This Xmas cake is what festivity is all about! Indulgent, brilliant and delicious! The rum soaked fruits enhance the taste of the cake so much!
I usually make a rich and yummy Plum/fruit cake for Xmas. Like the plum cake recipe which I had posted last year. But this year, I wanted to make a fruit cake and yet also wanted to do something different. So I started doing what I do the best, I started browsing of course 😉 I read many recipes online but somehow none of them really stuck home (though I must say I love this Florentine cake and might make it before Saturday once 🙂 ) I had my fruits soaked in rum ready and set to go, and hence I decided to pick something from one recipe, something from another, something from my own and made my own fruit cake aka. Xmas cake!
Anyone who knows me well would have guessed by now what is the most major change I did to the cake – I made it out of whole wheat flour 🙂
Xmas is the time for celebrations, whether you follow the religion or not! There is a festivity in the air everywhere which is so difficult to ignore. Add to that, you have a reason to indulge in some delicious food and trust me, no one can resist enjoying the food and festivities. You have so much to look forward to. The New Year, new beginnings and then a new calendar! Sigh, I do love Xmas!
There is a nip in the air everywhere and eating a warm slice of the Xmas cake which has rum soaked fruits, sure is the right way to spend Xmas 🙂 I love cooking with alcohol and I even have a post on the blog where I have written at length about it!
So this Xmas, indulge in some rum soaked fruit cake and enjoy the delightful taste!
Time for some xmas cake
Ingredients
To be soaked before hand (2 cups of dried fruit)
- sultanas
- raisins
- figs
- dates
- cranberries dried
- prunes
Other ingredients
- 1/2 - 1 cup rum (depending on how strong the flavor you like, I used about 3/4 cup)
- tablespoon orange zest
For the cake
- 4 cups whole wheat flour
- 4 cups maida
- 4 cups orange juice
- 2 eggs
- tsp vanilla essence
- tsp baking powder
- 4 cups sugar demerara
chopped nuts (1 cup - I used the following)
- almonds blanched
- pistachios
- cashewnuts
- Pine nuts (chilgoza)
- handful almonds whole blanched (to decorate the cake)
Instructions
- Sift the flour and baking powder once and keep aside.
- Grease and dust your baking tin and line it will double parchment paper or butter paper. I used 8-inch round springfoam pan and a little batter was left as I didnt fill it as much as I could have.
- Mix sugar and oil together till light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and keep mixing till well blended.
- Fold in the flour gently and than add the dried fruit mixture along with all the liquid slowly till just mixed.
- Add the nuts and mix gently again.
- Pour the batter into the pan you have prepared, level with a spoon and decorate with blanched almonds. I love the crispness they add to the baked cake.
- Bake at 175 C for 30-40 mins and then reduce the temperature to 160C. Cover the cake with parchment paper or foil and bake again for 30-40 mins or till the skewer comes out clean.
- Let it cool completely for 4-5 hours before removing the paper. Typically the cake is seasoned with rum a couple of times before eating, but we don't have so much patience in our household! So we just dig in!
Fruit cake has been one of my favorites. I prefer not to eat it since I can’t stop it once I start. Thanks for such a lovely entry.
Wow Mons! U r high on event entries at Sin-a-Mon 🙂
Keep it up and send me some cake too 😛 It will get u some goody goody luck for winning the giveaway 😉
champa mine too I absolutely love fruit cake
he he he thats one of the new I can get my poor new baby noticed 😀
Fruit cakes are a must-eat during Christmas time and I can’t resist this one too:-). Baking this with whole wheat flour is a wonderful idea. Thank you for sending this over for my event.