And the winner is.......

I have spent the past month trialing Christmas cakes for my son who asked for a Victorian Christmas Cake. Looking at the recipe I realised it was more like a normal fruit cake (which he likes) but without the spices that make it a Christmas cake for me.

I have tried four different cakes and the one that I thought I would make was the mincemeat cake which tasted of mincemeat - not surprisingly - so it did have a Christmassy feel to it - but.......

In the end I used Rachel Allen's recipe from her "Bake" series - a nice fruit cake - not too heavy and dark but still moist and with the flavour I like.

Ken doesn't like marzipan and icing so I have used the suggestion in Delia's book and done a glazed fruit and nut topping so now it even looks like the Victorian Christmas cake.

All I have to do now is forget where it is until the boy arrives! Fortunately we have had the rejects to eat to satisfy my sweet tooth. The only down side is that it tends to put weight on me so it will be back on the diet after the festive season.

Oh well!