Christmas Plum Cake (Christmas Fruit Cake )

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking  powder - 1 teaspoon

Baking  soda - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt - 1 teaspoon

Vanilla  essence - 2 teaspoon

Sugar -1 1/2 cup

Egg - 5

Unsalted  butter - 250 grams

Spices powder - 1 teaspoon  (cinnamon,  cardamom,  cloves)

Black raisins - 1/4 cup

Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup

Red cherries - 1/4 cup

Tutti frutti - 1/4 cup ( red, yellow  and green )

Lemon zest - 1 teaspoon

Dried orange peel - 1/4 cup

Rum -  1 cup

For caramel

Sugar  - 1/2 cup

Water - 1/4 cup

Preheat microwave  to 180 degree  Celsius. Butter cake pans after placing parchment paper. Here I used two round moulds of 6 inch and one square cake mould. Arrange all the dry fruits. I have used finely chopped cashew nuts and dried orange peel. Mix all the above listed fruits in a bowl and add one cup Rum in it. Let these fruits completely  soak in the liquor. I just kept it for half an hour.

Meanwhile prepare caramelised  sugar. In a pan add 1/2 cup sugar and heat it in low to medium flame. Now sugar will start  to melt and slowly turn to light brown color. Keep stirring  it until it becomes dark brown  in color. Switch off the flame and let it cool. Later add 1/4 cup of water to this and heat it again. Keep stirring until it melts completely. Keep this aside.

Now in a bowl add unsalted butter (in room temperature) and sugar. Mix it with a hand mixer. Add vanilla essence and two eggs in it. Beat again for sometime , later slowly add remaining eggs and beat well until you get a creamy texture. In another bowl sift, all purpose flour, baking  powder, baking soda, salt and spices powder. Now slowly add this flour mixture with the egg mixture. Take only half of the flour mixture in the beginning. Also add half of the caramelised sugar into this and fold this mixture gently. Again add the remaining  flour  mixture and sugar syrup into this. Repeat the process. Finally add all the dry fruits after mixing it with two tablespoon of all purpose flour as we dont want this mixture to go and sit at the bottom. Once everything is mixed properly, immediately pour the  batter into the cake pans. Bake this for 40-45 minutes. Make sure not to overbeat the mixture. Also try adding fruits of your choice. Once it is done keep the cake on wire rack and let it cool completely for at least 10 - 15 minutes. Remove the parchment  paper and your christmas cake is all set to serve in style. :)

When it was in the oven my home was filled with the aroma of this cake. Also I was bit tensed about the sugar part. But everything was perfect including the sugar. I was so happy and excited  as this was the  first time I was baking a Christmas plum cake. And I should say that the cake came out so well and it was so yummy. I just loved it. In fact everyone at home. :) You will get the flavour of all those fruits, vanilla and spices and it's just an awesome feeling when you finally see that dark plum cake on your table just out of microwave oven :)

Thanks to paul for gifting a Samsung Galaxy  Tab using which I published this post :) Also his help throughout as I normally lack patience in baking since I don't like long hours of waiting. Am famous for that among my friends and relatives. They used to make fun of me by calling me with names of all the fast moving trains in India. :) Anyone can make out this in my blogs aswell as i normally go for simple and fast recipies else the posts will be short and simple. I guess this is my lengthy post so far.

Jokes apart, i would really  suggest everyone to try this Christmas cake. This was my first attempt for this Christmas and would definitely like to try more good recipes. And since its holidays, am planning to publish few more posts soon. Wishing everyone a happy and a blessed Christmas in advance. :) Happy holidays!