Fruit Cake Recipes

It’s easier to kid ourselves that homemade fruit cakes are healthier than other types of cake, in spite of the sugar and fat we use...It is possible to have the best of both worlds though; try some of theseslightly different recipe suggestions for fruit cake.

Farmhouse Fruit Cake

preheat the oven to 170C

Ingredients

• 225g wholemeal flour
• 225g plain flour
• 5ml bicarbonate of soda
• 5ml mixed spice
• 300ml milk
• 1 beaten egg
• 100g of both sultanas and raisins
• 3 tablespoons chopped mixed peel
• 175g butter
• 225g dark brown (Barbados) sugar

Sift all the flours, spices and bicarb together. Cube the butter and rub it into this to form a breadcrumb texture.

Now add the sugar, peel and all the fruit.Make a hollow in the centre of your mixture and pour in the beaten egg and some of the milk. Stir this well and gradually add more milk to get the right consistency (the mixture should drop in big smooth blobs from your spoon.)

Transfer the mix to a deep, greased, cake tin-about 20.5cm wide. Level the top of your cake mix with a palette knife and bake for about 2 hours. When cooked through, remove from the oven and cool thoroughly on a wire rack.

If you like walnuts or almonds, you can add these before baking. Also, this cake is delicious served hot with custard!

Saffron Yeast Cake

(NB: soak the saffron overnight in 150ml boiling water before use.)

Ingredients

• 450g plain flour
• 175g currants
• 75g chopped mixed peel
• 100g butter
• 25g caster sugar
• grated rind of half a lemon
• 150ml tepid milk
• 15g dried yeast mixed with a pinch of sugar
• saffron strands

First, preheat the oven to 200C.Sprinkle the dried yeast into the warm milk then leave it somewhere warm for about 15 minutes soit reacts by frothing up.

Meanwhile, butter your cake tin and start mixing the ingredients in a large bowl, starting with rubbing in butter with the flour.

Once this mixture looks like breadcrumbs, stir in the fruit, rind and sugar.Strain the saffron-flavoured water into a saucepan and warm it slightly. Now add this to the fruit and flour mixture. Your yeast and milk froth should be ready to add by now-pour it into themixing bowl and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Place this doughy mixture into the prepared cake tin, cover it with a clean cotton tea towel and leave for about one hour in a warm place. During this time it should rise almost to the top of the tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 180C and bake for another 30 minutes. (No need to open the oven door!)Cool on a wire rack when cooked through.

Pear Cake

Preheat the oven to 180C

Ingredients

• 450g dessert pears
• 175g self-raising flour
• 175g superfine caster sugar
• 200g butter
• 3 beaten eggs
• 3 teaspoons dried ginger
• 1 tablespoon dark brown (Barbados) sugar

Grease your deep, 20cm, cake tin. With a whisk, or food processor, mix 175g of the butter with the caster sugar, flour, ginger and eggs.

Carefully spoon this mixture into the prepared cake tin and level the surface, then, arrange the peeled, cored and thinly sliced pears over the cake mixture.

Sprinkle the pears with brown sugar and dot with the remaining butter.Bake for 30-40 minutes when the cake should be golden and have a springy texture.This is another fruit cake that makes a great pudding, too! Serve it hot with ice cream...divine.