no rum, light and easy fruit Christmas cake
A festive, flavorful, and nutty Christmas cake to sweeten the holiday season even more.
ingredients (at room temperature)
- 225g (1 and 3⁄4 cups) plain flour
- juice of an orange - approximately 60ml (4 tbsp)
- 4g (1tsp) baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 225g (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
- 225g (1 cup and 2 tbsp) brown sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 60 g (1/2 cup) chopped almonds or chopped pecans or walnuts
- 36 g (3 tablespoons) finely diced crystallised orange peel
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 40 g 1/4 cups raisins
- 40 g (1/4 cups) golden raisins or cranberries
- 40 g (1/4 cups) chopped dried apricots
For the final garnish: a handful of apricots, walnut halves, orange pels and almonds
preparation
- grease or line a 23 cm (9 inch) cake tin
- preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F
- to make the cake batter, cream the butter and brown sugar using an electric mixer
- mix for 5 minutes
- add the eggs one by one beating 1 minute after every addition
- add the zest of orange and lemon and mix until well-incorporated
- place the flour in a big bowl
- add all the dried fruits, spices and baking powder to the flour and mix them well so the fruits are well coated with flour and spices well mixed
- place the mixer on a low speed, add the orange juice and the flour, fruit and spice mix in alternating steps until all the ingredients are well-incorporated
- transfer into the tin
- bake for 50 minutes or until it springs back to the touch and is lightly golden
- remove from the oven and cool completely before removing from the tin
- once cool, rub some honey on the surface of the cake using a brush
- place the remaining apricots, walnut halves, orange peels and almonds on top to cover the surface of the cake and brush with honey to give a glistening touch to them
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