Fruity Christmas Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: cake
Cuisine: British
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: an 8" square cake
 
A fruity, boozy cake for the holidays.
Ingredients
  • 300g prunes, chopped
  • 50g dried cherries
  • 200g raisins
  • 50g dried cranberries
  • 175g golden raisins (sultanas)
  • 175g butter
  • 175g dark brown sugar
  • 175 ml honey
  • 125 ml rum, brandy, or whiskey - I used an orange spiced rum
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • juice and zest of 2 oranges
  • 3 eggs
  • 150g plain flour
  • 75g ground almonds
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
  1. Poach the fruit: Put the prunes, cherries, cranberries, raisins, golden raisins, butter, sugar, honey, rum, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cocoa power, and orange juice and zest in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring for 5-10 minutes or so. Turn off the heat and leave to cool for at least an hour, possibly more.
  2. Prepare for baking: when you're ready and your fruit is soft and cool enough not to scramble the eggs, heat an oven to 300F/150C. Line either a deep 8 inch square or a deep 9 inch springform pan (those are the pans I've used - feel free to approximate with what you have) with baking parchment.
  3. Add the eggs to the fruit and beat to combine. Add the flour, almonds, baking soda, and baking powder, and fold until combined. Pour into the lined pan and bake for an hour and forty-five minutes to two hours.
  4. Cool the cake in the pan. If not serving for a while, pierce the cake all over with a skewer and sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of rum on top before wrapping the cake in parchment and foil and storing it in an airtight container. Take out the cake every week or so and feed it a bit more booze until you are ready to serve.
  5. You can top the cake with marzipan and icing, but this year I'm going for the pure cake experience with no added adornment.
Recipe by The Bright Kitchen at https://www.thebrightkitchen.com/fruity-christmas-cake/