Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake

I had posted about the fruit mix a few days ago and here is the Fruit Cake. Fragrant with spices, studded choc-a-bloc with fruits and soaking with rum... 

The magic starts from when you soak the fruit mix. This along with the spices make you feel like it's Christmas... Try it in June and it will have you singing carols! 

It's a great cake for a New Years party too... That way you can drink and eat your Rum...

Ingredients:

250 grams All purpose flour (2 cups)

250 grams Butter (1 cup + 2 table spoons)

200 grams brown sugar (1 cup tightly packed)

4 large eggs (5 if the eggs are small)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 1/2 teaspoons ground mix spices (1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp each cloves, dry ginger and nutmeg)

Fruit mix

Blanched almonds and glazed cherries for decorating (optional)

Prepping the Cake Pan:

Since the cake is cooked on low heat for a longer duration, we wrap the pan in 3 layers of parchment / butter paper. Cut 3 rounds for the bottom of the pan.

Cut a three fold strip of paper to go around the sides of the cake pan which is atleast 5 inches tall. Fold the bottom 1 inch. Make cuts along this piece. Apply some butter and secure this on the bottom of the baking pan. Put the three paper rounds on top of this and make sure it stays in place using butter. There should be sufficient and secure overlap so that the batter does not touch the pan. Staple the top of the paper so that it stays in place. 

Baking the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C

In a bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar together till pale and fluffy. Continue beating while adding one egg at a time. Stop when all the eggs are incorporated. Do not over beat. Mix in the vanilla. 

In another bowl sift together the flour and the baking powder. Mix in the ground spices. 

Fold in the flour, half a cup at a time, into the egg mixture using cut and fold method. 

Take the soaked fruits and fold into the cake batter along with the rum. Or the leftover rum can be used to brush and soak the cake later. 

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Decorate the top of the cake with blanched almonds and glazed cherries. Cover the top of the cake (on top of the butter paper) with foil to prevent the top from burning. 

Cook in the preheated oven for 2 hours 35 minutes till a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean with a few crumbs. Cook for 15-20 minutes more if the skewer comes out wet. 

Cool the cake. While it is warm makes holes on the top with a skewer and slowly pour about two tablespoons more rum into it. 

Maturing and Storage:

Cool the cake completely before turning out of the pan. Remove the butter paper carefully from sides and bottom. If you baked the cake early (Stir up Sunday, the Sunday before Advent is the traditional day to bake the cake), you can feed two tablespoons of rum every fortnight till Christmas, except for the last week. Wrap it securely in cling film. If wrapped tightly, stored in an airtight container and in a cool place, the cake can last 3 months (I haven't tried it, if you do, let me know). 

If you are not maturing it, it will last a upto 6 months in the freezer. 

Notes:

The butter should be completely soft to make it fluffy. This is necessary for proper aeration in the cake

If the batter is too thick, add a couple of tablespoons of water or orange juice in it. 

The quantity of rum makes it pack a punch. If you prefer a less boozy cake, you can reduce the amount of rum in the fruit soaking mix

You can make it a completely non-alcoholic cake by soaking fruits in orange juice

This proportion makes a large cake. Your friends will love you for sharing it with them but if you want you can easily halve the recipe with the same results

This recipe is adapted from Taste.com.au

*To make the cake tomorrow 

Use 250 grams each of raisins and sultanas and soak them in a cup of rum overnight

Put 100 grams walnuts in a bag / tea towel and mash with a rolling pin for smaller pieces. Add to the soaking fruits. Bake the rest of the cake as directed.

Enjoy!