Easy Dry Fruit Cake Recipe

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While browsing the net, I came across a recipe for Christmas cake, that made my mouth water. But the recipe was time consuming and required a lot of ingredients. So using the basic idea of the recipe, I simplified it considerably, and tried it out for a small cake. It turned out great, so I am sharing the simplified recipe here.

This recipe calls for some alcohol, but I suppose you can make it without the alcohol too. While alcohol does enhance the flavor, it would be pretty good without it too. This is a recipe for a rather small cake with only 4 large pieces, perfect for tea time in a nuclear family. So you may want to triple or quadruple the quantities of the ingredients to get a large cake.

Sorry, but I did not take pictures during the cooking process this time, and only at the end.

Ingredients

  • 1 egg

  • 2 tbsp whole wheat flour

  • 2 tbsp caster sugar

  • 1/3 small orange (see picture)

  • 1/4 small lemon

  • 3 black dates

  • 6 walnuts

  • 14 almonds

  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

  • 2 tbsp brandy (optional)

  • 40 grams soft butter (I used Amul salted butter)

  • 1/2 tsp baking powder

Procedure

  • Roast the walnuts and almonds in the oven at 180 C for a few minutes and set them to cool.

  • Squeeze the juice out of the orange and the lemon in to a sauce pan. See ingredients to know what faction of orange and lemon to use.

  • Grate the skin of the orange and the lemon to obtain the zest. (Use method two shown here)

  • Add the zest, one tablespoon of brandy, the sugar, the butter and the chopped dates (see picture below) to the saucepan.

  • Heat the saucepan till the contents come to a boil and then simmer for about a half a minute stirring carefully.

  • Pour the contents of the saucepan in to a glass mixing bowl and allow them to cool.

  • Slice 5 almonds and chop 3 walnuts.

sliced almonds and chopped dates and walnuts.
  • Preheat the oven at 150 C and grease a small aluminum patila 12 cm (4 inches) in diameter and 6 cm (2 inches) deep. Coat it with dry flour.

aluminum patila
  • Grind the remaining almonds and walnuts to a coarse powder.

  • Once the mixture in the glass bowl has cooled, add the whole wheat flour, coarsely powdered roasted almonds and walnuts, baking powder, egg and vanilla.

  • Mix it all vigorously with a fork.

  • Pour the mixture in the aluminum patila and set it to bake at the center of the oven.

  • Check on it about 20 to 25 minutes by poking it with a knife. It is done, if the knife comes out clean. Otherwise, let it bake for another few minutes.

  • Once the cake is done, if you are using brandy, make a tiny hole in the middle and pour the remaining brandy in to it. Then take it out of the patila on to a plate and leave it covered with a larger patila for 15 minutes.

Your fluffy, moist, rich, delicious Christmas / Dry Fruit Cake is ready. We enjoyed it warm and fresh. It melts in your mouth and transports you to a realm of pure delight.

cake

Tags: recipe, celebration