Fruit cake/ Kerala plum cake

Hope all my friends had a fabulous Christmas.We had a good one too, the days passed so quickly and I feel a bit bored today after a busy and fun filled week. We had a great Christmas with friends and lil A was so happy to get a Christmas gift from Santa (which we wrapped and kept for him under the tree ).Boxing day sales were fabulous,this time we too managed to do some shopping amongst the crowd, the bargains were soo hard to resist. 

Coming to the topic, plum cake/ fruit cakes which we used to buy from bakery were not my favourite cake, I always preferred sponge cake over it. I had no plans even to bake them until a fortnight ago, but two of our friends had a craving to eat our plum cake , so I got an inspiration to bake it to give them.When I searched for the recipes, it looked bit laborious and intimidating (caramel prapartion) but when I got enough support from hubby I decided to go ahead. All the recipes were asking to soak the dry fruits a bit longer but since I didn't have enough time I could soak them only for 4 days .After baking it I kept it for maturing for 2 days to infuse all the flavours and our much awaited cake was ready for Christmas. Trust me ,the cake was sooo delicious and it was much much better than the bakery ones .This cake was the best fruit cake I had in my life. This recipe is adapted from Kothiyavunnu ,Collaborative curry  and Kitchenmishmash

Update -  I have been baking this cake for 9 years now. It has become a tradition in my house to soak the fruits and nuts by October end and bake 3-4 plumcakes every year for ourselves and our friends. Just like us , all our friends love it too !

OCT 2020

Ingredients

Plain flour/ Maida - 1 cup/ 125 gm + 1 tbsp

 Unsalted butter softened - 160 gm / roughly 3/4 cup

 Eggs -2 no ( large)

 Granulated sugar - 185 gm/ a tablespoon less than 1 cup

 Baking powder- 1tsp 

Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp 

Nutmeg powder 1/8 tsp 

Cloves powder - 1/4 tsp 

Ground ginger - 1/2tsp

Salt - one  pinch

 Vanilla extract - 1tsp

orange zest - 1 tsp ( use unwaxed orange)

For caramel syrup  

Sugar - 1/2 cup 

water - 1/2 cup +1 tbs

For soaking 

Tooti fruity/ Mixed dry fruits  - 1/2 cup 

Chopped baking dates ( not the super soft types) - 1 heaped tablespoon)

Glaced cherries - 1/8 cup

Raisins , sultanas, cranberries, candied citrus peels - 1/2cup

 Cashew nuts chopped- 1/8 cup 

Walnut/ almonds - 1/8 cup 

Rum /Brandy - 1 cup or enough to soak fruits and nuts

Preparation

Soak the fruits and nuts in rum/brandy for minimum 1 week. If you have time , soak for  couple of weeks. Longer the better ! 

Preparing the caramel - In a pan add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tbs of water and keep it on a medium- low  flame. Keep a close eye on the sugar (caramel burns quickly after it melts and can taste bitter). Once the sugar  melts  and  starts to become  golden , swirl it around until all the sugar has caramelised and changed into slighlty darker golden/brown shade without burning it ( the colour of the cake depends on the shade of your caramel).

Switch off the flame and immediately pour 1/2 cup of water to the caramel(be careful as this might splash ).The caramel syrup is ready. Let it cool down

P.s If there is any undissolved caramel,  put the caramel  back on the flame and gently heat it until it has melted.

Baking Cake

 In a bowl sift flour, baking powder , spice powders and salt and keep it aside. 

Separate eggs yolks and whites.

Beat egg whites until creamy and thick. Check whether its done by inverting the bowl and if it's done the cream will stick to the bowl. 

Beat sugar and butter until creamy . Add egg yolks, orange zest , vanilla and beat until mixed.

 Add the dry ingredients and fold in. 

Add the caramel syrup and fold in. 

Drain  the fruit and nuts  from the rum/brandy , squeeze the excess rum and add 1 tbs of flour to it  and mix. 

Add 1 1/4- 1 1/2 cup of drained fruits and nuts to the batter and mix well.

Finally add the beaten egg whites and fold in gently until  mixed .

 Line the cake tin with a parchment paper .

Pour the batter to it greased cake tin and bake it in a preheated oven at 175 degree centigrade for 35- 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes our clean. Cool the cake completely. 

It's better to wait for at least 1 day before you cut the cake which allows the flavours to mingle. You can also brush the cake with rum/brand to enhance the flavour !