Tag: Fruit cake

Last-Minute Fruit Cake

This cake can be made anytime during the year especially if you need to bake a cake at the last-minute when you have not much time. I baked 2 cakes this christmas – last minute cake to give as a present to my neighbour and relatives, the other was a traditional brandied christmas cake.

I put a lot of time and thought into planning my recipe for both the cakes weeks before christmas and it was worth the effort. I was asked if the cake was store-bought and I was happy to tell them that it was in fact, Homemade!😇. Receiving good compliments on my recipes is what makes me motivated to post more recipes here and all credits to everyone of you making this happen. Do share your thoughts and tell me how you spent your christmas this year in comments below if you can spare a minute of your time.

Thank you and have a Happy New Year 2018! 😊💫☃

 

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 1hr 10 minutes

Requirement: 20 cm / 8in round deep cake tin or springclip tin greased and lined (or use a ready made cake liner)

Ingredients

Dried FruitsRaisins – 100 g

                     Black currents – 20 g

Candied Cherries – 10 pieces, halved

Orange juice – 3/ 4 cup, of 2 large oranges

 

Unsalted butter, softened – 200 g + extra for greasing

Brown sugar (fine) – 200 g / 1 cup

Plain Flour / Top flour – 225 g

Large whole eggs – 4, at room temperature

Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp

Nutmeg – 1 tsp

pinch of salt

 

Nuts:

Cashew nuts – 70 g, chopped

Almonds, slivered – 20 g

 

 

Directions

1. Place the dried fruits such as raisins and currants together with cherries, orange juice into a deep pot. Bring it to a boil on high heat. Turn on the heat and simmer for approximately 15 minutes.

dried fruits

 

Leave it to cool or if you have time leave it overnight or as long as you can. Coat the nuts in 3 tbsp of all-purpose flour and set it aside.

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Preparing the baking tin:

2. In the meantime or on the day of baking, butter a 20 cm round cake tin and then line both the bottom and the sides with baking paper making sure the paper peaks over the top by about 5cm. Butter again the base and the sides. Set aside.

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Preparing the cake mixture:

3. In a large bowl, put all the rest of the ingredients such as sugar, butter, flour, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt except for dried fruits and nuts. Initially, use a wooden spoon and give it a good mix, otherwise using a hand mixer could make the flour fly around everywhere making a mess.

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Now use the hand mixer and make sure to mix everything really well, around 1.5 – 2 minutes on medium speed. Once its mixed well enough, detach the beaters from the hand mixer and remove any cake batter on it.

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4. Add the dried fruit mixture along with its syrup. Mix with the wooden spoon. Then mix in the nuts coated in flour. Give a good mix.

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Nuts Coated in flour | Fruit Cake

Preheat the oven to 140°C/Gas Mark 1 or for 10 minutes.

5. Spoon the cake mixture into the cake tin, level the top using a spatula and bake in the centre of the oven or if using a convection oven place on the lower rack for 70 minutes checking in between once after 45 minutes.

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It is cooked when a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. I could do this without removing the cake tin out of the oven. Do not worry if it has turned light brown on top and needs more time to cook. Just in case the top has turned dark brown in color before its cooked, cover the top with a parchment paper.

Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin. If you wish to decorate the cake you can do so after its completely cooled.

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Packing as present. Forgive me for my bad photography skills.

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More on Baking or Cakes

Traditional Christmas cake – Fruit Cake

Lemon Cake

Pear Cake

Tapioca cake

Cocoa -Easy Cake(Vegan)

Butter Biscuit

 

 

 

Stay Healthy!

Read More

Traditional Christmas cake – Fruit Cake

A Traditional Christmas cake is steeped in brandy and dried fruits imparting lovely aroma. An easy cake recipe that I made for the first time without any hassle of too many ingredients. It’s simple and can even be baked by a beginner.

