Hello dear readers! Belated Merry Christmas and an advanced Happy New Year! This year I baked a cake with the fruits soaked in rum for more than year. I had soaked the fruits in Rum in October 2016 and this is the first time I soaked for such a long time. I did not want to risk trying a new recipe and spoil the soaked fruits but I studied the recipe well and took a call. I have saved several fruit cake recipe’s and will try them one at a time. I have tried various recipe’s over the years and each cake is worth the try.This year I tried the recipe from Sailu’s food.
To make the traditional cake we must plan well in advance. I made the caramel prior and refrigerated . Fruits were getting soaked since more than a year. I weighed the ingredients and kept it ready prior. All these things makes the bake easier and gives good result. It becomes stress free too. I have also tweaked the recipe a bit. For those who want to make the cake alcohol free soak the fruits in Orange juice in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
To know how to soak fruits check here.
To know how to make caramel syrup check here.
Makes 2 cakes (8″ cake tin and 8″ loaf tin)
Recipe adapted from : Sailu’s food
Ingredients:
All purpose flour/maida -2 3/4 cups
Eggs – 5
Butter- 200 g (1 cup)
Brown sugar – 1 1/2 cups( powder it)
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
Cinnamon powder – 1 1/4 tsp
Clove powder – 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg powder – 1/4 tsp
Caramel – 1 cup
Soaked fruits – 2 cups
Dried nuts – 1/2 cup( chop it)
Orange juice – 1/4 cup
Orange zest – 1 orange
Method:
- Preheat the oven at 170 d.c for 15 minutes.
- Grease the cake tins and line with parchment paper.
- Sieve maida, spice powders and baking powder.
- Separate the yolks from the whites.
- In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks with vanilla essence.
- Beat the butter and powdered brown sugar till smooth and creamy.
- Add the egg yolk mixture little by little, alternating with a tbsp of the sieved flour and combine till smooth.
- Add caramel, orange juice, orange zest and combine till well blended.
- Add the sieved flour in 4-5 batches and combine till well blended.
- Add the dried fruits and nuts (toss the dried fruits in two – three tbsp of flour) and using a spatula, fold it gently into the batter.
- Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold it in the cake batter until well combined.
- Pour the batter up to half of the prepared cake tins.
- Tap the tin to remove any air bubbles.
- Bake for 1 hour at 170 d.c .
- Keep checking the cake in between .
- Bake until done .
- Cool the cake completely.
- Baking time may be more .
- You may preserve the cake for some days by basting it with wine or rum for better results.
- Use a serrated knife and slice it gently.