Rich Fruit Cake

This Christmas Classic can last for up to three months if you don’t ice it – so it’s a great treat to take to family gatherings, parties or to have ready to eat at home for those days where you just want to eat junk! You’ll also need a few extra things for making this cake – some string, baking paper, brown paper, and a large cake tin – quite a deep one, and it can be round or circular! This recipe makes enough for around twenty people.

It takes about two weeks to make (with the setting and absorbing of the alcohol) so get making them now!

Makes 1 Cake

500g Dried Mixed Fruit

500g Sultanas

250g Currants

180ml Rum, Brandy or Sherry

125g Glace Cherries

275g Plain Flour

2tsp Ground Mixed Spice

225g Softened Butter

5 Large Eggs

Zest of 1 Medium Orange

Zest of 1 unwaxed Lemon

100g Ground Almonds

1.       Put all of the Mixed Fruit, Sultanas and Currants into a large bowl, and pour 90ml of the alcohol over. Cover the bowl with cling film, and stir occasionally over a twenty four hour period.

2.       Line your cake tin with three layers of the baking paper, and wrap the outside of the tin with a double layer of the brown paper.

3.       Heat the oven to 150 C or Gas Mark 2

4.       Rinse the Cherries in some warm water, before patting dry and cutting in half.

5.       Sift the Flour and Mixed Spice together.

6.       Cream the Butter and Sugar, before adding the Eggs one at a time, with 1tbsp of the flour mixture. Make sure you beat the mixture well before adding the next egg.

7.       Grate the zest of the Orange and Lemon and stir it into the mixture with the rest of the Flour mixture, Ground Almonds, Cherries and the Dried Fruit (with the alcohol)

8.       Spoon the cake mixture into the tin, and make sure the top is level. Pat the top with damp fingertips, but make sure you don’t transfer too much water over – you don’t want to get it wet.

9.       Bake for an hour, before reducing the heat to 140 C or Gas Mark 1.

10.   Bake for a further three hours or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake.

11.   Remove the cake from the tin and cool on a wire rack.

12.   Once cold, wrap in foil and store for a week, before piercing with a skewer. Drizzle over two tablespoons of the liquor, re-wrap and store. Repeat twice over the next two weeks.

Photo Courtesy of I Don’t Know, Maybe.