I made this as a birthday cake for my best friend's mother who loves this fruit cake. There was once I made a fruit loaf for her, but I think she prefers the fruity cake with lots of liquor in it. So to make an elderly happy, I kind of fulfilled her desire (but I still had reservations on making it too liquored as there were young children around too.)
The cake looks daunting to make, but it is actually pretty easy.
Recipe:
500g dried fruits of any kind (cubed into similar sizes)
500g raisins
200g butter, softened
200g dark brown sugar
175ml golden syrup (I used honey)
1 tsp mixed spice (I used 2 tsp five spice powder)
2 tbs cocoa powder
125ml cognac
4 eggs, beaten
225g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
some extra cognac for brushing
Method:
1. Line side and bottom of 24cm round cake tin with baking paper. Set aside.
2. Place dried fruits, butter, sugar, golden syrup, mixed spice and cocoa into a large pot.
3. Heat the mixture, stirring frequently, over low heat until the mixture reaches a simmer.
4. Add cognac while stirring and let it simmer for 10 min.
5. Remove the pot from heat and allow to cool. Preheat oven at 150C.
6. Using electric egg beater, beat the eggs until soft and fluffy. It is ready when the beater balloon can draw a trail on egg surface without disappearing immediately.
7. Mix flour, baking soda and baking powder together.
8. Fold the eggs into the fruit mixture in three batches.
9. Fold in the flour mixture in three batches and mix well.
10. Pour mixture into cake tin and bake for about 45-60min or until a skewer comes out clean when poked in the centre. It may be a little sticky due to the fruits.
11. Remove from oven and cool. Poke some holes with a skewer and brush cognac all over the cake.
Notes:
1. You may use nuts combined with fruits in any proportion, as long as they come up to 1kg.
2. For a more liquored taste, may soak fruits (not the nuts!) in cognac for a week. I used 300g raisins that were used to ferment wine for this batch.
3. It is recommended to bake this at least 5 days earlier to allow the cake to mature. Brush the top daily or every few days with cognac.
4. You may opt out the liquor and replace with orange juice.
5. May decorate by dusting icing sugar on it. (But because I felt that it was probably very sweet to some people, I did not dust anymore sugar. I only wrapped around with broad golden ribbon)
