Christmas Fruitcake (alcohol free)
Makes: ± 1 large cake or 2 (medium & small)
Time to make: 24 hrs start to finish:
overnight soaking, 4 hrs in oven, 8 hrs cooling
For those who don’t like brandy, here is a great cake that has the same depth of flavour without the punch of the plonk. It also doesn’t need long to mature so if you have left it last-minute to do your cake this is the one for you.
| Ingredients | Method |
| – 1kg mixed fruit – 1/2 cup strong black coffee – 1/2 cup orange juice – 1/2 tsp almond essence – 1tsp vanilla essence – 1 tsp lemon flower essence (optional) – 250g butter (room temp) – 250g sugar – 5 eggs (room temp) – 250g plain flour – 1 tsp round ginger – 1tsp ground cinnamon – ¼ tsp all spice or ground cloves – 1 cup Nuts (optional): almonds or other. | 1. Soak the fruit in the coffee, orange juice and essences for several hours or overnight. 2. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C 3. Double-line the cake tin(s) with baking sheets or baking paper 4. Cream butter and sugar 5. Add eggs one at a time, mixing in between each 6. Add all the spices and half the flour and mix them in 7. Add half the fruit, liquid and essences and mix 8. Add the rest of the flour 9. Add the rest of the fruit and mix. 10. Bake slowly (approx. 4 hours depending on oven) 11. Cool in the tin over several hours and store in an airtight container/wrapping. |
| Equipment | Notes |
| – hand mixer or bench mixer or whisk – medium bowl for soaking fruit – large bowl for mixing – baking sheet or baking paper – loaf or cake tin(s) – measuring spoons – cooking scales | * a round 23cm cake tin works nicely, but the shape doesn’t matter too much as long as you keep an eye on it (if you use a larger tin don’t let it dry out – also if shared across smaller tins you may want to lower the temperature slightly but still cook for a long enough time to get crumbly. * Can be stored for a few weeks in a cool place or fridge (or frozen for use later). * if you like to add alcohol to the cake, feed it two tablespoons of your chosen tipple each week up to maximum of 4 times, so it doesn’t get soggy. Allow maturation of these cakes before serving, so these need to be made at least a month in advance and stored wrapped up in a cool place. |
| Shopping list (or equivalents): – butter – sugar – eggs – coffee – orange juice – mixed fruit – almond essence – vanilla essence – lemon flower essence (optional) – nuts (optional) – plain flour – ground ginger – cround cinnamon – all spice or ground cloves |
