Best Christmas Bakes Ever Best Bakes Ever

It's Christmas time and across the country,

kitchens are hives of activity and full of wonderful smells.

If you're looking for inspiration,

we've brought together some of television's best chefs

to bring us some of their favourite Christmassy recipes.

Here are the Best Christmas Bakes Ever.

At Christmas time, so many of us are coming together

to celebrate with fabulous food,

and to help you get started, we've got this great seasonal selection.

Mary Berry shares with us her classic Christmas cake recipe...

..Nigel Slater works wonders with Stilton and pastry...

And I know they're perfect,

but I can't resist putting a little bit of grated cheese on top.

..and Monica Galetti shows us how to bake Christmas coconut buns.

There's one of Michel Roux Jnr's favourites -

a terrine with chicken and pistachios.

Tom Kerridge delivers an explosion of flavours

with his spiced orange cake...

And for everybody who says they don't like Christmas pudding,

they haven't tried this yet.

..and the Hairy Bikers show us exactly what to do

with those leftovers

in a great-looking turkey and cranberry pie.

That's bootiful, that is.

Oh! Give over, will you?

But first we're joining Lorraine Pascale,

who's getting the party started with some mince pies

to which she's given a unique little twist.

MUSIC: Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5

I'm going to spice up my shop-bought mincemeat

with some vanilla extract, orange zest and a drop of port.

And sometimes life's just too short to make your own puff pastry.

These mince pies are really quite simple.

Just roll out a square of puff pastry

at about 30 by 30cm.

I do like to be quite exact so they all look the same.

And I like to use a clean metal ruler to do this.

Just measure...

..across like that.

That's 30 there.

30...there.

And then...up like that.

And I've seen so many different types of mince pies,

but...not like these.

They're kind of like Danish pastries...

..but they have that lovely mincemeat filling.

OK, they're my squares.

Now... So take the square and then just cut...

..sort of almost to the centre...

..all the way round.

Like that.

And then take the mincemeat, which is smelling beautiful.

Put a blob in the centre.

Not too much - about a tablespoon.

And then take one egg.

An egg on puff pastry acts like a sort of glue

and it gives it a wonderful glaze as well.

A quick whisk.

And then just brush all the way around the edge.

And then take one corner and fold it into the centre.

And then...

..the next and into the centre.

So I'm taking sort of every other corner and then folding it.

Bit of egg glue on top.

Slide it into the baking tray.

This recipe makes about nine mince pies.

To finish, cut little stars out of the leftover pastry

and place on top of each one.

Then bake in the oven at 200 degrees

for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

OK. So these have been in the oven for about 20, 25 minutes...

..and they're lovely and puffed up and golden brown.

They smell really good.

All that's left now is to glaze them with some maple syrup...

..just to give even more flavour.

Just dab it on like that.

While it's still warm it's going to soak into the pastry.

A few more dabs.

And then dust them with a little bit of icing sugar.

Just makes them look nice and Christmassy.

Really pretty.

Perfect.

I'm going to put some of these in the hampers,

I've saved some for later,

and I'm going to have one for myself now.

We've got more puff pastry now, but this time,

it's being used as part of a savoury recipe

that always gets Nigel Slater thinking about

one of his favourite Christmas moments

that comes in the run-up to the big day.

For me, Christmas Eve is the most magical time,

and it's become almost a ritual

to celebrate it with a glass of port and some cheese.

This next recipe is simple, takes minutes,

but also takes a wonderful piece of Stilton

to a heavenly new level of enjoyment.

What I do is to take a sheet of ready-made puff pastry,

put it onto a floured board

and then just roll it out

so that it's no thicker than a one pound coin.

There's nothing nicer than thin, crisp puff pastry

hot from the oven.

So I cut the piece of pastry first of all into four strips

and then each of those...into six.

And I want these little pastry parcels to seal quite tightly,

so I'm going to make up a little bit of beaten egg.

I've got some wonderful ripe Stilton here.

Because, for me,

it's one of the absolute essential tastes of Christmas.

It's just not Christmas without blue cheese.

So, just brush the pastry all over.

And then...

take a little spoonful of the crushed Stilton...

..and just pop it onto each one like that.

Fold the pastry over...

..and seal it as tightly as possible.

Then, so that they come out of the oven shining...

just a little bit of beaten egg on the top.

And I know they're perfect,

but I can't resist putting a little bit of grated cheese on top.

