Ultimate Chocolate Fruit Cake / Super Moist Plum Cake- Christmas Cake Recipes

Ok Here I am with the ultimate fruit cake recipe. This is one of the best fruit cake recipe I can ever imagine and so simple to make..The only thing it takes couple of hours to bake and it is worth every second.So are you ready..

I baked it yesterday and believe it or not everything got over right now.. I took a few pieces (which I saved it from my sisters) to office and everyone loved it. They told me that it is so much better than the store bought ones..I love plum cakes a lot than any other cakes, but some bakerys here supply this with dry little fruits in it and the cake itself looks so dry. But there is one bakery here which supply a awesome cake which has a lovely flavour of fruits in it..And this one came better than that too..Which is pretty amazing..

You could add any dry fruits in it as per your liking. The list of dry fruits are pretty endless, you could add dried prunes,  cherries, currants, candied lemon peel,  candied orange peel and many more..Usually for fruit cakes they soak these dried fruits in brandy or rum for a month,  so that the fruits gets all flavours and it plumps up a little..But in this cake since we are boiling the fruits,  it gets the plumpness and flavour without any hardwork..And the heat gives so much moistness to the cake..

This recipe is one of Nigella Lawson’s and I kept it in my mind for more than a year since I watched her show..I waited for the Christmas season to try this recipe and finally Christmas is near and I am done with it..It came out so much better than I expected, frankly I am now crazy about this and want it each and every day.

If you want to make it even more authentic, just use a slash or two of run or your favorite liqueur in it. This will bring the christmassy flavor from the cake..So guys here I give you the recipe of this awesome cake and Happy Christmas guys..

This goes to the Event Jingle all the way, Lets Cook, Only Cookies and Cakes, Bake Fest, Sinful Delights

Recipe Source: Nigella Lawson

Ingrediants:

All Purpose Flour / Maida – 150 grams / 1 1/3 cup

Cocoa- 2 tblspn ( Use Good Quality Cocoa)

Baking Powder – ½ tsp

Baking Soda – ½ tsp

Almonds – 75 grams (Powdered) / 2/3 cup

Black Raisans – 100 grams

Sultanas / Kishmish – 100 grams

Dates – 200 grams (Pitted & chopped)

Eggs – 3

Oranges – 2 zested and Juices (You can use all pulps and juice from it)

Honey – 175 ml / 6 ¼ Ounces / ¾ cup

Sugar – 175 grams/ 6 ¼ Ounces / (¾ cup+2 tblspn)
Butter – 175 grams / 6 ¼ Ounces

Cinnamon Powder – 1 tsp

Rum / Brandy / any liqueur of your choice

Method:

Preheat oven to 150 ° C / 300 ° F.

Butter a deep round tin and line the bottom with parchment paper or wax paper. Now line the sides with parchment paper as well in the way that the paper is somewhat extended above the tin  which prevents the cake from burning and sticking all over the tin when it rises as it bakes. Butter all over the tin generously and keep it aside.

Break open 3 eggs in a bowl and mix it up. Take flour, powdered almond, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon in a bowl and mix well. Set this both aside till ready to use.

Now take a saucepan and add butter, sultanas, raisans, cocoa, honey, dates, sugar, orange zest, orange pulp juice and everything. Put it on the stove and apply heat to it..

Stir everything as it melts down and let it boil. Now simmer it for 10 mins while mix it inbetween so that everything boils and gets united and doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Leave this mixture to cool down for 15-20 mins aside.

Now add eggs to this and mix well. Add the mixed up flour mixture to this as and mix well so that everything is combined and mixed all the way through.

Pour this into the tin and bake it the oven for  1 ¾ – 2 hours. The cake looks little moist and sticky on top but has some moist texture in the middle.

Remove it from the oven and allow to cool down completely.

Now remove it from the tin and allow to cool down completely again. Since you have lined it with parchment paper it won’t be hard to remove the cake from tin.

Decorate it as per your wish and serve or store in a air tight container for 3-4 days.

Important Points to Note before Baking:

1)      Don’t add eggs when the mixture is too hot so that the eggs wont gets cooked and end up in chocolaty scrambled eggs.

2)      If you are baking in a small OTG oven like me where there is very small place between the cake and top heating element , you need to lightly cover the cake with aluminum foil after 1 hour of baking so that the top doesn’t gets burned. Don’t cover it too tightly, just put a foil over the tin and continue baking. In the last 15 mins remove the foil and bake. If you are baking in a regular big oven you don’t need to do this.

3)      You could add dried fruits as per your choice like prunes, cherries, currants, etc...

4)      Adding  liqueur to this cake is entirely optional.

Please Check out my Second Blog "Colours of my Life" which is about me and my life... http://coloursofmylife-aarthi.blogspot.com/

Pictorial:

Take all your ingrediants

Start by lining a tin...First butter the tin on all sides

Take a parchment sheet

draw the shape of the tin using a pencil in the parchment paper

cut it out

line the bottom with the cut out paper

cut a long strip for the sides of the tin...Cut it so that the size is double...

Line the sides...Now butter it generously on all sides..

Can you see how the paper is extended..

Break open 3 eggs in a bowl

beat it slightly so that it is mixed up..Set this aside

Now take flour in a bowl

add powdered almond in it

measure cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda in a small plate

add it in

mix everything together...

Now zest the oranges and squeeze the life out of it..Can you see how i removed all pulps out the oranges, you can use everything..

This is how it looks...Orangy fragrance....

Equipments you need for this is very straight forward..Just a saucepan and a wooden spoon..

Now the steps are so simple..Add everything to the sauce pan..Start off with butter..

black raisans

sultanas

dates

orange juice and pulp

orange zest

honey

sugar

cocoa..that's it..

Now heat it

and mix well

bring it to a boil and simmer it..

now allow it to cool down

IMP POINT : ALLOW IT TO COOL DOWN...after it cools down, add egg mixture to this..

and mix well

now add the flour mixture to this..

and whip everything together..

pour it in the prepared tin

wow...i can eat just like this

and bake it

after it cools down...Invert it to a plate and let it cool completely

now decorate it and enjoy..

GO ON...