The Famous 3 Ingredient Christmas Cake

Introducing the famous 3 Ingredient Christmas Cake (fruit cake) made from mixed fruit, iced coffee and self-raising flour! Award winning, super easy and totally delicious!

5 from 293 votes

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Course: Cakes

Cuisine: Christmas

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 1

Chilling time: 1

Total Time: 1 1 5

Servings: pieces

Calories: 143kcal

Author: Lucy - Bake Play Smile

Equipment

Oven

Ingredients

1 kg (6 cups) dried mixed fruit see recipe notes
600 ml (2 ½ cups) iced coffee see notes
300 g (2 cups) self-raising flour

Instructions

Place the mixed dried fruit into a very large bowl. Add the iced coffee (or liquid substitute) and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and place into the fridge overnight.
Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius (fan-forced). Grease and line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper and set aside.
Stir the self-raising flour through the fruit mixture and pour into the prepared tin.
Bake for approximately 1 hour (see notes) or until the cake feels firm in the middle and a skewer inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.

Video

Notes

RECIPE NOTES

Mixed dried fruit - can be bought pre-packaged from the dried fruit/nuts section of any major supermarket. I like to use the Sunbeam Mixed Fruit that contains sultanas, currants, raisins, orange peel, lemon peel and glace cherries.

Iced coffee - I like to use a store-bought iced coffee that is slightly sweetened for this recipe. There are many different brands of iced coffee that you can use, including: Big M, Farmers Union, Dare, Ice Break, Starbucks etc.

Iced coffee substitutes - if you prefer, you can substitute the iced coffee with: juice (orange, apple, pineapple etc), black tea, coffee or chocolate milk.

Adding alcohol - a splash of alcohol can be added to the mixture. These all work well: brandy, whisky, sherry, dark rum, orange-flavoured liqueur, Baileys Irish cream, Kahlua or port.

Preparation time - This recipe need to be started the day before baking as the dried fruit needs to soak in the liquid overnight.

Storing the cake - This cake can be stored for up to 1 month. To store, simply wrap in foil or place into an airtight container at room temperature.

Freezing - Simply wrap the completely cooled cake in a layer of plastic wrap and then two layers of foil and freeze for up to 3 months.

Serving the cake - Serve at room temperature or warm it up and serve with a drizzle of cream or custard (brandy custard is delicious too).

Baking the cake - Cook at 160 degrees celsius fan-forced (320 degrees fahrenheit). If using a conventional oven (not fan forced) increase the temperature to 175 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit).

Cooking time - Cooking time can vary from 1 hour up to almost 2 hours depending on your oven. The cake is cooked if the middle is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.

If the cake is browning too much - loosely place a sheet of foil over the top and continue cooking.

Nutrition