Just a tiny bit of Parmesan.

Now, I'm just going to pop a little hole in the top of each

partly to let the steam out

and partly so that a little bead of melted cheese

pops out of each one.

200 degrees...

..for about 12 minutes.

If you're expecting guests this Christmas Eve,

being greeted by the smell of

these little pastries bubbling in the oven

will tempt and tease the taste buds.

MUSIC: Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Now, these smell as if they're ready.

Oh...

These are amazingly light

and the cheese has oozed out here and there

making it even more delicious.

Just one tiny little thing more.

I've made some melting Stilton into the ultimate festive snack.

It's the perfect celebration food to toast the big day.

With a glass of wine in hand...

..there's no better start to the holidays.

So, that was one of the ways Nigel bakes himself into a festive mood.

And here's someone else with her own Christmas ritual.

This is Monica Galetti with a recipe I've never tried before,

but it sounds delicious -

coconut buns with fruit mince.

It's cold, it's winter,

but it's also coming up to Christmas

and they go hand-in-hand.

I don't think there's anything better of coming in from a cold day

into a warm kitchen that's smelling of Christmas cooking.

Looking forward to it.

For my special Christmas Kitchen recipe,

I'm going to make for you a family favourite

and that is coconut buns with fruit mince.

Over Christmas, we like to have them after midnight service,

you've come home and there's a tray of them all warm, ready to go,

but also first thing on Christmas morning.

But I've put a twist on it -

I've put fruit mincemeat through mine.

It's the same recipe with the addition of more Christmas flavours.

So, I have for you here some plain flour, caster sugar,

some milk and fresh yeast if you can get it.

I have a bit of butter, coconut milk, demerara sugar,

toasted desiccated coconut

and a fruit mince mix which I've made.

Right, the first thing I'm going to do

is warm up the milk with the sugar.

So we just want this just warm

and then we're going to add the yeast to it.

I like to use my hands.

If you don't want to use your hands, then use a whisk,

but I just break the yeast in just like that.

So, here we have our plain flour,

and once you've diluted and mixed your yeast through

as much as possible - it's very easy -

just pour that onto your flour,

and you're going to make your dough.

So very easy, mix it through

and when it starts to come together,

I like to work it onto the bench afterwards.

And we want to form a dough ball from this mix.

Get everything in there.

We're going to place it back into the bowl

and we cover it with clingfilm or a towel

and we leave it to prove.

Depending how warm the place is that you put the dough,

it can take anything from 40 minutes to an hour.

So, here is a dough that I've already proved.

You can see that's very light and airy now.

We're just going to knock that air out just a little bit.

OK. And just knead it for a bit.

And I'm going to divide it into two.

OK. We take our rolling pin and just gently roll it out.

Don't press it out too flat -

about a centimetre thick is what you're looking for.

Take your mincemeat,

spread it over the two

and that does smell of Christmas, I think,

when you put mincemeat out in kitchen -

that aroma is just so strong.

And I'm adding the toasted desiccated coconut.

And I'm just spreading it out as evenly as possible.

OK. And what you want to do

is then role your rolls up like a Swiss roll.

So get it up.

And just...

With your mincemeat - completely up to you,

what you've got available.

If you've used fresh fruit, wonderful.

With my recipe, for example,

I've used fresh apples grated in there

with a bit of lemon zest

and then orange zest, as well, as the juices,

but completely up to you.

OK. So once you've got them into rolls,

all it is is breaking the butter up...

..on the base like so.

Next you're going to add your sugar, demerara sugar...

..all along the base.

And then I'm pouring in my coconut milk. OK.

So what happens now, it's very easy - you then trim up...

..your mix, your dough.

We're going to place them into the coconut milk, OK?

So I start from the middle...

..and I work my way around.

And if you leave a little gap, when this mix proves,

it all joins up together, and it does look amazing.

Once all the buns are in the tray,

I'm going to put them in the oven to prove

for about 20 minutes, 30 minutes

until it's doubled in size and it's filled out the tray.

So what I'm going to do now is

I'm going to take some extra butter here which is quite soft

and I'm just going to put a knob on each bun, like that.

OK. And I'm taking some extra demerara sugar

which goes over the top.

And now it goes into the oven to bake,

and that will take about 25 minutes to 30 minutes

on about 180 degrees.

They smell amazing.

