Homemade fruit cakes, wines, rose cookies and stars are major part of Christmas celebrations and are enjoyed by all. This traditional moist and flavourful Christmas fruit cake is made with dry fruits soaked in liquor in advance. This fruit filled cake is a delicious and tasty treat any time.
Ingredients
1. Soft unsalted butter – 250 gm
2. Brown sugar - 250 gm
3. Eggs – 4 (250 gm)
4. Maida – 250 gm
5. Baking powder – ½ tsp
6. Almond powder – 100 gm
7. Cinnamon powder – ½ tsp
8. Cloves powder – ½ tsp
9. Nutmeg powder – ¼ tsp
10. Dry ginger powder – 1 tsp
11. Soaked dry fruits – 600-750 gm (details given in blog as Cake Mixing)
12. Cake jeera (caraway seeds) – 1 tsp
13. Pineapple jam – ¼ cup
14. Marmalade – ½ cup
15. Vanilla essence or rum essence – 1 tsp
16. Almond essence – 1-2 drops
17. Grated orange zest – 1 Tbsp
18. Grated lemon zest – 1 Tbsp
For caramel
1. Sugar – ½ cup
2. Boiling water – ¼ cup
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven at 150 degree celcius.
2. Grease and line a baking dish with baking paper.
3. Prepare the caramel by heating the sugar in a pan till it turns golden and remove from the fire and slowly add hot water, little by little, carefully. Stir well and keep it on low flame and boil for 2-3 minutes till it melts fully. Keep aside and let it cool.
4. Sift maida, baking powder, spice powders and almond powder.
5. Drain the liquor from soaked fruits. Keep aside the drained liquor. Mix ¼ cup of maida with the dry fruits and keep aside.
6. Beat butter and sugar until soft and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until ingredients are combined. Fold in the maida mixture and mix well. Add the fruit mixture, orange zest and lemon zest, jam, marmalade and essences, mixing slowly. Add the drained liquor and caramel. Mix well.
7. Transfer to the greased and lined baking pan. Bake for 45 minutes and reduce the temperature to 140 degree and bake for another 45 minutes or till done. Remove from the oven and cool.
8. Poke with skewer on top of cake and sprinkle 2 Tbsp of liquor. Cover it tightly with cheese cloth or foil and keep in an air tight container. Every fortnight open the cake and sprinkle 2 Tbsp of liquor.
Tips
1. Soak the dry fruits at least for 24 hours.
2. The cake should be made at least a week prior to consumption for the best flavour.
3. The above cake mixture can be prepared in two small dishes or a bigger dish. Smaller the pan longer the baking time.
4. Dark chocolate can be added to cake mixture for darker colour.
5. All ingredients should be at room temperature.
6. The colour of the cake depends on the colour of the caramel.
7. Mixing the flour (maida) with fruits is to avoid sinking of the fruits to the bottom of the cake.
8. If you find the caking getting darker in the oven, cover it with an aluminum foil.
9. Use un-sweetened dry fruits for best results.
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