Last-Minute Fruit Cake

Orange cake

 

Preparation time: 30 – 45 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Round Springform cake pan: 8-inch / 20 cm 

Ingredients

Dried fruits (soaked a day in advance, *see notes):

Dates pitted, roughly chopped – 90 g

Raisins – 110 g

Black currant – 70 g

 

Cake mix:

Brandy / Rum  – 100 ml + extra for feeding the cake (*see notes)

Unsalted Butter ( soft)  – 200 g + extra for greasing the pan

Dark brown Sugar (fine) – 1 cup / 200 g

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Honey – 2 tbsp

Lemon Zest – 1

Top Flour / Plain flour (All-purpose flour) – 225 g

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Cloves – 1 tsp / 5 pcs (powdered see notes*)

Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp

Nutmeg – 1 tsp

Pinch of salt

Large whole eggs – 4, room temp

 

Cashew nuts – 1/2 cup or 75 g, chopped

Cashew nuts & almonds | Fruit Cake Recipe

Directions

1. Chop the dried fruits and soak them in a mixing bowl with brandy or rum and cover with cling film. Leave it for 24 hours or a week, stirring occasionally in a cool place.

Dried Fruits in Alcohol

Add 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour to the cashew nuts and almonds, mix together. This in done so that they do not sink to the bottom of the cake. Reserve for later. Prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Grease and line a 20cm (8″) cake tin base with a circular cut parchment paper and also the greased circumference with a layer of baking parchment paper. Make sure the paper is few inches above the level of tin.

Greased with parchment

3. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a electric hand mixer. Stir in the honey, vanilla extract, zest of one lemon and mix well with the hand mixer until well combined.

Butter-sugar

4. Sift the flour, baking powder, cloves cinnamon, nutmeg along with salt. To avoid any face full of flour mix with a large spoon, initially, then use the electic hand mixer to mix and combine.

flour & spices

5. Add 2 eggs first, beat it and mix well for 30 seconds on low speed until you add the next one. Repeat until all are done.

Eggs

6. Add the dried fruits along with left over liquid and mix in, then stir in the cashew nuts and almonds.

Dried fruits nuts

7. Preheat the convection oven at 140 degree Celsius (275 °F / Gas mark 1). Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin and smooth the tops.

cake batter

For a convection oven place the cake on a lower rack and see to that there is more than 2 inch gap from the parchment paper to the top.

Bake for 1hour and check with a wooden skewer for doneness. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. You may need to cover the top of the cake with a round parchment paper if it is getting too brown before the cake is fully cooked.

Fruit cake

I prepared this late in the evening hence the indoor lighting.

8. Leave the cake to cool in the tin completely. Remove the parchment paper from the sides.

Tada!! That is beautifully done with a great texture and lovely color. We were so tempted 😍 and right now just can’t wait for Christmas to grab a bite and try it out.

Fruit cake with brandy

 

For Feeding the cake:

Pierce the cake with a toothpick and drizzle 2 tbsp brandy over the cake. Immedialtely wrap it with double baking paper sheets and the final layer with aluminium foil. Store it in a cool place in a plastic bag and place it in a sealed airtight container.

Feeding the cake

If you have prepared the cake weeks in advance feed the cake with alcohol every week.

 

Notes

*I soaked the dried fruits with brandy for a week but you can also soak it overnight or the previous day before baking.

*In case you do not find cloves powder: take 5 pieces of cloves, place them in a small zip-lock bag and pound them to make a powder. You can also use a mortar and pestle.

*If using Rum: I used STROH rum, known for its bold 80% alcohol content, and carefully diluted it with an equal amount of water to create the perfect balance of rich flavor for my Christmas fruit cake.

The following brandy was also used for this cake. If you do not wish to use alcohol replace it with orange juice.

Brandy Napoleon

 

Wish you all a joyful pleasant Christmas with family and friends!😇🎄 And please stay updated through my FB page>> Delicious Sweet Aroma

Signing off for now – Sherryl 😊✍ 🎅

 

 

Hi folks, I am posting the Update on my Brandied Plum Cake after feeding it for few days and unwrapping it on Christmas day this week (Excitement! 😇 ). While I unwrapped it from the foils and butter paper we could get the lovely aroma of brandy. It was moist, fully flavored and matured with perfect amount of all ingredients I used. It tasted delicious just like the one’s I used to have from the bakery in my hometown during Christmas which made me so happy. I am quiet surprised that the brandy I used was the right amount – not too much and not too less. Hope you all are enjoying your holidays😊. Following are few pics taken on Christmas day where me and my husband sat all morning enjoying our homemade christmas treats just like we do in our hometown. How did you spent your Christmas this year?