So you can see it's still very hot

and it is boiling on the edges there.

I'm just going to gently prod the buns apart,

like this.

And what's happened is that coconut, the butter and the sugar

that was on the base has all caramelised

and soaked into the buns,

but that's not enough for me.

I like my coconut milk and I'm going to add a little extra

and so where I've separated the buns,

I'm pouring on extra coconut milk.

I'm going to set it aside for about 10, 15 minutes

for this extra coconut milk to really soak into the buns.

I'm going to sprinkle on some more of the toasted desiccated coconut.

Set it aside, and I'll be ready to serve in about 10, 15 minutes.

So, there we have it.

Normally we'd put the whole tray on the table

and everyone just help themselves,

but I'm not waiting - I'm going to go in and try one now.

Lots of caramelised coconut cream

and it's going to taste of Christmas.

Oh, look at that.

That, for me, is Christmas.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Now we have the Hairy Bikers

who've got a great-looking pie recipe for us,

but before the boys get baking,

they're dropping in on a turkey farm.

# I wish it could be Christmas every day

# When the kids start singing and the band... #

Call me old-fashioned but it's not Christmas without a turkey.

-You're not wrong.

-No. Look at them.

Friendly lot, aren't they?

This, Si, it's a holiday camp for turkeys.

Look, it's like turkey Centre Parcs.

It this for your feet or your head?

-TURKEYS GOBBLE

-Three sisters - Sarah, Tanya...

..and Fenella, not pictured...

..took over the running of this turkey farm

from their father a year ago.

They've got over 25,000 free-range turkeys here,

but, before we get on with the cooking,

we want to find out a little more

about these festive feathered friends.

Do you know what I'm really surprised at?

How social they all are. Aren't they?

As you walk in, they gather round you...

-I feel like Custer's Last Stand here.

-Don't feel intimidated -

-they're very friendly.

-Don't look behind!

-Oh, no.

And I think what's wonderful is the colours of them are fantastic.

Is that different breeds? How does that work?

It's quite an unusual flock in that

there's lots of different breeds here.

You can see the darker ones -

-that's the bronze turkey that you probably read about.

-Yes.

And we've also got quite a lot of heritage breeds

and rare breeds all mixed in here as well.

We're going to be cooking a...turkey...ham and cranberry pie,

like, for leftovers,

cos everybody has lots of leftover turkey meat.

What will they be like on Boxing Day?

Well, what really makes it really different

with a traditional bird -

these guys, they grow to adult natural maturity

so that, like adults, you know, they get a bit of fat on them

like we do when we get old.

-How dare you, madam.

-Oh, sorry.

-We're men here...

-Present company excepted.

-Fat means flavour.

-Absolutely.

And, exactly, it means that the flavour, it makes a big difference.

Wonderful. Do you miss them when they're gone?

We do miss them, yeah.

It's a little bit eerie when it comes to January,

but, yeah, we soon get over it and start ordering some more.

-BOTH:

-# I hear those sleigh bells jingling... #

THEY HUM LYRICS

# It's nearly Christmas and it's... #

THEY CONTINUE TO HUM LYRICS

-DAVE HONKS NOSE

-Right.

We're cooking a turkey and ham pie,

but it's got a lovely jelly cranberry, kumquat and port sauce

on the top.

It's a real big, you know, "put it on the sideboard" pie

to impress the neighbours.

It's one of those "cook and come again" pies,

like a cake, but a pie.

It's a two-for, it's a bit of a BOGOF,

you know, because what you do is

if you just make the sauce without the gelatine,

that's the one to put in a sauce pot, put in a jar,

have with your turkey and have with your turkey sandwiches.

-Ooh...

-Ooh. Step one...

-To the pan, add water.

-Yes.

-Yes.

Step two, cranberries.

-Good product, cranberries, aren't they?

-They are.

-You know, they're great with turkey and it fixes your cystitis.

-Aye.

-Now, kumquats.

-Kumquats. Kumquats are nice and sour.

Now, mixed with the cranberries, with loads of sugar in,

-it's going to give us a sherbet-y flavour.

-Mm-hmm, lovely.

Put the lid on, 10 minutes, that'll have dropped.

-BOTH:

-# Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way

-# Hoo, hoo, hoo

-Oh, what fun... #

-Oh, look at that. All the colours of Santa's sack.

-Fantastic.

Now, it may look beautiful,

but with just the fruit in at the moment, it's a right sour beast.

