Marzipan Cake - A Last-Minute Christmas Cake

5 from 9 votes

Marzipan Cake - A Last-Minute Christmas Cake

This easy Last-Minute Christmas Cake requires minimum effort and tastes fantastic. Marzipan is baked into the cake so there’s no need for time-consuming decorations.

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Prep Time30

Cook Time1 50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British, English

Servings:

Calories: 445kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Equipment

1 x deep 8 inch cake pan (round)

Ingredients

180 g Tinned pineapple drained
150 g Glace cherries
150 g Maraschino cocktail cherries see notes
180 g Dried apricots
120 g Raisins
120 g Sultanas
75 g Prunes
30 g Crystalised ginger
8 teaspoon Dark rum
100 g Golden marzipan
Rind 1 lemon
Rind 1 orange
200g g Butter softened
200 g Golden caster sugar
4 Eggs - large, free range
200 g Plain (all purpose) flour
1 ½ teaspoon Baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon Mixed spice
¼ teaspoon Ground nutmeg

Garnish

30 Whole blanched almonds
3 Maraschino cherries

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Prepare the fruit

Begin by draining the pineapple from it's juice and patting dry on kitchen towel. Chop into small pieces. put into a large mixing bowl
Rinse the glace cherries, chop roughly and add to the bowl
Drain the maraschino cherries, blot on kitchen towel and chop roughly. Add to the bowl
Chop the apricots and prunes and weight out the sultanas and raisins and finely dice the crystalised ginger. Drop into the bowl too
Lastly, finely grate the orange and lemon zest and coarsely grate the marzipan. Add to the bowl with the rum. Using your hands mix everything together until everything is evenly mixed and coated in the alcohol. Set aside

Make the Cake

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/ GM2 and grease and line a deep 8-inch round cake pan
Begin by creaming the butter and sugar together with electric beaters until light and fluffy
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition
Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into the bowl and beat until just combined - take cake not to overmix as this will result in a tough cake
Tip the fruit into the bowl and stir with a large metal spoon to combine
Spoon into the prepared baking tin, taking care to ensure the cake is spread to the edge of the tin. Level the top and arrange the almonds and cherries (chopped in half) in a neat pattern on the top
Bake for approx 1 hour then cover the top with parchment to stop it browning too much. Continue to cook for a further 50 minutes, then poke a skewer into the cake - if it comes out clean the cake is done. If it has cake batter on it, keep baking and test again after 10 more minutes. Note: marzipan can look a bit like cake batter - double check by poking the skewer in a few places.
Once baked take out of the oven and let cool completely in the tin. Unmold and store in an airtight container until ready to serve

Notes

I love the juicy flavour of maraschino cherries in cakes and they add a gorgeous burst of colour. If you don't have any, feel free to add in extra glace cherries

As always, I recommend greasing and lining your baking tin, regardless of whether or not it is non-stick. In this instance, since the bake is long, the lining helps to protect the outer edge of the cake from browning too much

Check your cake 1 hour or so minutes into the baking time and cover loosely with foil if the top looks as if it might brown too much

If you want to leave out the prunes or apricots, that's fine. Simply replace with an equal measure of alternative fruit

Soaking of fruit for an extended time (e.g. overnight) is not necessary for this last-minute Christmas cake recipe. However, it won't do any harm if you do soak the fruit before mixing and baking

Though I do enjoy a ripe and fragrant fresh pineapple, for best results use tinned pineapple (in juice) for this recipe

Hot marzipan can look a bit like cake batter - when checking if the cake is fully baked double check by poking the skewer in a few places - if some areas come out clean then the cake is ready to come out of the oven

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