MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE.

Christmas Fruit Cakes are not like our regular vanilla or chocolate cakes. They taste so different and are also made in a completely different way.

I went through loads and loads of recipes before making this cake. I wanted to avoid alcohol as I wanted to share this cake and not everyone likes alcohol. A lot of recipes call for soaking the dry fruits for a really long time but I came up with something completely different. And once I tasted this cake, I felt as if I had added rum in it, it has such amazing flavors. You should surely try this cake.

The ingredient list is really long, but trust me, it takes hardly sometime to put the cake together.

This is a very forgiving cake, so you could easily omit some flavors if you don’t like them.

These cakes also take a long time to bake as they are baked at a really low temperature. Amazing things take a longer time to come.. In this case they take a longer time to BAKE..!!

Anyways, I think we should just start with the recipe.

Preparation Time: 10 mins    Baking Time: around 2 hours    Serves: 10-15 pieces

All You Need:

1. All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup + ⅓ Cup
   
2. Dark Brown Sugar- 1 Cup
   
3. Honey- ¾ Cup
   
4. Baking Powder- 1 tsp
   
5. Mixed Dry Fruit (Walnut, Almonds, Raisins & Pistachios)- 500 g
   
6. Dried cranberries & cherries- 1 Cup
   
7. Tutti Frutti- ¾ Cup
   
8. Coarsely Ground Almond- ¾ Cup
   
9. Eggs- 3
   
10. Cocoa Powder- 2 tbsp
    
11. Instant Coffee Granules- 1.5 tsp
    
12. Unsalted Butter- 1 Cup (softened at room temperature)
    
13. Cinnamon Powder- ½ tsp
    
14. Ginger Powder- ½ tsp
    
15. Water- 1 Cup
    
16. Tea Leaves/ Tea Bags- 2 tsp or 2 bags
    
17. Zest of 1 orange
    
18. Juice of 1.5 oranges
    
19. Salt- ½ tsp
    

A Few Tips:

1. You can reduce the amount of dry fruits if you would like.
   
2. If you don’t find tutti frutti, you can skip it and replace it with some dries cherries or cranberries.
   
3. I like the flavor of Cocoa and a hint of coffee, you could surely skip that too.
   
4. You could also omit the ginger powder.
   
5. You can also adjust the sugar content asper your taste.
   

Method:

• Line a loaf pan or a round 6″ pan with parchment paper. Line the sides of the pan as well and let the sides be really tall. (Like shown in the picture below)
  

  
  

• Preheat the oven at 300°F.
  
• In a sauce pan, add 1 Cup water and 2 tsp tea leaves/ 2 tea bags. Let it come to a boil and simmer for 2-3 mins.
  
• Strain and add the black tea to a large pan.
  
• Add the dry fruits, dried cranberries and cherries and tutti frutti.
  
• Add butter, cocoa powder, coffee granules, cinnamon powder, ginger powder, zest of an orange, orange juice, salt, honey and dark brown sugar.
  
• Mix everything really well. Let everything boil together for about 10 mins on medium heat. Keep stirring in between.
  
• Keep this aside for 30-45 mins. We need to cool down the batter before adding the eggs. We don’t want the eggs to cook.
  
• In a separate bowl, mix together, all-purpose flour, coarsely ground almonds and baking powder.
  
• Once the dry fruit mixture has cooled down, add one egg at a time and using a whisk, beat everything together.
  
• Now fold in the flour mixture.
  
• Add all the mixture to the baking.
  
• Bake for around 2 hours.
  
• One thing you have to keep in mind is that when you check the cake with a knife of toothpick, it will not come out completely clean as it has a lot of fruits in it. But you will know.
  

This is one cake I’m really proud to make. It’s really tasty and I’m sure you will love it. Do give it a shot and let me know how it turned out.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS.