Recipes
Traditional rich fruit cake
This recipe has been a Christmas favourite for years – it will keep for up to three months without icing.
This recipe has been a Christmas favourite for years – it will keep for up to three months without icing.
(61 votes)
Cook: 28 Hours 15 Mins
Serves: 20
Price: 60p per serving
Nutritional Information
Each 131g serving contains
Energy
1863kj
445kcal
1863kj
445kcal
22%
Fat
15g
15g
Med
21%
21%
Saturates
6.7g
6.7g
Med
34%
34%
Sugars
58g
58g
High
65%
65%
Salt
0.33g
0.33g
Med
5%
5%
of your reference intake.
Typical energy values per 100g:
1422kj/340kcal
Typical energy values per 100g:
1422kj/340kcal
Ingredients
500g Asda Mixed Dried Fruit
500g sultanas
250g currants
180ml rum (or brandy or sherry)
125g glacé cherries
275g plain flour
2 tsp ground mixed spice
225g butter, softened
225g soft brown sugar
5 large free-range eggs
1 medium orange, zest of
1 unwaxed lemon, zest of
100g Asda Ground Almonds
string
baking paper
brown paper
A deep round 23cm cake tin (or a square 20cm cake tin)
Method
1
Put all the dried fruit (except the cherries) in a large mixing bowl. Pour over 90ml of the liquor, cover with cling film and leave for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
2
Line the cake tin with three layers of baking paper and wrap the outside with a double layer of brown paper. Pre-heat the oven to 250C/130C Fan/Gas 2.
3
Rinse the cherries in warm water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut each one in half. Sift the flour and mixed spice together.
4
Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs, one at a time with 1 tbsp of the flour mix, beating well after each addition.
5
Finely grate the zest from the orange and lemon. Stir into the creamed mixture with the rest of the flour mix, ground almonds, cherries and the diced fruit.
6
Spoon the mixture into the tin and level out the top. Pat the surface with damp fingertips, but don’t get it wet. Bake for 1 hour, then reduce the oven temperature to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1 and bake for 3 hours or until a skewer in the centre comes out clean. You can cover the top loosely with foil if the cake is browning too quickly.
7
Remove the cake from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack (leave the baking paper on). Once cold, wrap in foil or store in an airtight tin. After one week, unwrap the cake and pierce with a skewer. Drizzle over 2 tbsp of the liquor, rewrap and store. Repeat twice over the next two weeks.