So in goes sugar, and for that full-on festive flavour,

a cinnamon stick broken in two.

Now, these little lovelies, they're called allspice berries

and you put six of them into said cornucopia of Christmas loveliness.

That is Christmas, isn't it?

-That's Santa Claus, carollers, Charles Dickens.

-Oh, lush.

Last thing - port in.

About three tablespoons or a big glug.

Just let the alcohol cook off

and what you're left with now

is the sauce that you can have with your turkey sandwiches

or your turkey on Christmas Day.

However, we want to make a jelly

which is going to go on top of our turkey and ham pie.

So I've got two leaves of gelatine.

Now, we'll just give them a quick soak in cold water first

and wait till they go flaccid.

All right. Turn the heat off.

And you just put it in there and Dave stirs it in.

When this goes cold, it's going to go to, you know, a set jelly.

For the filling,

we're using some of Sarah's, well, erm...leftover roast turkey.

Now, if you want to know how to roast one,

-I'm sure someone...

-COUGHING:

-Nigella!

..will be doing a recipe on telly this Christmas.

But seen as we're the Hairy Bakers,

we'll just crack on with wor pie.

So, for the filling, sweat off the onions, leeks and celery.

Ooh, look at this.

Now, the whole thing about this pie is that you want to keep it chunky,

so what we're going to do is instead of normally, as we would,

carve the breast in slices,

I'm going to take the whole breast off this bird

and then cut it, but real chunky, yeah?

What we don't want really is the skin, unfortunately.

Because that's going to go really soft and chewy in the pie,

so that's not a good thing.

I'm going to put that to one side so we can eat it later on.

And then, with very, very clean hands,

just pare away the brown meat from the thigh and leg bone.

But keep it, honestly, keep it chunky.

Don't be frightened, don't think, "Oh, God."

Keep it really... And nice, lovely big pieces.

Now, whilst Si does that,

me leeks, me celery and me onion have sweated like...

Well, like a Geordie on Trisha.

So now...it's time to thicken it up.

I want not a lot of sauce, cos it's a dry pie,

but I do want some, so a good dessert spoonful of flour.

To that, some of that wonderful turkey stock.

And look, you see, that's kind of got the onions and celery and leeks

and it's like thick ectoplasm - that's what you want.

Now, look at how I've sliced this breast here,

look at the thickness of that.

That's bootiful, that is.

Oh! Give over, will you?

So because it's Christmas,

it's a time of luxury, extravagance and happiness,

we're going to add some cream. Stir that through.

Because we've made a sauce first, it shouldn't split.

Once that's combined, it's in with the mustard...

..and chopped parsley.

And finally, some cut gammon and the chunks of roast turkey.

I saved this bit, look.

Dip that in the kumquats, go on.

Ha, ha! Ooh!

What we need to do is season to taste now...

With a pepper mill worthy of Gino D'Acampo.

You know, the laugh is you could probably just have that

with buttery mashed potatoes and carrots

and have a turkey and ham fricassee.

-Lovely.

-However, we're making a pie.

This is a simple blind-baked pastry case.

We've done it all before so we're not going into it.

The only difference is we've used lard -

half lard, half butter in this.

The lard gives it a nice crumbly texture.

Now, it just needs ten more minutes in the oven

for the flavours to combine.

And then it's time for the cranberry jelly topping.

Oh, I miss this, man. Christmas on a plate.

We couldn't celebrate the best bakes of Christmas without cake

and here's our first one of the day.

It comes from Tom Kerridge.

It's full of lovely tastes, and as you'll see,

he's suggesting it as a good alternative

for anyone who loves home cooking

but hasn't got time to make a traditional Christmas pudding.

First things first, three oranges.

We're going to stick them into a saucepan as they are,

cover it with water.

These oranges are just going to sit on this simmering heat

and cook for about an hour and a half to two hours

until even the outsides go lovely and soft

and the middles have all broken down.

By doing this, I'm removing any bitterness from the skin

so I can use the whole of the fruit in my cake.

Once cooked down, set these aside to cool

and weigh out the rest of the cake ingredients.

300g of ground almonds adds a lovely nutty hint to the cake.

Then 300g of caster sugar,

two teaspoons of baking powder

and in with some Christmassy flavours -

a nice big heaped teaspoon each of ground ginger and cinnamon.

