Rich Fruit Cake

To bake this cake, you will need a 7" (18cm) square or 8" (20cm) round cake tin (the type with the push out bottom is easiest to use).

Ingredients

120g/4oz Margarine
170g/6oz Sugar
340g/14oz Dried fruit – this can be a mixture of raisins, sultanas, cherries, peel… whatever you fancy!
225ml/8floz Water
1tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 half tsp Mixed spice
2 Beaten Eggs
120g/4oz Plain flour
120g/4oz Self-raising Flour
Pinch of Salt
Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas Mark 4 (the middle bottom right hand oven of a 4-door Aga, if you’re that lucky).

Prepare the tin by applying a thin layer of margarine and lining with two layers of greaseproof paper.

Put the margarine, sugar, fruit, water, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice in a saucepan over a moderate heat. Bring to boil and simmer for 1 minute.

Pour into a mixing bowl and allow to cool1.

Add eggs, flour and salt to cooled mixture. Mix well and pour into prepared tin.

Bake for about one and a quarter hours. You may need to put brown paper over the top if cake starts to singe before it is cooked throughout.

Cake is ready when an inserted skewer comes out clean – leave to cool on a wire rack.

Eat!

This is a very forgiving recipe; you don’t even have to be very precise with the measuring out.

The cake should keep for a couple of months wrapped in tin foil in a tin, and can be ‘spiked’ with brandy or whatever you fancy before being covered in marzipan and icing for Christmas. Unlike more traditional fruit cake recipes, you can eat it straight away if you want to, without even waiting for it to cool completely.

To Spike a Cake

Take a skewer and insert it into the cake about a dozen times in an evenly spaced pattern. Then pour a tablespoon or two of brandy over the surface of the cake. Wrap it up in tin foil and leave for a few days, then pour more alcohol over it, and wrap it up and put it away again.

It can be given several doses, depending on preference, and on whether you have any brandy left.

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1 You need to allow the mixture to cool because if it is still very hot when you add the eggs, they may cook straight away, and the cake won’t rise properly.

Quick Fruit Cake

310 g sifted all-purpose flour
5 g baking soda
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 (28 ounce) jar prepared mincemeat pie filling
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
120 g chopped walnuts
480 g candied mixed fruit

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Butter cake pans, and line with wax paper. Butter the wax paper.
Sift the flour with the baking soda.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, mincemeat, condensed milk, fruit, and nuts.
Fold in dry ingredients. Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 2 hours, or until center springs back and top is golden brown.
Cool then turn cakes out onto wire rack; remove wax paper.

Chocolate Fruit Cake

Serves 12
Preparation time 30 mins to 1 hour
Cooking time over 2 hours

Ingredients

350g/12¼oz dried soft prunes, chopped
250g/8¾oz raisins
125g/4½oz currants
175g/6¼oz unsalted butter, softened
175g/6¼oz dark muscovado sugar
175ml/6¼fl oz honey
125ml/4½fl oz coffee liqueur
2 oranges, juice and zest only
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tbsp good quality cocoa
3 free-range eggs, beaten
150g/5¼oz plain flour
75g/2½oz ground almonds
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

For decoration
25g/1oz dark chocolate-covered coffee beans
edible glitter
gold mini balls
about 10 edible gold stars

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.
2. Line the sides and bottom of a 20cm/8in, 9cm/3½in deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.
3. Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange juice and zest, mixed spice and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for ten minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, the mixture will have cooled a little. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate soda, and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until the ingredients have combined.
5. Carefully pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer the cake tin to the oven and bake for 1¾-2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but will has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.
6. Place the cake on a cooling rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.
7. To decorate, place the chocolate-covered coffee beans in the centre of the cake and arrange the gold stars around the perimeter of the top of the cake. Then sprinkle some gold mini-balls over the whole of the cake. Sprinkle the edible glitter over the top of the cake.