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Wishing you a joyous holiday season 🤩🎅☃ with peace and cheer in the New Year!❤🎶🎀🎁🎉

Sherryl 😊

 

 


Fruit cake / Christmas Cake | EAsy Cake Recipe | Delicious Sweet Aroma

Traditional Christmas Cake | Fruit Cake

A fruit cake soaked in rum or brandy, combining rich, spiced fruits with the deep, warming flavors. The alcohol enhances the cake's moist texture and allows the flavors to mature, making it a perfect festive dessert enjoyed by many during the holiday season.
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Soaking Dried Fruits 1 day
Total Time 1 day 2 hours
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine Indian
Calories

Equipment

  • 1 Round Springform Cake Pan

Ingredients
  

Dried Fruits ( for soaking in Rum or Brandy)

  • 90 g Dates pitted, roughly chopped
  • 110 g Raisins
  • 70 g Dried Plums/ Black currant

Cake Mix

  • 100 ml Brandy / Rum
  • 200 g Butter soft unsalted plus extra for greasing the pan
  • 200 g Dark Brown Sugar fine
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 2 tbsp Honey
  • 1 Lemon Zest
  • 225 g All-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp Baking powder
  • 1 tsp Cloves powder
  • 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Nutmeg powder
  • 4 Eggs Large at room temperature
  • pinch of salt

Dried Nuts

  • 75 g Cashew nuts
  • 20 g Almonds slivered

Instructions
 

Prepare the Dried Fruits

  • Chop the dried fruits and soak them in a mixing bowl with brandy or rum and cover with cling film.
  • Leave it for 24 hours or a week, stirring occasionally in a cool place.

Prepare the Nuts

  • Add 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour to the cashew nuts and almonds, mix together. This in done so that they do not sink to the bottom of the cake. Reserve for later. Prepare the rest of the ingredients.
  • Grease and line a 20cm (8″) cake tin base with a circular cut parchment paper and also the greased circumference with a layer of baking parchment paper. Make sure the paper is few inches above the level of tin.

Cream Butter ad Sugar

  • In a large bowl, beat together the softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Stir in the honey, vanilla extract, zest of one lemon and mix well.

Mix Dry Ingredients

  • Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

Combine Eggs

  • Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Preheat Oven

  • Preheat your oven top -Bottom heat to 140°C (275°F/Gas mark 1) . Grease and line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.

Combine Fruits and Nuts

  • Stir in the soaked dried fruits and then the chopped nuts.

Bake

  • Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Soak with Rum:

  • Once the cake is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool. Then, remove the cake from the pan and transfer it to a wire rack. Brush it generously with more rum or brandy.

Wrap and Rest:

  • Once the cake has cooled completely, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 24 hours to allow the flavors to meld. For an even richer flavor, you can feed it with rum every few days.

Notes

 

  • For an extra moist fruit cake, you can soak it in rum for several weeks before serving.
  • Use high-quality rum for the best flavor.
Enjoy your rich, flavorful rum-infused fruit cake!
Keyword Boozy Fruit Cake, Christmas Fruit Cake, Rum Fruit Cake

 


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Pear Cake

 

If you noticed, the last time I blogged a recipe was a week ago. Since then I have been thinking of ways to prepare something sweet that can be made with fruits. My husband is so charming that when he is home he doesn’t want me being in the kitchen the whole time preparing snacks or dishes for him that consume a lot of time. He would rather love watching television shows like Ozark or The Good Wife the whole day if possible. Yup! 😃

Yesterday evening before I could get dinner on the table, I gathered all the ingredients for the Pear cake 🍐. It was quite simple and was less complicated with just few basic ingredients a cake always needs. This is the first time I baked a cake for this long with a waiting time of 60 minutes but, was super easy to prepare. It was delicious, less sweet (I usually prefer that way) and just what I expected.

If you are reading this, then I would like to hear from you. My Facebook page is also available for any comments. Happy October!! ☺

 

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 60 to 65 minutes

Appliance : Convection oven

 

Ingredients

Spring-form baking pan – 21 cm

Parchment paper

Pears – 3 small  size, peeled deseeded & halved 

Butter – 150 g, soft at room temperature

Caster Sugar – 100 g / 1/4 cup

Eggs – 3, large

Lemon zest – 1

Vanilla essence – 1/2 tsp

All-purpose flour / Top flour – 150 g

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Pinch of salt

 

Directions

1. Grease the spring pan with butter and line the base with parchment paper. Grease again with some butter and set aside. Prepare the ingredients.

