Rich Fruit Cake
Hi my lovely reader I
was asked by a friend on Face Book if I could give her the recipe to my fruit/
Xmas cake, which I bragged about (well that’s what Face book is for isn’t it?
bragging about what types of food you bake and your children which is a sort of
baking as well I guess :) ).
Anyway after receiving
this request I was quite chuffed; then had a think about how I would write what
I do down. Hmmmmm … so here goes I hope its clear enough for you.
This recipe is a mix
of a few I have played with over the years and I have stuck with this method
which I feel gets me the best results.
Materials you will need
1 Large Bowl
1 medium sized bowl
Cling wrap
Baking paper
Siscors
1 skewer
An electric hand
beater
Wooden mixing spoon
And spatula.
(This recipe is designed
for a fan forced oven.)
So prep time for the different stages
24 hours for soaking
the fruit (some times I go longer it just depends on how strong a flavour the
Sherry or Brandy you have).
30 mins for mixing ingredients
Another 30 mins for
preparing the tin (it can be shorter but I think 30 mins is about right. The
first time I did it I think it took me about an hour so factor that into your
timing)
N.B Prepping the tin
is very important for the bake, as you want to protect the fruit from burning
Then 3.5 to 4 hours
bake time depending on your oven.
Ingredients
1 cup of brandy,
sherry or Rum
(I have just tried rum
for the first time this year so fingers crossed, but I find Sherry lovely)
500g Sultanas
375g raisins chopped
250g glace Cherries
cut into quarters or halves
(I do half and half
mainly because I get sick of cutting them, but it is also fun to get a big bit
of cherry in the cake).
250g unsalted butter,
softened
(Just bung it in the
microwave if you are short on time and have forgotten to take it out, 1 min
should do it.)
230g soft dark brown
sugar
2 tablespoons of
apricot jam
(Or any jam, I have
also used raspberry, which was great. Jam is also awesome in chocolate cake too
just pop it in after you beat the eggs )
2 tablespoons of
Golden Syrup
1 tablespoon of grated
lemon or orange rind.
(This year I have
mixed them both up so hopefully that worked, I will let you know.)
4 eggs
350g of plain flour
(Which roughly turns
out to be 2 and ¼ cups)
1 teaspoon of ground
ginger
(I use the powdered
stuff, which is a little stronger in taste so if you don’t like ginger just be
a little conservative with that)
1 teaspoon of mixed
spice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
(This has the same
warning as the ginger).
Wrapping the tin
OK this is important I
get this ready before I mix any ingredients
Get a 22cm spring
formed tin and grease it generously with butter.
With your baking paper
cut out a circle for the bottom of the tin (I usually trace around the tin to
get an accurate fit)
Next pull out a long
length of paper enough to wrap the inside circumference of the tin and to over
lap the ends just a little bit.
Now fold the paper in
half
Now cut on a diagonal along
the bottom of the paper, (about 2cm width apart and 2cms in length.) Make sure
you don’t cut the folded side; below is a little example of what I mean.
N.B – the paper needs
to be thicker than a regular cake needs and also a couple of inches higher, above
the tin. This protects the top of the cake and the fruit from burning.
Now place the paper
inside the tin starting with the side of the tin first. The cuts should be
placed on the floor of the tin; this is to make it easier for the paper fit in
a circle, and to fit inside the tin nicely.
Next place the circle
shaped paper on the bottom of the tin, which should cover over the cut part of
the paper which you have pressed down on the bottom of the tin.
N.B this is why you
need to generously grease up the tin it needs to hold a bit of paper.
(AFTER THE
INGREDIENTS IS MIXED)
NOW
THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT once
the cake mix is in the tin you wrap the outside of the tin with
more paper I use news paper (the
Age) because it’s easy to get and the length is perfect. But if you are worried
about the ink in the oven, don’t, it doesn’t affect the flavour at all, but if
you are worried try and find some butchers paper or something simular.
Whatever you use it
needs to be about 3 pages thick and folded over (I find that’s the best). It
just needs to be the same height as your baking paper inside the tin.
All this wrapping sounds
a bit OTT, but it needs to be insulated as it is in the oven 4 hours.
This is not my cake of course, its a nice pretentious image. Yours and my cake paper will look a lot messier and darker after being in the oven for 4 hours. But technically this is what it should look like going into the oven, minus the almonds of course. The cake mix should reach the top of the tin but don't worry about that because it wont rise.
Method for mixing the cake
Put all the fruit in
the smaller bowl and pour the Alcohol
over the fruit, cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it soak for at least
over night or 24 hours.
After the fruit is
soaked you are ready to mix the ingredients
Pre heat the oven to
150 degrees Celsius
In the bigger bowl
Beat the butter and
sugar together so it is just combined, (with the electric beater)
Next beat in the Jam,
Syrup, and rind so it is just combined also.
Now add the eggs one
at a time beating really well after each addition.
(Stop using the electric
beaters now and pick up your trusty ol’ spoon)
Mix in the fruit and
its juices (the booze :) ) with a wooden spoon (mix this really well.)
Combine the flour and
the spices together and sift them in to the fruit mix.
Now mix this really
well, I stir for about 3 or 5 mins just to make sure all the flour has gone
through. Make like a digging action just to make sure the bottom is all clear
(it will be smelling awesome right now)
N.B don’t use a cake
mixer for mixing these ingredients, for a few reasons, first I am pretty sure
you wont have a bowl big enough and the mixture is so stiff your engine on the
machine will burn out. Use your elbow grease its fun and you get to lick your
fingers after (if this is the first time you are doing this you will get messy
I guarantee it :) )
Now once the flour is
all mixed in, Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and start wrapping as
described in the above text.
Once the tin is
wrapped and the oven is heated to 150, Place more paper on the rack inside the
oven and place the bottom of tin on top of the paper just to give it more
insulation. Close the oven and wait 3.5 to 4 hours.
N.B you can check your
cake with a skewer, if it comes out clean it is ready if it doesn’t put it in
for some more baking.
After the cake is
done. It needs to completely cool in the tin, but it needs to cool slowly. So wrap the WHOLE cake in more paper then wrap it some more in a few tea
towels. The cooling process should take about 12 to 24 hours. N.B if you put it
on a cooling rack, all wrapped up, it will cool faster.
Once the cake is cool
you can take it out of the tin. Brush some more alcohol over the top of the
cake (about 1 table spoon) and
then wrap it in cling wrap and put it in an airtight container and put it in a
cool dark cupboard (I use my linen cupboard).
Then once a week for
about 4 weeks take the cake out and brush it with 1 tablespoon of alcohol. This
is the make sure the fruit and cake is fully preserved as you are able to keep
this cake in these conditions for several months and if you freeze it, it can
be kept for 12 months even longer I have heard.
So now your cake is
made I usually start making this for Xmas at the start of November just to give
me plenty of time.
So this is the cake
hope you have fun making it. Its even better eating it I promise :)
Let me know how you
all went
Love Allison