This is a million times easier than doing Christmas pudding.

You could do this on the morning.

Christmas pudding takes quite a while to do -

it's a massive amount of effort,

and I love it, but if the other half doesn't,

it's a bit of a waste of time.

Once the oranges have cooled, remove any pips

then whizz them up.

400g of this delicious orangey puree

will provide amazing moisture to my cake mix.

Then simply bung it all back in the processor

and give it a good mix.

# I don't care what the neighbours say

# Christmas time is near. #

Seven eggs complete this butter-less batter,

and it's ready for the lined baking tin.

Cook it in a medium oven, about 160 degrees centigrade...

and bake it for about an hour, an hour and 20 minutes,

but that is going to be proper lush.

# I wish it was Christmas today

# I wish it was Christmas today Oh, oh

# I wish it was, wish it was... #

To go with my orange cake,

I have a tub of the best vanilla ice cream that you can get your hands on

and a Christmas pudding.

Any Christmas pudding will do.

Just crumble it into a bowl

and scoop out the softened ice cream on top.

You need to work quite quickly

so that the ice cream doesn't melt all the way through.

And this ends up tasting like the most luxurious fruity ice cream,

and for everybody who says they don't like Christmas pudding,

they haven't tried this yet.

Look at that. It looks amazing.

Then back into the freezer to set up.

Make sure the ice cream stays semi-frozen

and put it straight back in the freezer once it's mixed together.

That looks like the best orange cake ever in the world ever.

Freshly-baked biscuit and orange smell - rock and roll.

It's proper Christmassy served with a tangy plum sauce.

And then finally the Christmas pudding ice cream.

That is three of the best Christmas flavours ever

all come together to make one festive dessert.

Perfect for Christmas Day.

A nice idea from Tom there,

and here's something else that's perhaps a little different,

but it looks great.

It's a terrine that Michel Roux Jnr thinks

is perfect for this time of year

and very easy to make too.

So, for my Christmas Kitchen special,

I'm going to be cooking a pate de volaille et pistaches.

That's a classic pate made with chicken and pistachios.

To make the pate, we'd need minced pork, belly of pork,

so it's quite fatty,

and you can get that in the butcher or supermarkets really easily.

Now, the chicken supremes skinless - very important -

and just cut them into three nice strips.

Just lengthways.

The chicken livers have been cut up into little pieces.

Right, so now we need to chop up the shallots.

Nice and fine.

This is going to add flavour to the pate.

Christmas in the Roux household is something really to behold.

I mean, I tell you, we get through a lot of food.

We eat from breakfast all the way to supper,

but I think that's what's so great about Christmas.

And it's a family occasion with children, grandchildren

and, of course, close friends.

Some beautiful thyme, just a few leaves

and we're going to chop them up again.

Now, this pate is made with chicken, but chicken and pork.

You could substitute chicken with turkey

and make it very Christmassy.

Now...the minced pork.

Quite fatty. You need fat in a terrine.

Chicken livers.

And some pistachios.

These have been blanched and peeled,

so they're green, they're beautiful.

You can put as many as you wish,

but I think it's quite nice to be generous.

Just a touch of lemon on the Microplane,

and I think this adds a little bit of freshness to the pate.

This pate can keep for at least a week in the fridge...

if you can wait that long.

So a little bit of lemon in there, some salt.

I use sea salt...

..rather than the industrial salt. I think it adds a bit more flavour.

And pepper, lots of pepper.

It really needs it, it needs a good kick.

And a bit more.

Now we just mix all that in.

Getting all those flavours together.

But making sure not to crush the chicken livers too much.

But all of that is going to bind together.

There we go. That's all kind of coming together as one.

Mm, that smells lovely.

That lemon, the thyme, the shallots, all great classic flavours.

Now the next step is to line the terrine.

Now, I am using a dish like this but you could use any kind of dish,

it doesn't really matter at all, as long as it is ovenproof.

I am using sliced ventreche for this but you could use streaky bacon.

Just lay them into the dish,

just thin slices and you overlap it like so.

Very important that it should overlap like that cos

that's going to go over the top.

All this lovely bacon is not just adding flavour,

it's adding a little bit of moisture and texture to the dish.

It needs that moisture from the fat. It may seem like a lot but actually,

when it melts, there's not that much left.

So there we have it, the terrine is lined so I just need to season

the chicken supremes a little bit as well. Now we build up the terrine.

