Christmas fruit cake

no rum, light and easy fruit Christmas cake

A festive, flavorful, and nutty Christmas cake to sweeten the holiday season even more.

ingredients (at room temperature)

• 225g (1 and 3⁄4 cups) plain flour
• juice of an orange - approximately 60ml (4 tbsp)
• 4g (1tsp) baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 225g (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 225g (1 cup and 2 tbsp) brown sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 60 g (1/2 cup) chopped almonds or chopped pecans or walnuts
• 36 g (3 tablespoons) finely diced crystallised orange peel
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 40 g 1/4 cups raisins
• 40 g (1/4 cups) golden raisins or cranberries
• 40 g (1/4 cups) chopped dried apricots

For the final garnish: a handful of apricots, walnut halves, orange pels and almonds

preparation

• grease or line a 23 cm (9 inch) cake tin
• preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F
• to make the cake batter, cream the butter and brown sugar using an electric mixer
• mix for 5 minutes
• add the eggs one by one beating 1 minute after every addition
• add the zest of orange and lemon and mix until well-incorporated
• place the flour in a big bowl
• add all the dried fruits, spices and baking powder to the flour and mix them well so the fruits are well coated with flour and spices well mixed
• place the mixer on a low speed, add the orange juice and the flour, fruit and spice mix in alternating steps until all the ingredients are well-incorporated
• transfer into the tin
• bake for 50 minutes or until it springs back to the touch and is lightly golden
• remove from the oven and cool completely before removing from the tin
• once cool, rub some honey on the surface of the cake using a brush
• place the remaining apricots, walnut halves, orange peels and almonds on top to cover the surface of the cake and brush with honey to give a glistening touch to them

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