Christmas fruit cake

December 24, 2021

Christmas fruit cake

Ingredients:

Dark rum : 1 cup + (1/3 cup for caramel)

Ginger : 1 tsp

Yellow raisins : 1 cup

Black raisins : 1 cup

Dates : 1 cup

All purpose flour (maida) : 2 cups

Baking Powder : 1 tsp

Sugar : 1 cup + (1/2 cup for caramel)

Butter : 250 gms

Eggs : 3

Cinnamon : 1 tsp (3 inch pieces)

Clove : 1 tsp (8 - 10)

Nutmeg : 1 tsp (1/4 piece)

Lemon : 1 (juice & zest)

Orange juice : of 1 orange

Cherry : 1/4 cup

Candied orange peels :1/4 cup

Almonds : 1/2 cup (roasted & powdered)

Cashew nuts : 1 cup

Procedure:

Soak the raisins and dates in 1 cup rum at least a month prior to the preparation.

Caramelize 1/2 cup sugar until it becomes dark in colour, then add 1/3 cup rum (or add water), orange juice and butter and heat it once again to obtain a homogeneous flowing consistency.

Dry roast the spices on a low flame and powder them along with some sugar. Then add the remaining sugar and powder it again once again.

Add the powdered sugar to the caramel mixture and stir until it is well combined.

Then add the soaked fruits, candied orange peel, grated ginger, lemon juice and grated lemon zest. Allow this to cool down.

Add almond powder and lightly whisked eggs and mix well.

Mean while sift the flour along with baking powder using a sieve, add chopped cashew nuts to the flour and mix well.

Then add the flour and cashew nut into the fruit mixture and mix well till it is well combined.

Line a baking tray with butter paper and put the batter into it. Bake the cake at 150 degrees for 2 hours (or more or less depending on your oven)

Remove the cake from the baking tin and allow it to cool on a wire rack. After cooling brush it with rum and store it in a container. Then brush it with rum once a week.