I’m a bit late with this since Stir Up Sunday was last week but I’ve tried making a Christmas cake in my slow cooker this week.
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 this seemed an ideal way to bake my Christmas cake too.
Also the long cooking time if using an oven can mean a tendency towards burning, whereas in the slow cooker it cooks much er more slowly so the risk of burning can be lessened.
Read on for my recipe for a slow cooker Christmas cake!
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!
HOW DO YOU MAKE A CHRISTMAS CAKE IN A SLOW COOKER?
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.
Here I bake my cake in a silicone pan in the bottom of a large slow cooker. If you can fit in a metal cake tin 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.
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!
HOW DO YOU 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 over a couple of tablespoons of alcohol (whichever you prefer). 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 foil or clingfilm. Then keep feeding regularly 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 and a layer of royal icing.
I wrap mine in foil and store in a tin until just before Christmas, when I’ll add marzipan and icing.
Christmas Slow Cooker Recipes
If you love the convenience of your slow cooker at Christmas and how it gives you more oven space, 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
Pin my Slow Cooker Christmas cake recipe for later!
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
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
Equipment
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.
- 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.
Linking up with Farmersgirl Kitchen and the December Slow Cooked Challenge, which has a lovely festive logo this month!
Can I cook any of the cake and loaf or dessert recipes in a cake or ,loaf tin in the slow cooker instead of placing them on the bottom of the slow cooker insert ? . Will this change the cooking time( like to double it maybe) Also will the cake, loaf or dessert be soggy on the outside. ? Once they are nearly done could I take them out of tin and return to slow cooker to get a crust on the outside (especially for bread and loaves) for another hour on high. Any advice? I guess I am… Read more »
Hi Liz, are you in my Facebook group? I would recommend joining that. Look for Slow Cooker Cakes, Bakes and Meals. I haven’t tested all of my recipes in a cake tin in the slow cooker but if you have a large slow cooker that fits a tin you can certainly do it. I couldn’t comment on the time needed as I haven’t tested it, you’d have to try it and see, as all slow cookers differ as well. I wouldn’t have thought it would add that much time though. Hope this helps, do join the group we are a… Read more »
hi
I am wondering how far in advance (for Xmas) can I make this cake in Slow Cooker? Using tea or juice (no alcohol) will it stay fresh or go mouldy.
Using alcohol – is the result better.
Would you rate this cake as ‘light’?
Looking forward to your advice.
Thanks Lizzy
Hi there. If you preserve it by feeding with alcohol you can make this a couple of months before Christmas. The usual time to make Christmas cakes is around November time, then you can feed 5 or 6 times (weekly) before Christmas. If you don’t use alcohol there is the risk of it going mouldy, yes. It also depends on how you store it, it must be kept somewhere cool and wrapped properly in greaseproof paper (then foil round that is usual). This is a rich style fruit cake. For a lighter one you might want to try my slow… Read more »
Finally a recipe without alcohol. I have been searching for weeks for this.cant wait to make it. My father adores fruit cake and I love any opportunity to try new things with my slow cooker. Happy Christmas from Ireland. Will report back soon with my results
Great Karen, I hope it goes well! Happy Christmas! Let me know if you have any questions.
Can you use gluten free flour instead of plain flour
Hi Jim, I have never baked with gluten free flour so could not properly advise but you could certainly try it and see
Sounds good I am going to try it
Brilliant!
I have recently made this cake and it works extremely well and tastes fantastic.
Made this this week, to smelt amazing, now in a tin ready to be fed with brandy on the run up to Christmas.
Hi Lucy,
I have done two Christmas Cakes just recently. Really delicious and so easy to do. I will be doing another three. Maybe more.
I will be trying more of your recipes.
Thank you very much.
Les.
Just baking the Christmas cake in the slow cooker and it’s more like a Christmas pudding, very moist and not like your cake at all.mwhere do you think I went wrong, I followed all instructions n ingredients. Any tips would be great.
Hi Karen, I’d just keep cooking, maybe it needs longer. If it looks like burning I would switch to low. Hope that helps!
Yep same experience for me – not cake-like at all and that was after 5 hours on high… still delicious though – and makes a cracking breakfast addition if you shallow-fry it and top with a fried egg – please try it!!!
Oh how odd Lynn! What shape and size is your slow cooker? Did you use the same size silicone pan as me? I’ll try to help you troubleshoot.
Christmas cake with a fried egg! Sounds good for Christmas morning!
[…] Lucy at Baking Queen 74 is the Queen of Slow Cooker cakes and does not disappoint with her Christmas offering of Slow Cooker Christmas Cake […]
Hi! Thanks for linking up to Slow Cooker Sunday.My e-mail notifications for new links hadn’t come through, so I missed this.I’ll add it to the Pinterest boards and G+ community today.Sorry!
No problem Aly!
Oh I bet this is so much more cost effective than traditional oven cooking. Looks so moist and tempting – Thanks for joining in with #Bakeoftheweek New Linky open tomorrow x
Thanks Helen, I will link up ASAP. happy new year!
Oh such a fantastic idea, love it. Happy Christmas. x
thanks Julie, Happy Christmas to you too
Lovely! I’ve never tried making a Christmas cake in the crock pot but this makes me want to try. Thanks for linking up with #recipeoftheweek
Really great looking cake, Lucy. Thanks for sharing it for the Slow Cooked Challenge.
Wonderful cake!
We don’t celebrate Christmas here but we have a coming holiday in which we eat fresh and dry fruits. This cake would be perfect 🙂
Thanks Winnie, and thanks for visiting! 🙂
What a great idea…making a Christmas cake in a slow cooker – I don’t have one but I wish I did!! I love the idea of soaking the fruit in tea and I also love the idea of including ginger. Yummy!!
This looks great, going to attempt a cake in my slow cooker soon. You have inspired me!
Great, I will look out for it!
The Christmas cake looks fantastic, I’m going to try it myself. Thank you
Great Angela, let me know how you get on!