Christmas Plum Cake
Rich and decadent caramel flavored fruit cake with rum soaked dried fruits for Christmas.
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Ingredients
Soak dried fruits:
- 1 cup dried fruits
- 1 cup rum or orange juice
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon fruit jam
Caramel syrup (blackjack):
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 210 ml hot water
Dry ingredients mixture:
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose (plain) flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Cake batter:
- 250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated (caster) sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon orange zest
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Topping:
- 2 tablespoons chopped nuts and dried fruits
Instructions
Method 1 to soak dried fruits:
- Start the recipe 2 months in advance.
- Place dried fruits in a large glass container with lid. Add orange zest.
- Pour in rum until just covered.
- Cover and soak for about 2 months, giving a stir occasionally.
Method 2 to soak dried fruits:
- Place dried fruits in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Add orange juice, orange zest, lemon juice, brown sugar and fruit jam.
- Bring to a boil. Simmer for about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Cool completely.
Make caramel syrup (blackjack):
- Place sugar and water in a small saucepan over low-medium heat.
- Swirl the pan gently as the sugar melts.
- When the sugar turns deep brown, turn the heat to low, and add hot water, gradually. Be careful as the water with splutter.
- Stir to make smooth caramel syrup.
- Remove from heat, and cool completely.
Dry ingredients mixture:
- Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger and salt into a bowl.
Make cake batter:
- Preheat oven to 180 C/ 350F.
- Grease and line the bottom and sides of a deep 22 cm cake tin with baking paper.
- Using an electric hand held or stand mixer, beat butter for 2 minutes or until creamy.
- Add sugar and beat for about 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add vanilla extract, orange zest, vegetable oil and cooled caramel syrup.
- Beat for 1 minute or until combined.
- Add half of dry ingredients mixture, and beat until just combined.
- Add the remaining half of the dry ingredients mixture, and beat until combined.
- Add soaked fruits. Fold in gently.
- The batter will be thick.
- Pour batter into the prepared tin and level the top.
- Top with chopped nuts and dried fruits.
- Tap the cake tin lightly to remove air bubbles.
- Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the tin for about 10-15 minutes before turning it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- You can spray the cake with rum if you like.
Video
Notes
- Dried fruits - If using larger fruits like dates, prunes, apricots and candied peel, chop into smaller pieces. You can also add chopped nuts, preferably cashews and almonds for the traditional taste.
- Orange juice - This is the alcohol-free version, and I used freshly squeezed juice.
- Jam - I used raspberry.
- Nuts - Chopped cashew nuts and almonds can be added to the batter as well as to the topping.
Nutrition
Calories: 316kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 0.4g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 104mg | Potassium: 19mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 785IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 0.1mg