My Spiced Fruit Cake‘s heavily adapted from the recipe by Lizzie Kamenetzky of delicious.uk magazine. This recipe is ideal for people who prefer a lighter Christmas or fruit cake. It’s quick and there’s no need to wait as no “feeding booze” time’s required. 🙂
My adaptations:
- replaced whisky with golden rum
- replaced blanched almonds with dried cranberries
- totally omitted almonds
- increased amount of dried cranberries and reduced amount of candied peel
- usaed 3 mini cake tins instead of a 23cm round cake tin
- 250g raisins
- 175g golden sultanas
- 150g dried cranberries
- 50g candied peel, finely chopped
- 50g glacé cherries, halved
- 200ml golden rum
- grated zest of 2 oranges
- 200g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
- 180g soft light brown sugar (I used 150g)
- 4 large free-range eggs
- 275g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground mixed spice (Please see recipe to make your own)
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- Splash of milk (optional)
- some sliced almonds – optional, for decoration (I omitted this)
- Apricot jam to glaze
timetable
recipe
Serves | 12-14 |
Prep time | 15 mins |
Cook time | 45 mins |
+ cooling | |
Total time | 60 mins |
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 160°C/fan140°C.
- Put dried fruits, peel, glacé cherries, rum and zest in a pan. Warm through for a few minutes, then set aside to cool. (I soaked them in rum overnite, therefore omitted this step.)
- Grease 3 16cm cake tin (or grease and line a 23cm cake tin).
- Beat butter with a hand whisk, or in a food processor, till soft.
- Add sugar and beat till pale and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a clean bowl, sift flour and baking powder with spices, then fold into butter mixture.
- Add soaked fruit. If mixture’s a little thick, add a bit of milk till dough reaches a dropping consistency.
- Spoon mixture into tins, smooth top (then decorate with almonds, if using).
- Bake for 45 mins (or 1-1½ hours if using 23cm tin) till a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in tins before turning out.
- Melt a good dollop of apricot jam with a splash of boiling water and brush over the cake for a glossy finish.
- I left the other 2 small cakes as they are – unglazed; wrapped it with baking parchment/paper, then with foil and in a freezer bag for another time.. 🙂
Have a slice of cake with a glass of mulled wine or a cup of tea or coffee, if you like.
The cake’s yummy; sweet, spiced, boozy and rich.. It tastes even better after a day.. 🙂
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