Fruit cake is a delicious best cheap recipe released all over the world. This fruit cake is a simpler and easier version of making the traditional fruit cake. The cake is filled with loads of juicy plump raisins and many other dry fruits, it has that beautiful aroma of spices that makes the cake more flavourful and in this recipe, the dry fruits are boiled in liquid to soften and plump them up before they are added into the cake batter and so the fruit cake is so moist even without any prior soaking of fruits. It is the least messy base that you can make a fruitcake and you do not need a fruit mixer or hand mixer to make this cake. A saucepan and wooden spoon are the prime tools to make this easy cake. Let’s see how to make this simple and easy cake.
Start by boiling the dried fruits. You are going to boil those dried fruits along with some butter, sugar, molasses and some water, you are not adding the nuts into the boiling mixer also the dates and plumps because they are already very soft and juicy. So you will be boiling the dried cranberries and raisins and you can use dried fruits and nuts of your choice or adjust the measurements to your preferences. Then into the saucepan add butter, sugar, molasses, and brown sugar (to give the beautiful brown dark colour and also bring a beautiful caramel flavour to your cake).
Then add in the raisins, cranberries and water and take the pan on to the start top. Stir it over medium heat and bring it to a boil, once it starts to boil simmer it for 3 to 4 minutes and then remove from heat and let it cool down. Meanwhile prepare the cake pan: grease the bottom of the pan with some butter and line the bottom with parchment paper. Since fruitcakes need longer baking time gives an extra lining with parchment paper to protect the cake from over-browning. Next prepare the flour mix: you are going to add all of the spices and flavours and baking powder to the flour.
The taste of the fruit cake is mostly from the aroma of that cake and you want that fresh aroma of spices to get into your cake batter that is why you didn’t add all of these spices into the boiling mixture. So add in the baking powder, cinnamon powder, brown all spices, salt and zest of one orange and lemon into the flour and give it a quick stir to make sure all of this ingredients are evenly distributed in the flour. When the flour mix is ready add three eggs in another bowl and slightly beat them until you get an even smooth mixture. Next, add in all of the rest of the ingredients into the saucepan.
The raisins and cranberries are plump and juicy add in your dates and plumps to them. Then add in the chopped pecans and give everything a good stir and then add in the beaten eggs and give it a good mix. Add the flour mixer into this and combine everything together and make sure there are no dry patches left behind and now your cake batter is ready to transfer it to a prepared pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any large air spaces in between and now it is ready to go into the oven.
Fruit cakes need to be cooked in a slow oven or lower baking temp for a longer time so bake it in the 320F preheated oven for 75 to 90 minutes or until a toothpick or a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. You can tint the top of the cake with aluminium foil after 40 minutes of baking to prevent any chance of over-browning at the top. After baking removes the cake from the oven and let it cool down in the pan itself for 30 to 40 minutes and then let it finish cooling on a cooling rack.
As you are not feeding the cake with an alcohol to give some flavour and make it more appealing to the eyes brush it with apricot jam. If you slice the cake on the same day it may seem buttery and crumbly and won’t be that flavour full and so it is better to wait for the next day to slice your cake. The smell of taste and flavour of fruit cake is so much better the next day.
Ingredients;
- 228 g Flour 1 3/4 cup
- 226 g Butter 2 sticks/1 cup
- 100 g Brown sugar 1/2 cup
- 45 g Molasses 3 tbsp (can use brown sugar instead)
- 3 Eggs
- 1 tsp Cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp Ground All spices
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 180 ml Water 3/4 cup
- Zest of 1 orange
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 600-800 g Dry Fruits and nuts
Dry fruits and nuts used in this recipe;
- 175 g Raisins
- 200 g Dried Cranberries
- 200 g Prunes
- 100 g Dates
- 75 g Chopped Pecans
- Nutmeg,cloves,cardamom,dry ginger
Instructions;
- In a medium saucepan, combine the butter with the raisins, cranberries, brown sugar, molasses and water and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderately high heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from the heat and let stand for 45 minutes or until it is cool.
- Add the eggs (lightly beaten) and vanilla extract(optional) and the nuts.
- Add in the flour mix which is Flour+Baking powder+Salt+Ground spices+Zest of orange and lemon. The taste of a fruit cake is mostly the aroma of that cake.
- Mix everything together, just until everything is well incorporated.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared pan.7 inch pan / 8-inch pan will work. Bake in the centre of the oven at 320 degrees Fahrenheit for about 75-90 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Large baking tray (8 inches) will take slightly less baking time.
- Let the cake cool completely.