Robin's Fruitcake
a traditional and rich festive fruitcake with the addition of chocolatey cocoa powder for depth and flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 kg mixed dried fruit use a mix of raisins, sultanas, currants, cherries, cranberries, prunes or figs
- zest and juice 1 orange
- zest and juice 1 lemon
- 150 ml brandy sherry, whisky or rum, plus extra for feeding
- 250 g butter softened
- 200 g dark muscovado sugar
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 175 g cake flour
- 100 g ground almond
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Put 1kg mixed dried fruit, the zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon, brandy, butter, sugar, cocoa powder and salt in pot
- Bring the mixture to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, cover and let it stand overnight at room temperature
- Preheat the oven to 150C
- Line a deep 20cm cake tin with a double layer of paper, then wrap a double layer of newspaper around the outside and tie with string to secure
- Add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, spices, eggs and vanilla to the fruit mixture and stir well, making sure there are no pockets of flour
- Spoon into your prepared tin, level the top with a spatula and bake in the centre of the oven for 2 hours
- Remove the cake from the oven, poke holes in it with a skewer and spoon over 2 tbsp of your chosen alcohol. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin
- To store, peel off the baking parchment, then wrap well in cling film
- Feed the cake with 1-2 tbsp alcohol every week