Rich, dark, spiced cake, filled with a mixture of sweet dried fruits and chopped nuts.
I LOVE fruit cake – especially Christmas cake, but unfortunately I am in the minority in my family, so I’ve never really been able to justify making one. However this year I have decided that I will make one, even if I end up eating the whole thing to myself!
I’ve followed Delia’s recipe for a Classic Christmas Cake, but I have changed the fruit combination a little bit, and I have used Grand Marnier and Cointreau rather than brandy.
I was a bit worried when I made this, that my cake tin wasn’t tall enough, but the lining of foil-backed greaseproof paper did a wonderful job!
I would recommend starting this in the morning as it takes quite a while to cook! I started at 8PM (stupidly) so I was up past midnight making this cake! Dedication!
I’m enjoying ‘feeding’ my cake every so often and I can’t wait to eat it! I will put up an updated post it is all iced and finished 😀
I will be bringing this along to Fiesta Friday#97 this week hosted by Angie. Happy Friday everyone!
Variations: Change the combination of fruits to suit your taste!
Ingredients:
The Pre-soaking:
- 450g mixed dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants, candied peel)
- 100g dried cranberries
- 175g glace stem ginger
- 175g chopped glace cherries
- 200ml Grand Marnier
The Cake:
- 225g self raising flour
- 1/4 of a nutmeg, grated
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 225g dark brown soft sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1tbsp black treacle
- 225g butter
- zest of one orange and one lemon
- Cointreau for feeding
To Make
Grease and side-line a 20cm cake tin with foil-backed greaseproof paper.
Preheat the oven to 140C.
Place all the dried fruits in a large bowl and submerge with the Grand Marnier. Cover and leave to soak for at least 12-16 hours.
Combine all the other cake ingredients (except the almonds) in a large bowl and mix with an electric whisk, until light and fluffy.
Slowly add in the fruit and almonds, 1tbsp at a time until fully combined.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for around 4 hours. Remove from the oven once a skewer sunk into he middle of the cake comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Poke holes in the top if the cake using a skewer and pour over a few tbsp of Cointreau.
Wrap tightly in greaseproof paper and foil and store in an airtight container. Keep feeding win Cointreau a few times a week until you are ready to ice the cake.
Beautiful, I’ve seen so many christmas cake recipes now, and I am so tempted, but it’s been quite sometime now since I’ve indulged. Since it is just my husband and myself these days, I don’t think I could justify that, but I admire your determination. Save me a piece would you? It sounds awesome!
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Haha of course!
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How do you think it would be without the candied fruit? I love dried fruit and nuts but not the glaced fruit. Thank you for bringing it to FF.
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I’m sure it would be just as good! You could just swap them for more dried fruits 🙂
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Thank you for bringing your fruit cake to FF and taking me back to my childhood of growing up with my French mom making these and feeding them for months with brandy! Love the littl tree with a fruit ornaments in the background.
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Haha thanks! I got my Christmas decorations up early!
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Your Christmas Cake so good. I could taste it through my computer screen
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Haha! I can relate to baking a bit too late into the night (or morning!). It’s always unpredictable how long things take me….! What a gorgeous fruitcake, and I love the use of Cointreau for feeding! I’m really running out of time to make my own…I’ve bought all the fruit, but I’d better get to it soon 🙂
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