Christmas cake is a classic festive food, though it’s certainly not to everyone’s taste. The rich, dense fruitcake traditionally features dried fruits like raisins and sultanas soaked in brandy, and is often covered in marzipan icing.
Christmas cake is a classic festive food, though it’s certainly not to everyone’s taste. The rich, dense fruitcake traditionally features dried fruits like raisins and sultanas soaked in brandy, and is often covered in marzipan icing.
While some people might prefer a yule log, for others Christmas wouldn’t be complete without the sweet and boozy cake. If you’re not keen to make your own this year, most supermarkets sell both large Christmas cakes and mini loaf versions – ideal if there’s only a few people in the family that like it.
We put four of them to the test to find our Christmas winner.
Tesco – £3.25
Tesco’s cake was rich, boozy, moist and sticky – everything you want from a good Christmas dessert.. The soft and sticky texture reminded me of McVie’s Jamaica Ginger Cake. Flavour-wise it packed a strong boozy punch with all the fruity flavour of a good mince pie. It had huge raisins and was definitely the best tasting of the four.
The marzipan icing was quite hard and was hard to cut into but had a nice crumbly texture. The cake held together well in spite of this. difficulty cutting into it.
8/10
Lidl – £2.69
Lidl’s cake was too sweet and fruity without being balanced by much of a brandy flavour. It didn’t have anywhere near the richness of the Tesco cake. It also crumbled and fell apart when cut into.
It did have a nice layer of Marzipan on top which had a good texture.
4/10
Aldi – £2.69
Aldi had a slightly stronger brandy taste than Lidl but again was quite disappointing. It was dryer than Tesco’s cake – although maybe a better cake to fruit ratio for those who aren’t super keen on the fruit. That said, if the alcohol-soaked fruit isn’t your thing, this probably isn’t the right dessert for you.
The marzipan was sickly too and reminded me of the type of chewy icing you’d find on a children’s birthday cake.
5/10
M&S – £4.50
M&S’s cake not wildly different to Aldi’s but it was nearly £2 more expensive. It was quite sweet and not very boozy although it did have a nice slightly orangey taste – perhaps down to the citrus peel inside.
The marzipan was similar to Aldi’s too, although it did have a nice holly design on top. This goes a long way considering fruit cakes are not the most attractive cakes, but was not enough to make it a winner.
5/10
