Plum cake

Hello dear readers!  Belated Merry Christmas and an advanced Happy New Year! This year I baked a cake with the fruits soaked in rum for more than year. I had soaked the fruits in Rum in October 2016  and this is the first time I soaked for such a long time. I did not want to risk trying a new recipe and spoil the soaked fruits but I studied the recipe well and took a call. I have saved several fruit cake recipe’s and will try them one at a time. I have tried various recipe’s over the years and each cake is worth the try.This year I tried the recipe from Sailu’s food.

To make the traditional cake we must plan well  in advance. I made the caramel  prior and refrigerated . Fruits were getting soaked since more than a year. I weighed the ingredients and kept it ready prior. All these things makes the bake easier and gives good result. It becomes stress free too. I have also tweaked the recipe a bit. For those who want to make the cake alcohol free soak the fruits in Orange juice in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.

To know how to soak fruits check here.

To know how to make caramel syrup check here.

Makes 2 cakes (8″ cake tin and 8″ loaf tin)

Recipe adapted from : Sailu’s food

Ingredients:

All purpose flour/maida -2 3/4 cups

Eggs – 5

Butter- 200 g (1 cup)

Brown sugar – 1 1/2 cups( powder it)

Baking powder – 2 tsp

Vanilla essence – 2 tsp

Cinnamon powder – 1 1/4 tsp

Clove powder – 1/4 tsp

Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp

Nutmeg powder – 1/4 tsp

Caramel – 1 cup

Soaked fruits – 2 cups

Dried nuts – 1/2 cup( chop it)

Orange juice – 1/4 cup

Orange zest – 1 orange

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 170 d.c for 15 minutes.
2. Grease the cake tins and line with parchment paper.
3. Sieve maida, spice powders and baking powder.
4. Separate the yolks from the whites.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks with vanilla essence.
6. Beat the butter and powdered brown sugar  till smooth and creamy.
7. Add the egg yolk mixture little by little, alternating with a tbsp of the sieved flour and combine till smooth.
8. Add  caramel, orange juice, orange zest and combine till well blended.
9. Add the sieved flour in 4-5 batches and combine till well blended.
10. Add the dried fruits  and nuts (toss the dried fruits in two – three tbsp of flour) and using a spatula, fold it gently into the batter.
11. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
12. Gently fold it in the cake batter until well combined.
13. Pour the batter up to half of the prepared cake tins.
14. Tap the tin to remove any air bubbles.
15. Bake for 1 hour at 170 d.c .
16. Keep checking the cake in between .
17. Bake until done .
18. Cool the cake completely.
19. Baking time may be more .
20. You may preserve the cake for some days by basting it with wine or rum for better results.
21. Use a serrated knife and slice it gently.