CAKE!! Who doesn’t just love a slice of cake?? I bake all the time and Shane would take boxes of cakes into work most weeks.
This fruit cake is an adapted recipe my nan used to make. She made the best cakes ever!! My nan used to prick holes in the top of her fruit cake and syringe Sherry into it. I felt all grown up eating a slice of cake knowing it was infused with alcohol. haha. I add alcohol to mine too once baked, this is optional but if you wish to do the same then just measure out your alcohol (I usually use 50ml of Sherry for this sized cake) and once the cake is cool you use a syringe and infuse the cake every 30 minutes until you have used all the alcohol up. But as I mentioned it is optional and not needed but it does give the cake a whole new level of flavour.
Some recommended items from our kitchen to make this dish…
- Silicone whisks in varying sizes, much prefer silicone to metal as it rusts.
- Double sided dry and liquid measuring spoons for times when you need to measure both liquid and dry ingredients.
- Mixing bowls are always wanted in this household and these stackable ones save so much space in our cupboards.
- Cake cooling racks, so handy to have.
Don’t forget to take a pic of your dish and tag us over on Instagram or Facebook @hickmans_slim_kitchen we love to see the recreations.
Also please make sure you credit us when sharing our recipes on social media. You can do this by directly linking back to the blog or tagging our social media pages.
Thank you.
Please note some posts contain affiliate links, you can find out what that means here.
Makes 14 – 16 slices
INGREDIENTS:
- 225g self – raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (I always use baking powder with self raising flour to get a bigger rise but its optional, you can leave this out if you wish)
- 125g dried mixed fruit
- 6 glace cherries, cut into quarters
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground mixed spice
- 2 teaspoons ground all spice
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 1 cup (roughly 200ml) strong black tea (chai tea makes this extra amazing), allow to go cold
- 4 tablespoons good quality sweetener
METHOD:
- Soak the dried fruit for a minimum of 3 – 4 hours in the cold tea, if you can leave it to soak longer then that is better.
- Preheat oven 180°C fan.
- In a mixing bowl add all the dried ingredients and stir to combine.
- Make a well in the middle and crack in the eggs and pour the fruit along with any tea left into the flour mixture.
- Mix well to incorporate all the ingredients with a wooden spoon. Make sure there is no traces of dry flour in the mixture.
- Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper and tip the cake batter in. Even the top and poke down any exposed fruit to prevent it from burning.
- Bake in the oven for 40 – 50 minutes until golden on top and a skewer comes out clean.
- Remove from the baking tin and allow to cool on a wired cooling rack.
- If wanting to infuse with alcohol as mentioned above do this now.
- Slice into 16 slices and keep in an air tight box.
NOTES:
- This cake can be frozen by wrapping each slice in a piece of baking paper and then in a sandwich bag. Defrost fully before eating.
- This is also delicious popping a slice in the toaster and adding a little butter, it’s like having a tea cake.
Hickmans Slim Kitchen 