silicone pan on the base and sides with a double layer of baking paper.
- Place an upturned saucer or small tin on the base of your slow cooker. You will need to use a large slow cooker (mine is 5.7 litres) that your pan fits into. Placing the pan on a saucer will stop the base of the cake burning during the long cooking time needed for this dense cake.
- Spoon the cake mixture into your prepared silicone pan, and smooth it down on top.
- Pour some hot (not boiling or your pot might crack) water into your slow cooker pot, around the saucer. I used a couple of inches and topped it up once during cooking.
- Now place your silicone pan on top of the upturned saucer.
- Place a clean tea towel under your slow cooker’s lid, to catch condensation during cooking and stop it making the top of the cake soggy.
- Switch the slow cooker on high and cook for 3-4 hours, until the top looks firm and a cake tester or skewer comes out clean from the centre.
- Remove from the slow cooker and allow it to cool.
Now you can either eat your cake right away or store it and feed it with alcohol as explained below before decorating closer to Christmas.
How to feed a Christmas Cake with alcohol
It is also traditional to “feed” christmas cakes with alcohol to help preserve them.
To do this, after the cake has been baked, let it cool a bit, then make a few small holes in it with a skewer or the end of a knife etc.
Pour a couple of tablespoons of alcohol (whichever you prefer, I like brandy and amaretto) over the top of the cake, so it soaks into the skewer holes.
Then leave the cake to cool completely and ensure it is fully dried out from being cooked in the slow cooker.
If it isn’t there is the risk of it going mouldy so do let it dry out completely!
Wrap the cake well in a fresh double layer of baking paper then put the whole thing in foil and keep in a cool dry place in a tin or cake box.
Then keep feeding regularly once every couple of weeks with a little more alcohol, until Christmas arrives.
You can then ice it.
Traditionally a Christmas cake would be covered with a layer of marzipan, stuck to the cake with apricot jam, and a layer of royal icing with festive figures added on top.
A more natural naked Christmas Cake with nuts (for example pecans and almonds) and candied cherries glazed with melted jam looks brilliant too.
More Christmas slow cooker recipes
If you love the convenience of your slow cooker at Christmas and how it gives you more oven space for all your festive dishes, you might also like my other Christmas slow cooker recipes:
- slow cooker turkey crown
- slow cooker mincemeat pudding
- slow cooker mincemeat swirls with brandy glaze
- slow cooker roasts
- slow cooker steamed cranberry pudding
Make sure you also check out my Christmas slow cooker post full of edible gifts, sweet treats, Christmas dinner recipes and more, all made in your slow cooker!
Recipe
Slow Cooker Christmas Cake
Ingredients
- 200 g sultanas
- 100 g mixed peel
- 100 g honey apricots chopped
- 150 g sweet dried cranberries
- 50 g jumbo raisins
- 25 g crystallised ginger chopped
- Zest and juice of 1 small orange or a satsuma
- 200 ml of black tea
- 200 g butter
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 0.5 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 150 g plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
Equipment
Video
Instructions
- Mix all the fruit in a large bowl. Add in the orange or satsuma zest and juice, then the tea. Mix it well, then cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it to soak overnight.200 g sultanas, 100 g mixed peel, 100 g honey apricots, 150 g sweet dried cranberries, 50 g jumbo raisins, 25 g crystallised ginger, Zest and juice of 1 small orange or a satsuma, 200 ml of black tea
- When you are ready to make the cake the next day, cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl.200 g butter, 200 g light brown sugar
- Next, add in the three eggs and beat well.3 medium eggs
- Fold in the flour, spices and vanilla bean paste, and combine well.0.5 tsp vanilla bean paste, 150 g plain flour (all-purpose flour), 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground allspice
- Mix in the soaked fruit and any remaining liquid.
- Grease and line a 20 cm round silicone pan on the base and sides with a double layer of baking paper.
- Place an upturned saucer or small tin on the base of your slow cooker. You will need to use a large slow cooker (mine is 5.7 litres) that your pan fits into. Placing the pan on a saucer will stop the base of the cake burning during the long cooking time needed for this dense cake.
- Spoon the cake mixture into your prepared silicone pan, and smooth it down on top.
- Pour some hot (not boiling or your pot might crack) water into your slow cooker pot, around the saucer. I used a couple of inches and topped it up once during cooking.
- Now place your silicone pan on top of the upturned saucer.
- Place a clean tea towel under your slow cooker’s lid, to catch condensation during cooking and stop it making the top of the cake soggy.
- Switch the slow cooker on high and cook for 3-4 hours, until the top looks firm and a cake tester or skewer comes out clean from the centre.
- Remove from the slow cooker and allow it to cool. Decorate as desired.
