Christmas cakes

Baked a couple of weeks ago using a Delia Smith recipe that I have been using for quite a few years now with great results.  They now need regular feeding with brandy and I am going to start that today.

This looks ominous, but is the best way I've found of getting brandy into the cakes.

Can't understand why one of the cakes has a much darker bake than the other. Same recipe, same ingredients, same length of time in oven. Hey ho!!