Dark fruit cake recipe
This dark fruit cake recipe uses various dried fruits and almonds. Feel free to substitute any of these with your own choice so long as the amount replaced is the same as indicated in the recipe. The use of dark spices and brown sugar gives the cake a dark appearance. This recipe yields a large dark fruit cake and takes 2 days to make.
Ingredients:
240g butter
75g castor sugar
50g soft brown sugar
6 eggs
Sift together:
240g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon powder
3/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp mace
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Fruit mix (combine together):
475g raisins
480g sultanas
240g mixed peel
120g glazed cherries, chopped
120g almonds, chopped
90ml orange juice
60ml brandy
20ml lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/3 tsp salt
Method:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
In a large bowl, mix all the fruits, nuts, brandy, juices, vanilla, almond extract and toss well. Cover the bowl and let it stand for 24 hours at room temperature.
The next day, cream butter and both sugars till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Gently fold in the sifted dry ingredients. Mix until flour is well incorporated in the batter.
Add in the fruit mixture into the cake batter and stir until all ingredients are well incorporated.
Pour batter into a well greased and lined cake tin (line the bottom with 2 pieces of greaseproof paper and grease the sides) and bake for about 4 hours to 4 hours 15 minutes. Since this cake is large and requires long hours of baking, fill a pan with water and place it in the lower rack in your oven. This will keep your oven moist and prevent over browning of the cake.
The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Remove cake from oven and let it cool in the pan for about 50 minutes. Turn the cake onto a wire rack and remove the lining. Turn the cake so that the top side is up and leave it to cool completely.
When the cake has cooled completely, brush a little brandy on the cake and store it wrapped in a cheesecloth (soaked in brandy) and foil in an airtight container. Let the cake to ripen for 2 – 3 weeks before serving.
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