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collettes thermie kitchen

Christmas Fruit Cake

A lovely rich, moist fruit cake matured for weeks and fed with brandy or apple juice. Ice it or simply decorate with almonds and a pretty ribbon.
5 from 2 votes
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Course: Baking
Keyword: brandy, christmas, fruit cake
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Soaking Fruit: 1 day
Total Time: 1 day 3 hours 45 minutes

Equipment

  • 1 TM5 or TM6
  • 1 20cm cake tin
  • Baking paper
  • String

Ingredients

  • 1 kg dried mixed fruit see notes in post
  • 250 grams alcohol or orange juice I love half brandy, half cointreau
  • 1 green apple quartered
  • 1 squeeze lemon
  • 250 grams butter cubed
  • 250 grams brown sugar dark or light
  • 1-2 tbsp Christmas spice Mix See notes below
  • 1 orange zest only
  • 1 tsp salt flaked sea salt
  • 150 grams Plain Flour
  • 150 grams Self Raising Flour
  • 1 tsp bi-carb soda
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 4 eggs large
  • 3 tbsp orange marmalade
  • 100 grams mixed nuts

Decorating

  • 120 grams whole blanched Almonds If not icing
  • Festive ribbon to fit around your cake.

Instructions

Soaking the Fruit

  • Add 1 kg mixed dried fruit and 250g of your chosen alcohol or orange juice to Thermomix Bowl and warm 4 mins/100℃/Reverse/Speed 1/ no measuring cup, but simmering basket sitting on lid. Once the mix reaches 100℃ remove from heat and let sit, covered in a bowl overnight. The fruit will absorb the alcohol and plump up.

Mixing the Cake

  • Add 1 green apple, cored and quartered to the Thermomix with a squeeze of lemon and turbo a couple of time to chop into small pieces. Set aside.
  • Add 250 grams of cubed butter to the Thermomix and melt: 4 mins/60℃/speed 2.
  • To the melted butter, add:
    250 brown sugar
    1-2 Tbsp Christmas Spice Mix (see below)
    1 tsp salt
    zest of one orange
    Pre-grated apple that we set aside earlier.
    Soaked mixed fruit.
    Mix well with your spatula and cook 5 mins/80℃/Reverse/Speed 1
  • Tip cake contents into a large bowl to cool. Clean Thermomix Bowl.
  • Add 150g plain flour, 150g self raising flour and 2 tbsp cocoa and 1 tsp bi-carb soda to a clean Thermomix bowl. Sieve on Turbo for 3 times, 1 second pulses. Add 4 eggs and 3 tbsp marmalade and mix 10 seconds/speed 5.
  • Add the cake mix to the cooled fruit mix along with the mixed nuts and combine by hand with the Spatula. It will be thick to begin with but will come together. You can add a little more brandy or orange juice if needed.
  • BAKING
  • Pre - heat oven 140℃ Fan or 160℃ conventional.
  • Line a 20 cm cake tin with a double layer of baking paper, making sure it has at lease a 6cm collar that rises above the top of the tin. Line the base of the tin with a circle of baking paper. Line the outside of the tin and ties with string.
  • Spoon cake mixture into tin and level the top with a wet angled spatula or a damp hand. If not icing, place your whole blanched almonds decoratively on top,
  • Cook in the middle of the oven for 3 - 3¼ hours.
    If the cake starts to brown too much on top, you can cover it with foil.
    Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
    Brush with some extra brandy and wrap it l and store it in an airtight container. Feed the cake each week (see notes in post).

Notes

Christmas Spice Mix is a Cookidoo recipe and can be used in all sorts of  baking. You can sub this for 2 tsp mixed spice, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp ground nutmeg. Taste your batter after mixing and add more if you like.