Okay I want to make a couple of Boiled Fruit Cakes for chrsitmas but I hate the ones my mum makes so I am looking for a new recipe!!
I am wanting one with fruit and nuts in it and preferably one that I can soak the fruit in some form of alcohol.
TIA
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Okay I want to make a couple of Boiled Fruit Cakes for chrsitmas but I hate the ones my mum makes so I am looking for a new recipe!!
I am wanting one with fruit and nuts in it and preferably one that I can soak the fruit in some form of alcohol.
TIA
Amelia, the recipe I use (and I have used for over 20 years now, OMG, that makes me feel so middle aged, LOL!) is this one:
The Classic Christmas Cake
(Delia Smith recipe)
Ingredients
1 lb (450 g) currants
6 oz (175 g) sultanas
6 oz (175 g) raisins
2 oz (50 g) glac? cherries, rinsed, dried and finely chopped
2 oz (50 g) mixed candied peel, finely chopped
3 tablespoons brandy, plus extra for 'feeding'
8 oz (225 g) plain flour
? level teaspoon salt
? level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
? level teaspoon ground mixed spice
8 oz (225 g) unsalted butter
8 oz (225 g) soft brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 oz (50 g) almonds, chopped (the skins can be left on)
1 level dessertspoon black treacle
grated zest 1 lemon
grated zest 1 orange
4 oz (110 g) whole blanched almonds (only if you don't intend to ice the cake)
You will also need an 8 inch (20 cm) round cake tin or a 7 inch (18 cm) square tin, greased and lined with silicone paper (baking parchment). Tie a band of brown paper round the outside of the tin for extra protection.
Method
You need to begin this cake the night before you want to bake it. All you do is weigh out the dried fruit and mixed peel, place it in a mixing bowl and mix in the brandy as evenly and thoroughly as possible. Cover the bowl with a clean tea cloth and leave the fruit aside to absorb the brandy for 12 hours.
Next day pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1, 275?F (140?C).Then measure out all the rest of the ingredients, ticking them off to make quite sure they're all there. The treacle will be easier to measure if you remove the lid and place the tin in a small pan of barely simmering water.
Now begin the cake by sifting the flour, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl, lifting the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing. Next, in a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until it's light, pale and fluffy. Now beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add them to the creamed mixture a tablespoonful at a time; keep the whisk running until all the egg is incorporated. If you add the eggs slowly by degrees like this the mixture won't curdle. If it does, don't worry, any cake full of such beautiful things can't fail to taste good! When all the egg has been added, fold in the flour and spices, using gentle, folding movements and not beating at all (this is to keep all that precious air in). Now fold in the fruit, peel, chopped nuts and treacle and finally the grated lemon and orange zests.
Next, using a large kitchen spoon, transfer the cake mixture into the prepared tin, spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon and, if you don't intend to ice the cake, lightly drop the whole blanched almonds in circles or squares all over the surface. Finally cover the top of the cake with a double square of silicone paper with a 50p-size hole in the centre (this gives extra protection during the long slow cooking). Bake the cake on the lowest shelf of the oven for 4?-4? hours. Sometimes it can take up to ?-? hour longer than this, but in any case don't look till at least 4 hours have passed.
Cool the cake for 30 minutes in the tin, then remove it to a wire rack to finish cooling. When it's cold 'feed' it – make small holes in the top and base of the cake with a ****tail stick or small skewer, then spoon over a few teaspoons of brandy, wrap it in double silicone paper secured with an elastic band and either wrap again in foil or store in an airtight container. You can now feed it at odd intervals until you need to ice or eat it.
Thanks Lucy (and Amelia for starting the thread ;) ), i was just logging in to ask for a boiled fruit cake recipe and i didn't have too! ;) I'll give this a whirl today. Thanks!
Lucy - Can I just use Rum instead of Brandy?? Also, how much salt nutmeg and ground spice is it?? There is a ? there so I don't know how much...is it 1/2??
Sprry..for some reason it came up as a ? instead of a 1/2
And yes, rum instead of brandy would work no problem at all.........I actually use rum most years....
That's just about the same recipe we have... we use Rum and OMG - I've eaten a fruit cake and a half in the last week and two more were made today!! Yippeee......