Thursday 18 December 2008

Rich Fruit Christmas Cake Recipe

Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home. ~Carol Nelson
My mom used to make this cake at Christmas and I always looked forward to it!!! I follow her tradition and every year it comes out well…..but its more than just that special taste…..I miss that special experience of baking with my mom….miss those days when we used to sit together and chop all the fruits and nuts…..keeping awake the whole night to bake batches of cakes as unexpected and intermittent power cuts makes it difficult to bake during the day in Kerala ..…then comes my brothers job of distributing it to our neighbors and relatives….miss those childhood days spent at home….to recreate that spirit of Christmas , this year also I made fruit cake here at home and I dedicate my mom's best Christmas Fruit Cake recipe to all my fellow bloggers..…

Ingredients:
All purpose flour-250gm
Powdered Sugar-250 gm
Eggs-6nos
Butter-250gm
Mixed Dry Fruits-875gms (I use dates, raisins, currents, cherries, mixed fruits, orange peels, apricot, prunes etc)
Cashew nuts- 50gm
Caramel syrup- 1/2 cup
Rum/ Brandy- 1/2cup - 3/4cup
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda-1/4 tsp
salt- 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon powder-1/4 tsp
Clove powder-1/4 tsp
Nutmeg powder-1/4 tsp
Vanilla essence-1tsp


Method:

  • Chop all dry fruits and cashew nuts finely and soak them in Rum/Brandy for minimum one week. (I recommend soaking the fruits months or a year in advance, the more the tastier).
  • Heat 8 tbsp sugar in a heavy bottom pan stirring continuously. When it becomes dark brown add 1cup hot water, boil until it becomes 1/2 cup, keep aside to cool completely.
  • Pre heat oven to 160C/320F. Prepare the cake pans by lining the inside with two layers of greaseproof paper.
  • Sieve together flour, baking power, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg power and keep aside.
  • Cream butter and powdered sugar; add egg, one by one and beat well till light and fluffy.
  • Add vanilla essence and caramel syrup and beat well.
  • Add flour slowly alternating with prepared fruits to the cream mixture. Gently fold the mixture with a wooden or rubber spatula after each addition, folding in until fruits are evenly distributed.
  • Spoon the batter in to prepared pans, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon. Bake in a 160 degree Celsius oven for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
  • Test cake after1 1/ 2 hours; if cooked it should be evenly risen and beginning to shrink from the sides of the tin. When gently pressed with the fingers it should spring back. If not cooked, return to the oven and test again at 30 minute intervals, or bake till a wooden skewer inserted in centers comes out clean.
  • Cool in pan on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.
  • Prick holes in the top of cake with a skewer then sprinkle a teaspoon or two of Rum/brandy over cake, let it sink in for a few minutes then wrap well in aluminum foil for storage. Every two weeks, drizzle another teaspoon or two of Rum/brandy over the cake. Aim to keep it nicely moist but *not* soggy!


  • Make cake two months in advance or at least one week ahead.


Enjoy your Christmas Cake with home made wine!!!!

I am sending this to:
Happy Cook of My Kitchen Treasure's Home Made Christmas Gifts
Purva Daawat's Christmas Feast Event
JZ of Tasty treats Santa's Holiday Challenge Event
Vandana's Baking for Beginners Event

Other Christmas specials:

Did You Enjoy this Recipe?

Enter your email ID below to get

more such recipes in your inbox

Print Friendly and PDF

10 comments:

  1. I know how much effort you had put in to make this..chopping, saoking, baking...
    Finally bringing out here as a post!...
    AWESOME Swapna...it's simply worth your efforts...truly authentic recipe :)
    Book marked!..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christmas is incomplete without a fruit cake. It looks rich with fruits and delicious. Thnak you for the lovely entry

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey! a malayalee :-)

    your cake looks delicious! there are a lot of christmas cake recipe going around in the blogs this yr..Thanks for sharing ur mom's recipe with us, Swapna! :-)

    Thanks for sending it to my event!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your post brought in so much memories during this time.. I remember having the whole family together in preparation of baking, and then taking turns beating up the batter, lining with paper for baking...

    This fruit cake looks so authentic, the colors the fruits every thing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. WONDERFUL!! Thats a decadent cake!All ur efforts n yrs of experience showing up in the texture! Merry X'mas to u n urs! I shd attempt to make this!

    ReplyDelete
  6. first time to ur blog and it is really interesting!

    cake looks scrumptious and inviting!

    join in the savory event going in my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love chirstmas cake like these they are my favourite.
    Wish i had them for my christmas day, i didn't make cake this year.
    Thankyou for sending this to my event

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Chechi,
    Thanks for sharing the recipe, I didn't know how much effort and time goes into making this cake before, it's one of my favorites to bring back from India. You really need to plan ahead on this one though- minimum one week soaking, and recommended one month or a whole year!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow..Christmas cake looks delicious Swapna..the slices look so pretty..I used to look fwd to getting these as gifts during Xmas..baked my first fruit cake last year;-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear swap na I am a good baker and I bake the basic cakes very often except my cake becomes moist on the top after baking the next day can u tell why it happens ....., is it because of the oven temperature or the sugar content this has been a problem for a while plz help.....I have also baked a fruit cake but it became moist the next day on the top pls help

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog:) Your feedback is important....so feel free to post your comments and questions. Hope to see you soon!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...