135 current cake recipes

Don't let the name fool you, because these tasty snacks are made with oats, walnuts and sweetened coconut.

Old-fashioned Pennsylvania steamed pudding with mashed carrots, suet, molasses, raisins, currants, and warm spices. Three hours of steaming yields a dense, spiced holiday treat.

Old-school dark fruitcake soaked overnight in brandy and orange liqueur with figs, apricots, currants, walnuts, and pecans. Makes four loaves; ages beautifully.

Maple-apple oatmeal cookies with real maple syrup, fresh apples, applesauce, currants, and a crunchy oat-brown sugar topping. Soft, cakey fall cookies baked low and slow.

Barbadians make Black Cake for weddings, birthdays and at Christimas time. Indeed, no Christmas holiday is felt to be complete without black Cake. People from many of the islands make a similar cake. This Black Cake derived from the British Plum Pudding which is a must on their Christmas menu.

Plum cake is the grand Victorian celebration fruitcake: pounds of raisins, currants, dates, citron, and almonds bound by spiced butter cake batter. Christmas, weddings, and christenings on a serious scale.

Maple pecan upside-down cake with pure maple syrup, brown sugar, currants, yogurt, and a hint of mace. Inverted to reveal a sticky, caramelized pecan topping served warm.

Easier to work with. The original recipe called for brandy or grape juice, but I found that if you substitute the orange juice concentrate, it has a nicer flavour.

Grandma's plum pudding: a traditional steamed Christmas pudding with raisins, currants, citrus peel, suet, and warm spices. Three hours of slow steaming for a dense, fragrant holiday dessert.

Traditional fruitcake studded with dates, figs, candied citron, pecans, and brandy-soaked fruits becomes a family heirloom recipe worth making.

The reputation of fruitcake has been tarnished but store bought and candied fruitcakes. Using dried instead of candied fruit demonstrates what fruitcake is supposed to be.

Myrtle's fruit cake bakes a brown-sugar-and-golden-syrup batter loaded with currants, sultanas, candied orange peel, and warming spices. British-style heritage Christmas loaf cake.

Linda's fruitcake: brandy-soaked dates, citrus peel, raisins, almonds, and cherries folded into a spiced batter with a pineapple jam layer. Wrapped in brandy-soaked cheesecloth to age.

This is the best Monte Cristo sandwich in the world... and I don't just mean Disneyworld. It seems complicated but believe me..it is well worth the effort. Make each item in the order given. The Currant Jelly Sauce and the Fruit Compote go alongside.

A delicious Christmas bread made with almonds, cream cheese, golden raisins and brandy.

Mother's fruit cake is a brandy-soaked holiday classic with cherries, apricots, pineapple, peel, raisins, and currants bound in a spiced chocolate-scented batter. Baked slow and aged for two months.