My Rich Fruit/ Xmas Cake

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