5 Christmas Baking Tips From The Experts

There’s something about baking on Christmas. Boozy cakes, sugary cookies and pretty frosting prod even an amateur

cook to bake. But what if you have not soaked your fruits for the cake yet? Or worse, never baked cookies from scratch? Fret not ‘coz we asked some of our favourite food bloggers to share their secrets of festive baking. Here’s what they had to say…

Anjali Pathak, Chef & Food Writer

To save time this season, make an extra batch of muffin mix and pop it in the freezer before baking. When you have guests stopping by without notice, simply remove it from the freezer and allow it to come to room temperature maybe for an hour. Now, fill your cases and bake! Enjoy fresh muffins whenever you need them this Christmas.

The best thing to do for a great fruitcake is to soak your dried fruit in alcohol almost immediately after Christmas this year so you have a really boozy cake next year. However, if you haven’t had the time to do it, try soaking the fruits in a simple sugar syrup overnight along with some orange juice and (a lot of) dark rum. When adding the fruit to the cake, pass some of the soaked fruit along with the soaking liquids in a blender and add some of the fruit whole; this will help concentrate the flavour. Once baked and cooled, drizzle some of the soaking liquid over a pricked cake. A few spoonfuls of an aged marmalade work wonders in imparting that deep, rich flavour. For the spices, if you are not quite sure what to use, simply use a good quality garam masala with an extra pinch of freshly ground cinnamon and some dried ginger powder.