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Woodland wreath Christmas cake recipe

20 ratings

Transform classic Christmas cake into a simple yet stunning centrepiece with beautiful rustic decorations, sweet amaretto-spiced icing, and an almond-encrusted marzipan pinecone. You can make the cake ahead and freeze, so all that's left to do is decorate it before the big day – Christmas showstoppers don't get much easier than this! See method

Serves 20
45 mins to prepare and 1 hr 45 mins to cook, plus cooling
289 calories / serving
Freezable
Vegetarian

Ingredients

For the cake

140g salted butter, plus extra for greasing
140g light muscovado sugar
225g self-raising flour
2 large eggs
411g jar mincemeat
200g glacé cherries, halved
2 tbsp amaretto, optional

To decorate

75g salted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp amaretto
150g icing sugar, sifted
50g golden marzipan
10g flaked almonds, lightly toasted
rosemary sprigs, to decorate
cinnamon sticks, to decorate
fresh sage or bay leaves, to decorate
physalis, to decorate

No self-raising flour? Add 2 tsp baking powder for every 150g plain flour

Each serving contains

Energy
1220kj
289kcal 14%
Fat
11g 16%
Saturates
6g 31%
Sugars
29g 32%
Salt
0.3g 6%

of the reference intake
Carbohydrate 47.4g Protein 2.4g Fibre 1g

Method

Preheat the oven to gas 3, 170°C, fan 150°C. Grease a 20cm round, deep cake tin with butter, then line with nonstick baking paper. In a bowl, beat together the salted butter, light muscovado sugar, flour and eggs until pale and creamy.
Fold in the mincemeat and glacé cherries with a metal spoon. Pour into the tin, level, then bake for 1¾ hrs until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

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Brush the warm cake with 2 tbsp amaretto, if you like, and cool in the tin on a wire rack. Remove from the tin when cool and peel off the baking paper. If adding decorations at a later date, the cake will keep for 1 week in an airtight container.
Make the buttercream by beating the butter and amaretto in a bowl until creamy. Add the icing sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition. Once all the icing sugar has been added, beat for a further 7 mins with an electric whisk (or 12 mins if using a wooden spoon) until really light and creamy. The icing should be flecked with bubbles of air, like mousse.
Cut the cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Put a little buttercream on a cake stand or board and put the top half of the cake upside down on it; press down lightly to secure. Spread 2 tbsp buttercream over the top. Top with the other cake half and spread the rest of the buttercream over the top and sides. Turning the cake stand or board, scrape the sides of the cake with a palette knife to remove some of the buttercream, creating a naked-style cake effect.
Make the marzipan pine cone. Roll the marzipan into a cone shape. Push the toasted almonds into the marzipan in concentric circles at a 45° angle to the marzipan, starting at the top.
Arrange the rosemary, cinnamon sticks, sage or bay leaves and physalis on top of the cake to make a wreath. Add the marzipan pine cone. The cake will keep for 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container.