Traditional
Christmas Fruitcake is a type of fruitcake served
at Christmas time in many countries. No Christmas celebration is complete without a
traditional fruitcake.
I have
done this cake in mainly 4 steps.. Firstly, I have soaked the chopped dry
fruits for 3 weeks prior to baking it at Christmas. Then I will bake the Cake a
week before Christmas so that the cake can be drizzled with extra tsps of
rum(or any alcohol of your choice) until Christmas day in regular intervals. I
will then decorate the cake according to the whims and fancies of my little one
and enjoy this scrumptious bundle of goodness on Christmas day!
You will have a lovely, moist, rich rum soaked Traditional Christmas Fruitcake ready to savour!
Recipe
Link : Traditional Christmas Fruitcake - Soak the fruits in Rum
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
¾ cup
Demerara Sugar
300 gms
refined flour (Maida)
250 gms
butter
6 eggs
½ tbsp
Baking Powder
½ tsp
Cinnamon Powder
½ tsp
Grated Nutmeg
3 tsp
vanilla essence
Mixed dry
fruits soaked in Rum - I have used
Blackberries, Raisins, Cranberries, Dates and candied Kiwi
(Recipe
Link : Traditional Christmas Fruitcake - Soak the fruits in Rum)
Finely
Chopped Nuts – I have used Walnuts, Cashew nuts and Pistachios
Method:
Assemble all your ingredients.
Drain the
Rum from the soaked dry fruits and keep aside.
Recipe Link : Traditional Christmas Fruitcake - Soak the fruits in Rum
Start
by sifting the baking powder and the flour well in a large mixing bowl.
Mix the
soaked dry fruits and the nuts to the flour. Mix well and keep aside.
Note:
this process of coating the fruits with the flour is important so that they
don’t sink to the bottom while baking.
Caramelize
1 cup of Sugar. I have used Demerara Sugar for caramelizing since it
gives a warm dark colour to the cake. It can be done by heating a sauce pan with the demerara sugar and 2 tbsp
of water. Stir continuously on medium heat.
Once the sugar melts
completely, add 50 gms butter to it before the sugar crystallizes back.
At the
point, Pre-heat your oven to 160 deg C.
Now
separate the egg whites from the yokes and beat it till it is light and frothy.
In a
separate mixing bowl, add the separated egg yokes, 200 gms butter and the remaining
sugar and beat well. I have used an electric beater, but you can also do it by
hand.
To this
batter, add the caramel that was prepared earlier on and mix well.
Now, add the beaten egg whites and mix well.
Now add
the vanilla essence and the powdered spices. (nutmeg and cinnamon). Mix well.
Add the
flour mixture and fold in.Remember do not whisk, this can break the dry fruits.
Mix everything
gently using a silicon spatula.
Pour it
into a baking dish lined with parchment paper.
Bake it
in the oven for 30 minutes at 160 Deg C. Check by inserting a tooth pick and if it comes out clean ,the cake is
done.
Since I
have some batter left over, I also made some cupcakes. You can make another
smaller cake if you so desire.
After
the cake is cooled, pierce it gently with either a skewer or a fork. Feed the
cake with 5 – 6 tbsp of rum that was drained and kept aside earlier.
Wrap
the cake in cling film and further in silver foil to avoid the cake from drying
out. Store it in an airtight container.
Keep feeding the cake till a couple of days before Christmas.
You now
have a lovely, moist, rich rum soaked Traditional Christmas Fruitcake ready to savour!
I will
be doing a buttercream frosting on the cake a day before Christmas. You can
decorate the cake with buttercream frosting or fondant and marzipan.
