23 Christmas cakes to tempt any fruitcake hater

If a dense, dry lump filled with rock-hard sultanas is your lived experience of Christmas cake, then these cakes will silence every bah humbug you can muster.

Source: China Squirrel

We don't want to alarm you, but Christmas is happening in a matter of weeks, whether we're ready or not. And, of course, we're not ready. We're actually never ready...

Never mind, we've got every festive busy bee covered with a Christmas cake to suit. Some need a spare afternoon and lots of 'maturing time', others you can whip up on the morning of. Some are chock full of fruit and others are delightfully fruit-free, so even traditional fruitcake haters will be lining up for a serve.

However you make yours, a Christmas cake is a must for topping off a fine day with your nearest and dearest. So enjoy the prep and remember to keep it simple. That way you'll simply keep it coming year after year!

Start right

Bibingka often sold outside churches for breakfast after dawn mass. Source: Janyon

Start your morning with a Filipino Christmas treat. Bibingka is traditionally cooked by street vendors nine nights before Christmas, but go ahead and make them every night.

Sour winner

Dense with brandy-soaked fruit and spices, a little goes a long way! Source: Alan Benson

A brandy-soaked fruitcake gets a modern twist with the addition of dried sour cherries and crunchy macadamias. This one is especially good served with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Light and bright

Whiskey is the tipple of choice for this one. Source: China Squirrel

Christmas cake does not have to be rich and dense - light and bright is welcome too. You can make this citrusy cake on the 25th, though you'll need to make the festive dried orange decoration the day before.

A bush food beauty

Traditional Christmas meets outback flavours to bring you this richly spiced fruitcake, topped with dessert quandong for a tart, peachy finishing. Source: The Great Australian Cookbook

How's this for a gorgeous Aussie spin on an old standard? Raisins, sultanas and dates meet quandong, macadamias and bush tomatoes and let's just say the brolgas are merrily dancing.

Traditionally loaded

This fruitcake is heavy with all usual suspects: glace ginger, pineapple and cherry, golden syrup, sultanas and lashings of rum. Source: China Squirrel

This rich, boozy number is so traditionally Christmas cakey that it's practically singing carols as it bakes. Or perhaps we were just overly generous with the rum?

Dutch take

Kersttulband is a special treat served to visiting friends and family during the Christmas season. Source: Alan Benson

Studded with gin-soaked raisins and glace cherries this recipe for Dutch kersttulband is a much lighter version than a traditional Christmas cake.

Buon natale

It's always hard to stop at one piece of panettone! Source: Alan Benson

The Italian take on Christmas cake is a welcome sight at this time of year. You can pick boxed versions of panettone everywhere, but it's much easier than you might think to make your own.

Stolen heart

This sugar-dusted fruit bread is said to resemble the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes. Source: John Laurie

Another traditional 'bread' Christmas cake is the sugar-dusted German stollen. Originating from Dresden in the 15th century, it has been transformed from simple oat bread to a rich, buttery loaf.

Build it

Merge your gingerbread house with your Christmas cake and keep everyone happy. Source: Bake With Anna Olson

A richly spiced chocolate cake covered in sumptuous chocolate icing is assembled like a gingerbread house. At last, a gingerbread house everyone will actually eat.

Ginger cool

Not gonna lie, this gingerbread variation of the traditional French chocolate Christmas cake — is a commitment of time, energy and nerves. But what a stunner for your table! Source: Tribune News Service

Ginger may feel like a 'wintry' spice and borders on too hot for an Aussie Christmas, unless... unless you put it in a sponge roll, smother it praline then top the lot with marshmallow icing. Dive in!

Trad yule

Tihs version of the bûche de Noël is a combination of a flourless chocolate cake, rich chocolate ganache and a lightly toasted Italian meringue. Source: Alan Benson

And here's the traditional French version of the bûche de Noël for you to tackle. Just quietly, it sure beats a fruitcake!

Orange pud

Cinnamon and ginger add festive flavours to this cake, which is a million times quicker than a traditional Christmas pudding. Source: Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food

A gluten-free orange cake slides into the Christmas spirit when accompanied by pudding ice cream.

Merry and light

All the Christmas cake love with none of the dark overtones. Source: SBS Food

Now here's how to lighten things up - a fruity ricotta cheesecake. It's got all of your glacé fruit faves on board, without any of the traditional fruitcake heaviness.

Fruit flies

It's still packed with fruit, but tastes very different to a fruit cake... trust us. Source: Rachel Bartholomeusz

The Sri Lankan version of Christmas cake is one to make for the fruit cake haters. It's much closer to a flourless cake or a brownie than a standard Christmas cake. But there's a catch: you need to make it now for flavours to develop and the cake’s moisture to increase.

Fruity love

This is a variation of the traditional English fruitcake and is customarily eaten during the Christmas season. Source: Alan Benson

If it's glacé fruit you're after, it's Bishop's cake you seek. AKA stained-glass window cake, when thinly sliced  light penetrates the glacé fruit pieces, resembling the stained-glass windows of a church.

Darkly does it

A serve of this in the afternoon will keep the Christmas party going and going. Source: Alan Benson

If you like your Christmas cakes crammed with spice and fruit, a torta negra Colombiana is the holiday ticket. It's spiked with both rum and port then dulce quemado or molasses provides its signature sweetness and colour.

Last word

Bring on the always-in-fashion, always-delicious pav. Source: Feast magazine

Fast becoming Australia's own 'traditional' Christmas cake (hush Kiwis, we know), we couldn't finish the list without a pavlova. Crisp up your meringue, trowel on the cream and pile on your summer fruits. Happy Christmas!