Christmas is a time full of traditions embraced by old and young. From the exciting countdown and opening of the advent calendar to hanging stockings on the chimney, and sending your nearest and dearest Christmas cards, or even enjoying a cheeky kiss under the mistletoe and many more.

At the Brilliant Bakers, like everyone else, we get excited about all of these fun and festive frolics, but our most enjoyable Christmas tradition has to be indulging in a delicious homemade Christmas Fruitcake.

Nowadays, many people ‘cheat’ and opt for a modern take on the traditional ‘Christmas Cake’ made with extra gooey chocolate fudge or lashings of snowy creamy vanilla icing. But as we know, traditionally the Christmas Cake was a delicious and rich fruitcake recipe.

The fruitcake recipe dates back to the days of the ancient Romans, where it was considered to be a type of energy loaf packed full of goodness such as mixed barley, pomegranate seeds, nuts, and raisins all held together with honey. It is thought that this dish was invented as a way to preserve the fruit for longer.

The fruitcake became more popular in the 18th and 19th Century for special occasions as the ingredients were expensive and hard to come by and seen as a delicacy to be relished.

During the Victorian period, the fruit cake became a staple for the best dinner spreads. By this time the making of fruit cake had become more complex and costly. The cakes were often wrapped in alcohol-soaked cheesecloths, for months in advance of the holidays.

Once unwrapped for festive meals, the booze-infused cakes were often coated with almond paste or some sort of sugary glaze, and finished off with a generous coating of nuts. And so, the tradition of making decadently indulgent fruit cakes for special occasions was now firmly entrenched.

For many people nowadays the fruitcake like marmite, is either loved or loathed. Not only is it a taste which perhaps due to the incredible spread of options of cakes we have, our tastebuds are spoiled for choice, but our very busy lives perhaps make creating the Christmas fruitcake just one too many on our ‘to do’ list.

So as Christmas approaches there emerges these two different types of people- those who embrace the full flavours and seasonal spices, and tradition. Or those who wholeheartedly turn their nose up at a fruitcake in favour of the lashings of creamy icing and thick chocolate logs now on offer.

With the emergence of mail order cakes and lip-smackingly delicious alternatives to the to your Granny’s fruitcake, it seemed to fade in popularity and the recipes tire a little and appear as old fashioned and neglected as your granny’s swirly patterned rugs!

But much like 70’s and 80’s vintage retro rugs bounced back in fashion, we believe the Christmas fruitcake is well and truly exuding joy and Ho Ho Ho.

So if you are a lover of all things traditional, you are sure to enjoy our Ho Ho Ho Fruitcake. It is a far cry from the dried out and unloved, tasteless brick of bitter fruit wedding cake that, like an uninvited guest you just had to tolerate at the party back in the 80’s.

Brilliant Bakers Tim Slatter eagerly awaited his delivery of this delicious fruitcake this year, not only because it is lovely to photograph in front of the fire, but secondly because it is delicious, and his favourite end to a night over the festive period along with a nip of brandy and a piece of this fruitcake. “Call me old fashioned but the combo of flavours is out of this world.”

The Brilliant Bakers fruitcake is the same recipe used and developed by Tim’s father 60 years ago, when he won three years running Gold medals for Wedding cakes at International Competition.

Now nothing has changed with this recipe, except that now it is strictly top secret. What we can tell you is that is is full of high quality fruits, butter, dark sugar, topped with almond marzipan and white icing, with nothing un-natural, and is deliciously moist and as expected, bursting with the special ingredients and combinations that give you that Brilliantly Christmassy feeling.

So get the kettle on, put your feet. Make sure your favourite nip is on hand as you settle in by the fire. And from the whole team at the Brilliant Bakers, we would like to wish you and your family an especially Brilliant Christmas, filled with joy, love and peace, and of course…. Cake!