2. Using a hand held mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy with the speed set at 1. The butter must be soft to get a smooth texture.

Butter and sugar mixed to form a creamy batter | Pear Cake

3. Mix the eggs one at a time starting from a lower speed and increase the speed after adding all the eggs for 2-4 minutes.

addition of eggs into butter-sugar mixture | Pear Cake

Add lemon zest and vanilla. Mix together.

Meantime: Preheat Oven at 170 degrees Celsius.

4. Using a separate bowl add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix with a spoon.

5. Add the flour mixture (step 4) to the egg mixture (step 3) part by part. Mix with the lowest speed until well combined. Make sure not to over beat.

Flour with baking powder and salt into the Egg mixture | Pear Cake

6. Transfer half of the batter to the greased spring-form pan. Spread it evenly.

Pear cake Recipe | Easy fall recipes

Arrange the pears on top of the batter. Pour the rest of the batter and spread it gently with a spatula.

Pear batter

7. Place the baking pan on a low rack in the oven. Set the baking time for 170 degrees Celsius and time it for 60 minutes.

After the baking is done the oven beeps. Let the cake sit in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit to cool.

Pear cake - Fall recipes

Pear Cake

Pear Cake - tart

 

 

For more Dessert or Cake Recipes click below 👇👇

NO BAKE:

Caramel Orange Pudding

Vermicelli Pudding or Kheer

Jelly and Custard Recipe

 

BAKE using Convection oven:

Lemon Cake

Butter Biscuits

Pineapple, Honey and Pistachio Flapjacks

Moist Cassava Cake (or Tapioca Cake)

Read More

Lemon Cake

This is a delicious pound cake infused with lemon juice and zest. Lemon cake is an easy baked cake especially for beginners who are learning to bake.

With a nice cup of tea it tastes amazing. I did not add any topping or sugar glaze because I do not have a sweet tooth. The same reason why you find less of my posts on desserts. If it were a decision between sweet and savory, I pick savory always. However, sometimes I would still have a bite or two if I had a choice of sharing it with someone.

I hope you have a lovely week! 🙂

 

Preparation time: 15- 20 minutes

Cooking time: 25 – 30 minutes

Required appliance: Hand mixer

 

Ingredients

Rectangular tin – 12”x 8” (30 cm x 20 cm) 

Unsalted butter – 125 g, soft at room temp

Caster sugar/ Fine sugar – 1/2 cup

Large Eggs – 2

Plain flour (unbleached) / Self-raising flour – 175 g  (skip the baking powder & salt if your using self-raising flour)

Baking powder – 2 tsp

Pinch of salt

Lemon – 1, grated zest & juice

 

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius or 350 degree Fahrenheit for 10 minutes before baking. Grease the rectangular tin with butter and set aside.

1. In a large bowl, add butter, sugar and cream together until soft and fluffy.

butter, sugar

butter & sugar cream

2. Beat the eggs in small bowl with a spoon, then gradually add a little of the egg to the creamed mixture.

To the flour mix baking powder and salt.

Add a little flour after each addition of egg mixture. Do this until all the egg and flour are well combined.

adding egg in small portions to the cream

adding flour after the egg in small portions

 

3. Now, add the grated zest of lemon into the cream mixture and stir. Beat well.

grated lemon zest for lemon cake

4. Squeeze the juice of lemon, strain and then add it to the mixture. Beat to make it smooth.

Extracting lemon juice for lemon cake

5. Spoon the cream mixture into the rectangular greased tin, level the surface. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius or 350 degree F for 25 – 30 minutes.

lemon cake cream mixture before baking

6. With a fine skewer, prick the cake all over to check for doneness. Let the cake sit in the oven for 5 minutes if your using a convection oven. Once its cooled, cut into desired pieces and serve.

baked lemon cake

pound cake

Notes

*Since I didn’t have enough butter I added ghee to make up 175 g.

*You will notice that I added granulated sugar as I was out of caster sugar or super-fine sugar. But I recommend using caster sugar as it dissolves quickly.

*If your using self-raising flour, skip the baking powder and salt. Self-raising flour already contains a bit of salt & baking powder.

 

 

Stay Healthy!

 

 

 

 

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