So a bit of our forcemeat here or the minced pork and chicken liver.

That goes at the base there and don't be afraid to push it in,

to pack it in, it's very important. There shouldn't be any air pockets.

Now we put the chicken like so and again pushing it in.

Packing it in so that there are no air pockets.

And then some more of this mince.

Just spreading it out evenly, making sure the chicken livers are all

over the terrine and then the two, three little bits of chicken left,

they go on top. And again, push them down right into...

..into the mix there.

Then the last bit of the mince on top and spread that out.

Next step is to fold over these pieces of bacon

right over like so.

So you are covering the mince and the chicken.

It's going to keep it nice and moist.

It should cover the pate completely.

And no gaps. This is looking great already. Look at that. Ah!

I think I've done one or two of these before.

And make sure you push down just a little bit more to make sure

it really is nice and packed in there.

When you cook it, it will shrink a tiny bit, obviously. That's it.

All we need to do now is put that in the oven at about 180 degrees C

for an hour, an hour 15 minutes.

Oh, look at that.

That is beautiful.

You can see the bacon has crisped up a little bit, a bit of colour.

It's puffed up but it will go down into itself then.

There's a bit of fat there but all that is delicious.

So now it needs to cool down, go in the fridge for 24 hours.

But can you wait that long?

Once you've done that, that's what it looks like.

It has set, all the fat has set

and you've got the natural jelly in there too.

The bacon has crisped up a little bit but it's beautiful

and moist inside.

Ideally, you should bring this to the table for all your friends and

family just to dive in themselves but you can do it the posh way

and just cut a slice and plate it up for them.

Ooh, look at that. That looks lovely. You can see

the wonderful chicken and the pistachios, the bacon

and that wonderful minced pork.

-HE SNIFFS

-And it smells absolutely divine.

And traditionally we would serve this with just a little cornichon

or gherkins, a few salad leaves and a toast and that is it.

So there you have it - my chicken, pistachio terrine.

A beautiful, delicious traditional pate to serve at any time

but great at Christmas.

All that's left for me to say is a Joyeux Noel to you all.

And a Joyeux Noel to you too, Michel.

Right, it's time to unwrap our final gift to you today and this is one

you won't want to miss.

It's a masterclass from Mary Berry, her ultimate Christmas cake recipe.

And as she tells Paul Hollywood,

it stood her in good stead for a very long time indeed.

How long have you been making

Christmas cake to this particular recipe?

Well, I think I've made it since I've been married

and I was married in 1966.

Oh, that was the year I was born so

-I'm not going to forget that, am I, in a rush.

-Poor little chap.

For this classic recipe, that's as old as Paul Hollywood himself,

you need time.

Make it at least three weeks before the big day.

I've got a kilo here of currants, raisins and sultanas

and I put a lot of cherries into it.

Now, these cherries are natural ones so they are a bit darker.

They're all cut in half,

they've all been washed in warm water and then put on kitchen paper

-and really dried.

-To give the fruit mix an extra bite,

add the grated zest of two oranges.

And for a real festive kick, you will need something stronger.

Now, I am soaking it in brandy,

about a quarter of a pint, five good ounces.

And it looks as though there's going to be a great surplus

of liquid but there isn't. Now, not everybody's has got brandy

-in the house so you could use sherry.

-Cognac?

That's a bit expensive.

You always were extravagant, I've seen your car outside.

HE LAUGHS Cover the fruit with clingfilm

and leave it to absorb the brandy for three days.

Then you are ready to make your cake mix.

I like to do the all-in-one method.

You'll need four eggs at room temperature.

250g of soft butter and a tablespoon of black treacle.

And I find if you use a tablespoon dipped in hot water,

it will run off.

That gives a nice colour to it.

You'll need 250g of light muscovado sugar.

A teaspoon and a half of mixed spice...

..and 75g of blanched almonds roughly chopped.

I'm just going to leave that mixing until the butter is all one colour.

When everything has been thoroughly mixed, add 175g of plain flour.

Mix this slowly until the flour has been completely absorbed.

And it's at this stage it seems awfully odd not to have

little people around saying, "Can I lick, can I try?"

That looks a good consistency. Here's the bowl of soaked fruit.

-Here, let me do it.

-It's good to have a man about the house.

There is no surplus liquid in the bottom. That's soaking

the fruit for three days.

