It’s never too early to make your Christmas Fruit Cake and with these ten tips your cake will be extra special. It is the thing which doubles the joy of Christmas with its amazing flavours!

1.For a really moist fruitcake, use marmalade instead of candied peel.

2. Always soak your dried fruit overnight and for extra flavour soak the fruit in apple or orange juice or marinate in your favourite liqueur (brandy) for three days, stirring it every 12 hours.

3. If you are adding dried fruit then it should be plump and soft, if it has gone horrible and hard, then soak in hot water for a few minutes before adding it to your mixture

4. For an extra rich, tasty fruitcake, use cold coffee instead of milk.

5. When the fruits are wet, they may stick to the bottom of the cake. To avoid that, coat the fruits with flour once before putting them in the batter.

6. For a moist fruitcake with extra flavour, grate a cooking apple into the mixture.

7. For a moister fruitcake in electric ovens or Agars, place a dish of water on the floor of the oven when baking.

8. Always cool fruitcakes for 10 to 15 minutes on a rack in the dish in which they were baked. Then turn them onto the rack and carefully peel off the paper.

9. Fruitcakes freeze very well; however, they must be aged for at least a few weeks before freezing, as they do not mellow and ripen while they are frozen.

10. Always use measuring cups and spoons for baking because if you don’t put the ingredients in the recommended quantity, your cake won’t be soft and delicious.