Christmas Fruit Cake / Kerala Plum Cake Ingredients: *Butter - 100gms Ghee - 125gm *Powdered Sugar - 300gms Egg yolks - 4nos. Vanilla essence - 1tsp. Ground orange peel -1/4tsp. Sugar - 4tblsp (to caramelize) *Mixed dry fruits – 600gms (I used dates, raisins, currents, cherries, mixed fruits, orange peels, apricot, prunes, cranberries etc) Cashew nuts - 100gm Brandy/Rum - 1/2cup *All purpose flour/ Maida - 250gms. Baking powder - 1/2tsp Baking soda - 1/4tsp Cinnamon power - 1/4tsp Clove power - 1/4tsp Nutmeg power - 1/4tsp *Milk - 1/4cup *Egg white - 4nos. Limejuice - 3tblsp Sugar - 4 tbsp Method: To Prepare the fruits~ Chop all dry fruits and cashew nuts finely and soak them in Rum/Brandy in a clean dry bottle for minimum one week. Stir the fruits at least once a day. (I recommend soaking the fruits months or a year in advance, the more the tastier). On the day of baking the cake, transfer these fruits in to a heatproof container with lid and steam this in a appa chemu/pressure cooker/steamer for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and allow the fruits to cool completely. To Caramelize Sugar~ Heat 4tblsp sugar in a pan stirring continuously. When it becomes dark brown add 1cup hot water and stir until it becomes thick.(this can be done a day ahead) Preparing the flour mix~ Sieve together all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, clove powder and nutmeg power. Toss the steamed cooled mixed fruits in the flour-mix well in a large bowl, so that the fruit is completely coated. Keep aside. (Tossing fruits in flour is to avoid fruits falling to the bottom of the cake during baking time) For the cake batter~ Cream butter, ghee and sugar; add egg yolks one by one and beat in. Then add vanilla essence, ground orange peels, caramel syrup and beat well. Add flour-fruits mix slowly alternating with milk to the cream mixture, beginning and ending with flour-fruit mixture. Stir well with spatula to blend uniformly. Beat egg whites till stiff add 4 tbsp sugar and limejuice and beat again. Fold in egg whites in to the cake mixture. Baking ~ Pre heat oven to 170C/340F. Line the bottom and sides of cake pans with lightly greased parchment / butter paper. Pour cake batter in to prepared pan. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4hours or till a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. (Start checking after 1hr) Cool in pan on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks. Storing the Cake~ Prick holes on top of the cake with a skewer then sprinkle a teaspoon or two of Rum / brandy over cake, let it sink in for a few minutes. (Instead you can use a syringe to inject Rum/Brandy inside too; I do that sometimes;). Wrap well with parchment paper and then in aluminum foil for storage. Every week, drizzle / brush another teaspoon or two of Rum/brandy over the cake. Aim to keep it nicely moist but *not* soggy!
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 03:33:17 +0000
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