Post 175
Fruit cake is a cake made with dried fruit, nuts, and spices, optionally soaked in alcohol. A festive flavourful and moist fruit cake to enjoy all holiday season. Here I am doing a alcohol free fruit cake substituting with orange juice. So don’t wait, pick up your ingredients and give it a try.
For soaking
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup black raisins
¼ cup tutti frutti
¼ cup galazed cherries
¼ cup candied orange peel
9 dates
1 cup fresh orange juice
For the spice mix
2 inches cinnamon
4 cardamom
4 cloves
1 piece dried ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
For the batter
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar for caramelizing
150 gram butter
1tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
Method
Chop all the dry fruits and soak in orange juice. Cover and let the dry fruits soak for 24 hours.
Grind the whole spices .Sieve the flour, baking powder and the powdered spice mix and keep aside.
In a pan on medium heat melt ¼ cup sugar slowly. It will first melt and turn into a dark brown colour, keep stirring and let it turn a deep dark caramel colour. Don’t let it burn. Turn off heat and add about ¼ cup of water. Turn on the heat and slowly heat the mixture until the sugar crystals dissolve. Let this cool and set aside.
Add 3 tbsp flour to the dry fruits and nuts and mix well. This is so that they won’t sink to the bottom of the batter while baking,
Beat the butter and the powdered sugar until fluffy for about 10 minutes by hand or 3-4 minutes with an electric beater. Add vanilla essence and mix until combined. Next all the eggs and beat well. Add the flour mixture and fold gently. Add the cooled caramel and the dry fruits and gently fold in.
Pour batter into a greased cake pan and smooth the top. Bake the cake at 160 degree for 50-55 minutes until the top turns a dark brown. Insert a skewer into the cake and if it comes out dry then the cake is baked completely. Take out the cake from the mould and leave aside to cool it down.
The fruit cake is ready to serve
Usha's Kitchen 