Christmas Fruitcake
圣诞水果蛋糕

-

December is my favourite month of the year, not only because of Christmas, but also because my birthday falls in this month. One celebration followed by another, and New Year's Day is just around the corner!  Listening to Celine Dion's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" again and again , can't help asking myself what I have done in 2012?

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young
...

It's time to reflect the past, and also time to look forward. To me, Christmas fruitcake is a good way of getting into the spirit of Christmas. How about you?


Almost one month ago, I have already soaked dried mixed fruits in rum, in preparing for this classic, irresistible cake. After celebrated my birthday, on this rainy Sunday afternoon, I spent one and half hour baked this cake. It's wonderful on a wet day to have that lovely smell in the house ... Hope you can smell it too!




CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE

INGREDIENTS

- 400g of dried mixed fruits (currants, sultanas, pineapple, apricots, etc)
- 1/2 cup of dark rum
- 250g butter (soften)
- 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 80g chopped nuts (I use walnut, almond)
- 50ml fresh milk
- Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange (optional)

DIRECTIONS
  1. Soak the dry fruits with rum for a week or more , in the refrigerator.
  2. Prepare a baking tin and lined with parchment paper.
  3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy.
  4. Add in eggs one at a time till well mixed before adding another egg.
  5. Mix in milk, lemon and orange zest.
  6. Add in soaked dry fruits,  and then fold in sifted flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and nutmeg.
  7. Pour batter into prepared cake tin.
  8. Bake in a pre-heated 160deg C oven for 1 hr or until centre is firm to touch.
  9. Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons dark rum over cake while still hot.
  10. Wrap cake pan in a clean tea towel and allow to cool completely. Let the cake cool in the tin before removing the cake.
Note : You can keep this cake up to 3 months in the fridge. Wrap it up properly in aluminium foil and drizzle it with rum at least once a week.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Best Melt-in-the-Mouth Pineapple Tarts (Sonia's Recipe)

-
Image
Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) is still 20 days away, but Singapore is already getting ready for the Year of Horse. CNY decorations are all over the shopping malls, very pretty and impressive. As a home baker, it's time for me to bake CNY cookies . As usual, pineapple tarts are the top in my baking list. This year, I decided to try a different recipe.  Actually, I saw this recipe from Sonia's blog ( Nasi Lemak Lover ) last year. She said it's the "Best Melt-in-the-Mouth" pineapple tart recipe. As I have already finished baking  pineapple tarts  with my own recipe then, so did not have the chance to try.  A few days ago, Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids  shared her experience of baking pineapple tarts with 3 popular recipes. One of them is Sonia's.  Zoe provided a comparison table with ingredients and method used in each recipe, and concluded that Sonia's recipe yields the best melt-in-the-mouth pineapple tarts.  Though I have never doubt "baki
Read more

Cake Muffins Worth Queueing for at Shunfu Market

-
Image
Knowing that I bake muffins, a friend recommended me to try the muffins from Chocolat N' Spice at Shunfu market.  He said Shunfu market - a neighbourhood hawker center,  is famous because of the muffin store.  The snake queue in front of  the muffin store has become an unique scenery of this quiet hawker center. People queueing for muffins? Out of curiosity, I dropped by the store one day during lunch time. Over the one hour stay at the hawer center, I observed an average of 8-9 people in the queue. It has never shortened until all the muffins were sold out.  I bought one box of 6 muffins of different flavours,  priced from $1.30 to $1.60 each.  I chose Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate, Banana Walnut,  Blueberry, Mocha and Cheese . These freshly baked muffins are large, soft with golden domed top, so enticing. Shared with colleagues, everyone was asking me when I would make the next the trip down. Each of them would like to order one box!  The following week, I brought 6 boxes of
Read more