Holiday Fruit Cake
Servings: 8
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup/ 165 g dried fruits, the larger chopped
- 1 cup / 240 ml hot tea, see notes
- ¼ cup/ 40 g cornstarch , or unsweetened dry pudding mix
- 1 ⅔ cups/ 200 g a.p. flour
- zest of 1 lemon, I used 1 teaspoon dried lemon peel
- zest of 1 orange, I used 1 teaspoon dried orange peel
- 2 teaspoon rum extract
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup / 50 g almonds, chopped
- ¾ cup/ 150 g brown sugar
- ⅓ cup/ 80 ml olive oil, extra virgin
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅓ teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the glaze:
- 3 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1-2 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
Cake:
- Place the dried fruits in a medium bowl and pour the hot tea on top. Add the rum extract and mix. The fruits should be submerged in the water.
- Leave them covered with a lid for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350º F/ 180º C. Line a 7-8 inch/ 18-20 cm cake pan with a circle of parchment paper. Grease very well inside the pan.
- Pass the fruits through a fine mesh sieve and keep the remaining water.
- Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl: flour, starch, baking powder, brown sugar and spices. Whisk to blend.
- Add the eggs and the oil and continue whisking. Gradually add the liquid from the soaked fruits. You need to obtain a not too thick batter consistency (check the photos). If the liquid is not enough, add a few tablespoons of water. If it is too much, don't use it all.
- Add the lemon and orange peel and mix again. At the end add the soaked and drained fruits and the chopped nuts. Fold them gently into the batter with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in several parts of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool completely at room temperature before pouring the glaze on top.
Glaze (optional):
- In a small bowl combine the starch, cocoa powder with some sugar to taste and 2-3 tablespoon milk. Mix very well until smooth.
- Heat the rest of the milk in a small saucepan until it starts simmering. Remove from the pan and lower the heat. Pour the pudding mixture (make sure it is runny enough so it doesn't form lumps right away). Mix very well.
- Return the saucepan to the heat and stir energetically for about 1-2 minutes, until the mixture thickens.
- Pour the hot pudding on top of the cake.
- Serve immediately or within several minutes.
Notes
- Store the glazed cake for 3-4 days, covered in the fridge. Cake without glaze can stay covered at room temperature.
- Tea: if the cake will be given to small kids, use just hot water to soak the fruits.
- The quantity of liquid needed for the batter may vary, depending on the type of fruits and their dryness. For that reason you need to drain the soaked fruits and add the remaining liquid into the batter gradually.
- Pan: you can also use a 9 x 5 inch/ 22 x 12 cm loaf pan or any other pan of similar size.
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