If you did it for less time,

there would be a lot of liquid and that would make it too slack.

And also, if you've had the fruit in the cupboard for some time,

it becomes pretty dry and so it's a jolly good idea to soak it.

Now, the little flecks there are the nuts.

-Right down.

-Smells so good.

-Doesn't it? It's really boozy.

You will need a well-buttered 23cm cake tin lined with a double layer

of grease-proof paper.

Take two pieces like this and put them together, bend it over like

I've done here and if you just snip along at an angle,

when you put it in the tin, you see that's lying down there,

twisting it round.

To ensure there's no risk that the top of the cake will burn before

the centre is baked, make sure the paper is twice the height of the tin.

-My nan used to put newspapers round the outside.

-And a piece of

-brown paper and string as well?

-Yes.

-This is your forte. Pop it in there and I'll hold the tin steady.

-OK.

And I just level it.

Pop the cake in the middle of a preheated oven at 140 degrees

or 120 for fan assisted.

It will take four to four and a half hours to bake.

It's best to check the cake after two hours and if you are worried

that it may be getting too dark too quickly, just cover it with foil.

And now it's shrinking away from the sides of the tin and it's a

good colour, not burnt at the edges.

And put that slowly down into the cake.

Hold it for a moment, and let's hope it comes out clean.

Clean as a whistle.

While the cake is still warm, unwrap it and turn it out.

Then I'm going to put that onto the plate,

just turn it upside down like that.

Traditionally, Christmas cake has two toppings.

For the first, you will need 675g of ready-made marzipan rolled out

to about the thickness of a pound coin.

I will get the apricot jam.

Warm it to get it over, over the top there.

That helps to not get bits of the cake mixture in with the marzipan

and it also helps to keep it moist.

Essentially, it acts like a glue, as well, doesn't it,

-to bond the marzipan onto it.

-Yes.

Right, you put it on the rolling pin.

OK, that looks just about enough.

And then, gently press it down all round.

As we're going to rough ice this, it doesn't have to be too perfect.

-Exactly, yeah.

-Once covered in marzipan, you should leave the cake

for three days before adding its final topping.

So royal icing is just simply egg whites beaten to a froth and then

icing sugar added, and a little glycerine and lemon juice.

Whisk three egg whites until they are just frothy.

Then add 675g of sifted icing sugar.

Then mix in three teaspoons of lemon juice and 1.5 teaspoons of glycerine.

I want it to hold like you would meringue to get peaks.

When you think it is the right consistency, check that the icing

holds its shape on a flat surface.

Yeah, that's about right.

And if you start by putting the whole lot on,

you know where you are.

And then from that top, I'm going to do the sides first.

So we just push that down. And it's just the right consistency,

it's not running off the cake. You can do what you like here.

I know that you can do fancy other icing, beautifully smooth

but this is the easiest, and doesn't it look Christmassy already?

-It does, it looks great.

-Allow the icing to dry and then

complete the Christmas look with a ribbon and then let your

festive imagination run wild.

Then you have a look in the Christmas box and you could always

use Christmas tree decorations. I've got some little angels

that I've had for years and you just put those on.

So that's simplicity itself.

But choose your favourite things to go on top.

Can't wait to try this one, Mary.

So remember, the only tricky thing about this classic recipe is timing.

Always make the cake at least three weeks ahead.

Always soak your fruit for three days and always let your

marzipan and then your icing dry out

completely before adding a final flourish.

So, Paul, how big a slice do you want?

It's probably best just to take a little sliver for yourself

and just leave the rest for me.

That's what I like to see, the cherries in it.

We kept them in halves and they really do look good and you can

-see them in the cake.

-Going to have a bite.

HE LAUGHS

SHE CHUCKLES

Mm!

-What do you think?

-Oh, that's delic...

Those cherries really come through. It's the textures.

It's lovely and moist.

With sultanas, the currants, the edginess of the nut gives you

a totally different texture cos you get that lovely juiciness when

you hit a cherry and there's quite a few of them in there as well.

I think it makes a huge difference, it's delicious.

The royal icing is perfect.

It's got that little bit of crunch, it's not too crunchy

but that with a cup of tea, a little bit of Earl Grey, fantastic.

-Or a glass of champagne.

-Yeah, mm.

And with that, we have come to the end of the show.

So thank you to all of today's brilliant bakers

and a very happy Christmas to you all. Bye-bye.