Rich Christmas Fruit Cake | How To Make Fruit Cake
Rich and moist, traditional Christmas fruit cake | plum cake recipe, Indian style with step-by-step pictures. Learn how to make a moist and delicious Christmas fruit cake from scratch with the help of this tried and tested family recipe!
Servings 2 cakes
Ingredients
- 500 grams all-purpose flour (maida)
- 500 grams salted butter, I used 'Amul' butter, easily available in Indian stores
- 450 grams sugar
- 9 medium eggs/6 large eggs, It should weigh approx 500 grams with the shell
- 500 grams rum soaked dry fruits, drained
- 1/2 cup pitted and chopped dates
- 9 cloves
- 2 inch cinnamon stick
- 14-15 green cardamoms
- 3/4 tsp salt, if using unsalted butter
For the caramel*
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp + 1/4 cup of water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit/150-degree Celsius. Line a baking tin with parchment paper/ or grease it generously with butter, dust it with all purpose flour.
- In a pan on low heat, dry roast the cloves, cinnamon, and green cardamom, until fragrant. Let it cool. Transfer it to a grinder jar, add 3 tablespoons sugar, grind to a fine powder. Sift and set aside until further use.
- Prepare the dry ingredients: Sift the flour and salt if using. Set aside.
- Drain the dry fruits, (you can collect the leftover rum). Coat the dry fruits with 1/2 cup of the sifted all-purpose flour (maida) just before folding it in the batter.
- Prepare the caramel: In a saucepan, add 3 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp water, heat on low heat until the sugar starts melting and turns dark brown. Immediately add 1/4 cup of water (exercise extreme precaution, as caramel, is very hot, and it splutters on the addition of water), continue heating on low heat till it thickens and leaves the sides of the pan. Set aside from the heat until further use.
- In your electric grinder, add in 1/2 cup pitted, chopped dates, grind with 1/4 cup of the rum, drained in step 4. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment (you can also use a hand beater), beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beat on high speed until well incorporated.
- Add the flour, little at a time, continue beating on very slow speed, just until everything is well incorporated. (Do not overbeat the batter).
- Add the dates paste, continue beating on the lowest speed.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar + spice mixture, mix on low speed.
- Now add the prepared caramel syrup, again continue mixing on low speed, till well mixed.
- Fold the flour coated dry fruits in the batter gently. Do this with the help of a spatula.
- Transfer the batter to a well greased baking tin (I used a standard bundt pan and an eight-inch round cake pan), tap it on the counter to eliminate any air bubbles, bake it in the middle rack at 300 degrees Fahrenheit/150 degree Celsius for about 1 hour. Check if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake, if it comes out clean it is done. If not, lower the temperature to 200 degrees F/95 degrees C for another 15-30 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in comes out clean. The cake should rise well and have a uniform brown color. Transfer to a wire rack, let it cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then remove it from the tin, and let it cool on the wire rack.
- To feed the cake: Transfer the cake to a aluminum foil / parchment paper, prick tiny holes on the surface of the cake with the help of a skewer/ fork, brush with the remaining drained rum/ fresh rum, once or twice every day/alternate day ( depends on how boozy you want it to be), until Christmas. To store the cake, wrap the cake in aluminum foil/parchment paper and store it in an airtight container in a cool place.
Notes
- For a moist fruit cake recipe without alcohol, soak the dry fruits in orange juice/grape juice, cover and refrigerate it for about a 2-3 days to a week, drain and use as directed above.
- You may skip making the caramel and add 1/3 cup of molasses instead.
- You can cut this recipe in half to make just one cake.