A festive, flavorful, and nutty Christmas cake to sweeten the holiday season even more.
*All the ingredients should be 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
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.
