Luxury Christmas Fruit Cake
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Makes: 1 cake (25 x 25 x 10cm) or 4 small cakes
Preparation time: 50 minutes
Baking time: 4 hours. 1 hour – 150°C; 3 hours – 130°C
Oven temperature: 150°C and 130°C
INGREDIENTS
1.875kg Dried Fruit for Africa Luxury Fruit Cake Mix
500g Dried Fruit for Africa Currants
125g Dried Fruit for Africa Glazed Fruit (pineapple, green figs and ginger chopped into small pieces)
250g brown sugar
500g cake flour
5ml each cinnamon, cloves, all spice, mace and fine ginger.(Also available at Dried Fruit for Africa)
5ml salt
10ml cocoa
500g butter
250g white sugar
8 eggs (approx 500g without the shell)
5ml bicarbonate of soda
10ml instant coffee, dissolved in 30ml boiling water
METHOD
1 For the batter: Heat the brown sugar in a pot over low heat until molten. Add 125ml boiling water and stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool.
2 Sieve the cake flour, spices, salt and cocoa in a large mixing bowl. Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat the eggs well and add the butter mixture bit by bit while beating. A food processor will work well, leaving your hands free. Add some of the flour mixture as soon as the butter and egg mixture becomes runny. Add the remaining flour as soon as all the eggs have been added.
3 Now add the cooled sugar syrup as well as the Luxury Fruit mix, currants & glazed fruit. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the warm coffee. Mix everything thoroughly. The batter must be quite stiff and should fall off the spoon in chunks. If it’s too runny, the fruit will drop down in the baking tin and if it’s too stiff, the cake will crack.
5 Spoon the batter into a prepared baking tin and press the mixture into the sides of the tin so that it hollows slightly in the centre. This stops the cake from rising too much in the centre. Cover it with a ‘paper lid’ made from baking paper. Bake for about 4 hours. 1 hour – 150°C; 3 hours – 130°C
Note: Once the cake is cooked and cooled pour a tot of brandy over cake. This can be repeated once a week according to taste.
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