FRUit Cake

  

Fruit Cake/ Plum Cake/ Rum Cake, is one cake that i looooove. When i was a kid, my father used to get this from a bakery. I  never knew that one day I’ll be making it myself. 

I make Fruit Cake every single year and i make atleast 4 cakes. I soak the nuts atleast two months in advance and make the cake atleast 15 days in advance. I then feed them with brandy every week. I cut one cake just a day before Christmas for a family occasion and all the others are saved for New Years. 

This year i have made Fruit Cake in single portion. It’s a great idea to do that as it can be served individually. It also looks beautiful and incase of few extra ones, you can store them back unlike a cut cake piece.

   

Ingredients 

3 cups – Soaked dry fruits (raisins, dates,figs,apricots,almonds,pistachios,cashews, soaked in 250ml of Rum or Brandy preferably for two months, but even overnight will be fine)300gms – All purpose flour

1 tsp – ground cinnamon and nutmeg 

300gms – Unsalted butter, room temperature 

300gms – Dark brown sugar

5 nos – Eggs

1/4 cup – caramel syrup

1/8 cup – Candied Orange peel

  

  

For detailed cake preparation check my Rum cake recipe. The cake recipes are slightly different, but both work absolutely beautifully.

  
 Method 

. In a saucepan, add the soaked nuts and the rum that the nuts been soaking. Cover it with a lid. On a low heat cook the dry fruits till all the rum is evaporated. 

. Spread it on a plate and let it cool completely and air dry. Add the candied orange peel to this.

. Seive the flour, spices over the cooled dry fruits and toss it so that all the nuts are well coated with flour. (This step will ensure the nuts don’t sink to the bottom when baked.

.Preheat the oven 140°C. And grease 8 Ramekins well and line just the bottom with parchment paper.

. Cream butter and sugar together for 8 minutes or till the mixture is creamy, fluffy and light.

. Add the eggs one by one mixing it well after each addition.

. Add caramel syrup and mix well.

. Add the flour and mixture gradually and fold well till the mixture comes together.

  
. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Level the top.

. Bake for 1 to 11/2 hours, or when the skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre.

  
. When the cake has cooled, pierce the top in several places with a skewer, then pour over a little rum. Remove the cake from the tin.

. Wrap with baking paper, then wrap with foil. Store in a cool place for up to 3 months to mature, occasionally unwrapping and spooning over 1-2 tbsp rum.

  
. Brush it with Apricot jam and dust it with icing sugar before serving or pour over some Brandy Butter Sauce and serve.

* Incase you don’t want to use alcohol, soak the dry fruits and nuts just overnight in Orange or Apple juice and cook it in the same juice.

. And store it refrigerated.

  

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