Brush a generous layer of apricot glaze onto the top of your christmas cake and then lay out the pattern with the dried fruit and nuts pressing down gently to stick into place when youve finished brush more of the glaze on top to give a nice shiny finish. Method place the apricot jam in a small pan with a splash of water and simmer on a low heat then remove from heat and leave to using a pastry brush brush the top of the cake with jam and arrange your fruit on top starting with the bigger pieces finish the cake by brushing everything with a . Substitute some of the fruit for chopped dried fig dried apricot or dried apple substitute almonds for nuts of your choice such as pecans or pine nuts wrap thin cardboard instead of brown paper around the cake pan if you want a square cake use a 20 cm square cake pan you can make the cake with half plain flour and half wholewheat flour. Naked christmas cake with glazed nuts and cherries decorating a fruit cake without icing if youve ever tried making your own christmas cake at home you will know the simplicity is key to decorate my naked christmas fruitcake i used some warm apricot jam to stick whole and halved the