Fruit Cake with Brandy
Ingredients
For the dried fruit soak
Mixed dried fruits (raisins, sultanas, currants, chopped dates, cherries, etc.) \u2013 3 cups (about 450 g)
Candied mixed peel \u2013 \u00bd cup (75 g)
Brandy \u2013 \u00be cup (180 ml)
For the cake batter
All-purpose flour \u2013 2 cups (250 g)
Baking powder \u2013 1 teaspoon (4 g)
Ground cinnamon \u2013 1 teaspoon (3 g)
Ground nutmeg \u2013 \u00bd teaspoon (1.5 g)
Ground ginger \u2013 \u00bd teaspoon (1.5 g)
Unsalted butter (room temperature) \u2013 1 cup (225 g)
Brown sugar \u2013 1 cup (200 g)
Eggs \u2013 4 large
Vanilla extract \u2013 2 teaspoons (10 ml)
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
Chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts) \u2013 \u00be cup (100 g), optional
To soak after baking (optional but recommended)
Brandy \u2013 2\u20133 tablespoons (30\u201345 ml), for brushing or feeding
Instructions
A day or two before baking, gather your mixed dried fruits and candied peel in a large bowl, then pour the brandy over them. Give everything a gentle stir so the fruit glistens with the liquid, cover the bowl, and let it sit to soak up the flavour. If you remember, stir it once or twice while it rests.
When you\u2019re ready to bake, let the oven preheat to 150\u00b0C (300\u00b0F), and line a loaf tin or round cake tin with parchment paper, making sure the paper rises a little above the edges to protect the cake while it bakes slowly.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and warm spices so they\u2019re evenly blended. Set this aside. In another large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until pale, soft, and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating gently after each addition so the mixture stays smooth. Then stir in the vanilla along with the orange and lemon zest, bringing a bright fragrance to the batter.
Tip the soaked fruits into the bowl, along with any remaining brandy at the bottom. Fold them through the batter, and if you\u2019re using chopped nuts, add them now as well. Finally, fold in the flour mixture gently, just until everything is combined into a thick, rich mixture.
Spoon the batter into your prepared cake tin, smooth the top, and bake low and slow for about 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on your oven and tin size. The cake is ready when the top is deep golden and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out mostly clean, with only a few moist crumbs.
Let the cake cool in the tin for about 15 minutes, then take it out and place it on a wire rack. While it\u2019s still warm, brush the top with a little extra brandy, letting it soak gently into the surface. If you like a richer flavour, you can \u201cfeed\u201d the cake every few days by wrapping it in parchment, storing it in an airtight container, and brushing a little more brandy over the top each time.
Once the cake has rested and matured, slice it thickly, serve with tea or coffee, and enjoy the warmth of fruit, spice, and brandy in every bite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fruit Cake with BrandyIngredientsFor the dried fruit soakMixed dried fruits (raisins, sultanas, currants, chopped dates, cherries, etc.) \u2013 3 cups (about 450 g)Candied mixed peel \u2013 \u00bd cup (75 g)Brandy \u2013 \u00be cup (180 ml)For the cake batterAll-purpose flour \u2013 2 cups (250 g)Baking powder \u2013 1 teaspoon (4 g)Ground cinnamon \u2013 1 teaspoon (3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cake-recipe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajkerbazardor.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}