I have wonderful childhood memories of the scent of fruit cake filling the house and of eating it with half-melted butter before it even had time to cool. My favorite way to enjoy this cake is sitting in the garden in the afternoon with a cup of hot tea. It’s my mom’s recipe, but I’ve made quite a few changes, leaving out the eggs and sugar. It’s delightfully moist, packed with fruit, and not overly sweet.
When I woke up this morning, I knew this was what I would bake today. I added cranberries this time because I didn’t have enough sultanas to make up the 500 grams. Also, when I raced up to my friend Anna’s house, cranberries were all she had in her cupboard. They added an interesting tartness, but you can experiment with any dried fruit. I have also added dried apple pieces in the past. I particularly like the addition of the dried figs as they add a real decadent flavour to the cake.
fruitcake
I have made this without the molasses, and it has been more than sweet enough; if leaving out, replace the same amount of liquid by adding more water when simmering the dried fruit.
Preparation 50 minutes
Makes one 9-inch cake/or one rectangular 13 x 6-inch cake
ingredients
500g mixed fruit (300 grams sultanas, 100g cranberries, a 100g mix of figs, dates and apricots)
1¼ cup/312ml water
¼ cup molasses/date syrup
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil /or oil of choice
zest of one orange
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
¾ cup/100g white flour
1 cup/120g whole-wheat flour
¼ tsp fine rock salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
1 Tbsp baking powder
¼ cup/35g chopped crystallized ginger (optional)
50 grams flaked almonds
preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350 F. Lightly oil a piece of parchment paper about 13 x 13 inches and line the cake pan and sides. Set aside.
- Roughly chop all the dried fruit and place into a medium saucepan with the water; bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.
- Add to the saucepan orange zest, molasses, oil, vinegar, and vanilla, then puree ¾ cup of the fruit mixture, return to the pan and combine well. Set aside.
- Place the flour, salt, baking powder, and spices in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
- Mix the fruit mixture with the dry ingredients and gently stir the chopped crystallized ginger.
- Spoon the cake batter into the prepared pan and garnish the top with the flaked or whole almonds.
- Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until cooked and a skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool completely before removing from the pan. Slice and serve with your favourite tea.
Goodness shared by Stacey
