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| Christmas Fruit Cake |
This is a lovely light-medium fruit cake that is ready to eat the day after cooking. I'm personally not a fan of heavy almond flavoring or marzipan icing and avoid those if I can, but I do like to taste the flavor of the brandy.
This recipe makes a 23cm round tin but use a rectangle tin if that's what you have.
Ingredients:
225 gm raisins
225 gm sultanas
225 gm currents
150-200 gm dried apricots, chopped
100gm natural almonds, rough chopped
1 cup brandy (or whisky or other similar dark liquor if that's what you have)
225 gm butter, room temperature
225 gm brown sugar
225 gm plain white flour
Zest of 1-2 oranges or lemons
4 medium eggs, frothed/whisked lightly together
1/8 tsp almond essence (improves the overall flavor without being heavy)
1/2 cup apricot jam to glaze
1 tbsp extra brandy to mix with the apricot jam
Method:
Turn oven to 150c fan bake.
In a large bowl combine the dried fruit and brandy, mixing thoroughly. Leave covered 8-12 hours, mixing through every few hours to combine the dried fruit with the brandy marinade.
When ready to make the cake, cream the butter and brown sugar in another large bowl. Add the almond essence and whisked eggs, mix through. Add the marinated fruit in batches, mix through (it's hard to mix the whole lot at once).
Line a cake tin with baking paper (cut the shape for the bottom, and cut separate narrow strips for the sides.
Transfer mixture into lined tin, covering with a folded layer of baking paper (with the fold to the rear of the oven so the fan doesn't lift the layers of paper). The baking paper cover can be reused for other baking.
Set timer for 1 hour. If not cooked in the middle set timer for another 15 minutes with baking paper cover removed. Check again and if skewer is still not clean, return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes.
NB: The cake is better under done and moist than over done which will give dry edges.
When still warm, melt the apricot jam and brandy in a microwave-proof jug 30 seconds then pour over the cake to glaze. Use a pastry brush to cover all of the cake.
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| Christmas Fruit Cake Slices |