Fruit Cake

This fruity cake is generally associated with the festival season. We used to get this cake especially during Christmas. I loved each bite which had the juiciness of the raisins and dry fruits and the goodness of the nuts. I always wanted to try this cake and I never knew it was this simple. I made this for a potluck party and it was a big hit!

Here comes the recipe right in time for the festive season! The dry fruits and nuts I have used are my own measurements. If there are certain fruits or nuts you don't like, you can always include more of another, or some of your own favorites.

Ingredients

All-Purpose flour - 2 cups
Brown Sugar - 1 cup packed
Milk - 1 cup
Butter - 1 stick
Baking powder - 1 tablespoon
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon
Eggs - 2
Cinnamon powder - 1 teaspoon
Nutmeg powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Walnuts - 1/2 cup chopped
Cashews - 1/4 cup chopped
Almonds - 1/4 cup chopped
Prunes - 1/4 cup chopped
Golden raisins - 1/4 cup chopped
Currants - 1/4 cup chopped
Cherries - 1/4 cup chopped

Directions

In a large saucepan, bring together the brown sugar, butter and milk. Keep it on medium heat for 5 minutes until the sugar carmelises. Bring it to a boil. Add all the dry fruits, nuts, cinnamon, cardamom powder and nutmeg. Give it a stir and keep on medium low for 3 more minutes. Allow it to cool.

Beat the two eggs together. In another vessel, whisk the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Once the mixture has cooled completely, add the eggs and mix well. Finally add in the flour mixture. Stir all the ingredients so that there are no lumps. The batter will be of a thin consistency.

Grease and flour a cake pan. Line with aluminium foil and pour the batter and spread evenly.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degree F for about 45 minutes until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan. Cool in a wire rack.

This cake can be wrapped in aluminium foil and stored for about 4 to 5 days. It tastes even better the second day because the spices might have infused well with the other ingredients.

Some tips that might be useful while baking this cake:

To prevent overbrowning, line the bottom and sides of the pan with foil. Leave extra foil overlapping the sides so that it is easier to remove the cake from the pan.

When baking, set the fruitcake pan in a baking pan half-filled with water to prevent burning around the edges. however, be careful while removing the pan from the oven as the water might be boiling and extremely hot!

Let fruitcake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

For long-term storage, bury the linen and foil wrapped fruitcake in a tin filled with powdered sugar.

Sending this Fruity Nutty Cake to Vegetarian Thanksgiving and Children's Day Event and to FIL:Fruits