Zoe says
Have you ever used a metal tin instead of silicone cake tin? Does it make much difference to the cooking time?
bakingqueen74 says
Hi Zoe, I have not used a metal tin, but I would think if you did that the cooking time might reduce slightly. It would be best to test it out and see, checking regularly. Let me know how it turns out.
Janet kerr says
Hi very successfully made your slow cooker Christmas cake 2 years running this year have made two ( for my children) but would like to make a smaller 7” one for me and Hubbie. how do I calculate the ingredients for this Please
Janet
bakingqueen74 says
Hi Janet, that is great! So glad to read this.
I only use a 20 cm pan (i.e. 8 inches) to make this recipe and haven’t tried making a smaller cake I’m afraid so haven’t tested this.
But I found this handy post which tells you how to reduce a cake recipe for a smaller pan which hopefully will help you. It seems you need to multiply each ingredient by 0.79 then adjust.
Joan says
Turned out fantastic! Best Christmas cake I ever made
Use of water in bottom, great idea
!
Thank you
bakingqueen74 says
That’s great Joan, so glad you posted your review! Happy Christmas.
Lynn says
First time omg best cake ever ! I’ve made Delia recipe for 30 years this sc one is better
bakingqueen74 says
wonderful!
J allen says
Followed the receipe and
have been cooking for 6hours and still not cooked through.no idea what is wrong .cake is not deep so that is not a problem
bakingqueen74 says
Hi there, the cooking time does depend a lot on your slow cooker as I mention in the recipe. All slow cookers cook differently.
Have you followed the method and recipe exactly as outlined and are using the same size pan and slow cooker – 9 inch pan in a 5.7 litre slow cooker?
Other things to take into consideration
– did you use the tea towel under the lid to stop water dripping onto the cake – if not this could make it look wet on top.
– the top will look moist during cooking but if you check the cake with a toothpick/skewe/small knife this is the best way to check if it is cooked through.
Karen says
Hi. This sounds amazing. I’ve got a 3.5 litre slow cooker. Do you think that’s big enough?
bakingqueen74 says
Hi Karen, unfortunately no, I don’t think that would be big enough to follow the same method I’ve used with a large silicone pan inside a 5.7 litre slow cooker. I think that is needed because the cooking time is long with this amount of mixture and so with a smaller slow cooker it would be very full/deep with the mixture if cooking directly in the pot, and to make sure it is cooked in the centre it could well burn around the edges with that long cooking time.
Barbara Vincent says
Still cooking!
Evicted it from the slow cooker. Smells lovely. Shrinking from the side now.
Barbara Vincent says
Very wet cake. Maybe all the brandy but a lot more moist than an oven baked cake
Barbara Vincent says
Still cooking!
Barbara says
Hi Its still cooking 5 and half hours later in a 4.7 litre cooker. Doesn’t look cooked like yours yet?
bakingqueen74 says
Oh how odd, is it definitely on high? I would just keep cooking until cooked through. Perhaps your slow cooker works at a low temperature and with the thicker Pyrex dish it will need longer. As mentioned, I have not tested cooking in a Pyrex dish.
Barbara Vincent says
Definitely on high. I will leave it to cool and see what it’s like when I turn it out.
Barbara Vincent says
It’s out of dish. Very greasy around dish and inside slow cooker.
It’s quite deep. Appears cooked.
Barbara Vincent says
I have a 4.7 litre and a 19 inch dish. Do you think that will work?
bakingqueen74 says
19 inch dish sounds very large, is it 9 inch? Is it a silicone pan to put inside your slow cooker pot?
Barbara says
Sorry 19cm! Pyrex.
bakingqueen74 says
That should be fine, my pan is 20 cm so there is not much difference. Is the depth the same as a cake tin? I haven’t tried baking a cake in a pyrex dish in the slow cooker so I can’t comment on whether it will work. Do let me know if you try it.
Patricia says
Hi, your recipe sounds scrumptious. The problem I have is my slow cooker is only 1.7ltrs, meant for 1 to 2 people. How do I alter recipe to fit in my pot
bakingqueen74 says
Unfortunately I’ve found that cakes don’t work well in small slow cookers of that size. I think it is because they can be deep compared to their (small) size and you get the edges burning and the centre remains uncooked. Especially with this recipe that cooks for a long time. So for this one I would recommend using a larger slow cooker due to those reasons.
Brenda Clough says
This recipe sounds amazing. Can’t wait to get one going.
Sandra says
Perfect results thank you! I soaked my dried fruit in brandy and will keep feeding with brandy until Christmas.
bakingqueen74 says
Great, sounds delicious with brandy!
Jackie says
How much brandy did u soak your fruit in please x
bakingqueen74 says
Hi Jackie, I would use the same amount as tea, e.g 200 ml. I have made one this year using that amount of amaretto and it worked well!