Did the thought of making a Christmas cake this year seem a little intimidating? Well, don’t fear, I have a fun and easy-to-follow mini Christmas cakes recipe that you will love. It basically offers all the things I love from the festive classic, the rich fruit cake taste with the sweetness of the royal icing, but in a miniature form.
The idea of going mini started when I was thinking a 20cm cake would be too big for the two of use for our quite stay-at-home Christmas. However, I didn’t really consider the fact that 12 mini Christmas cakes would probably be just as much. But what I will say is I found it less intimidating, more like making muffins, which I do all the time, plus, they are now a more manageable size.
You will, however, need a mini sandwich tin. I have this one from Lakeland one that I use to make mini Victoria sponges and individual cheesecakes that is just the perfect size to make mini Christmas cakes. Plus, doing them this size makes it so much easier to do the icing. No more stressing whether the icing will go over the whole cake, as you just use a round cookie cutter and place it on top – so easy.
The only thing this recipe doesn’t do is give you time to ‘feed’ your mini Christmas cakes with booze. What you could do instead is soak the dried fruit mixture in a dark rum, brandy or sherry the day before baking. This would be instead of plumping up your fruit on the heat as mentioned in my recipe as I’m not fussed about the alcohol content.

How to make mini Christmas Cakes
Servings: 12
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients
For the Christmas Cakes
- 220g luxury mixed fruit (sultanas, currants, candied peel)
- 50g glace cherries, cut up into quarters
- 150g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
- 150g dark brown sugar
- 150g self-rising flour
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp of milk
- Juice of 1 orange
- 2 tsp lemon juice
For the Decoration
- 2 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved
- 450g ready-rolled fondant icing (allows extra for accidents)
- Cookie cutters
- Sprinkles to decorate
- Optional – 400g ready-rolled marzipan
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease your tin with butter and put to one side.
- Heat the dried fruit and cherries in a small pan gently with the juice of the orange and the lemon juice until the juice is hot. Then cool to allow the fruit to plump, making them juicier, and softer.
- Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to cream until pale in colour and fluffy in texture.
- Add the eggs, mixing well between each addition.
- Fold in the flour, mixed spice and salt.
- Then add the fruit mixture and milk, and stir to combine.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cups of the tin and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes in the tin for 2-3 minutes, before placing on a cooling rack to completely cool.
Decorating your mini Christmas cakes
- Warm your apricot jam, 15 seconds in the microwave, then sieve and allow to cool.
- If you have bought ready-rolled icing, roll it out and using a cookie cutter the same size as your mini Christmas cakes, stamp out 12 discs. I also then used a mini Christmas tree cutter and stamped out 12 to add as a decoration. You could also use a star, holly or anything else you wish.
- Brush the top of each cake with a little of the apricot jam, just enough to cover the top, then place a disc of icing sugar on top and press lightly down. I prepared all my discs with the additional decorations on before adding on top of my cakes for ease.
If you are adding a marzipan layer, get the ready-rolled variety to help, and cut out 12 discs with the same sized cutter as the icing. Use apricot under the marzipan, but use boiled and cooled water to slightly moisten the marzipan before adding the icing discs.
For more festive recipes – check out my Ultimate Christmas Baking List with everything from the traditional, mince pies and gingerbread men to my favourite biscuits, brownies and trifle.


