Del-icious!: A moist and tasty post Christmas fruit cake

Three factors came into play when I decided to make this cake.

1. Neil needs more desserts, period. (This is especially true after I have made myself something sweet which he cannot, or will not, eat.

2. I have the post Christmas blues very badly.

3. This blog needs more diversity.

So, asking Neil what he would like me to make, he answered 'fruit cake' like his Grandad used to make. This prompted some rolling of the eyes and sighing as I contemplated the long list of ingredients and complicated instructions I would have to follow. 'Not so' said Neil. Apparently his grandad used to make something resembling a sponge cake with currants or sultanas that passed as fruit cake, so, some web based research later, I turned off the computer and consulted Nigel Slater.

His Christmas cake recipe sounded very easy to make, albeit with an unprecedented amount of ingredients. Instead of taking myself off to the local mini mart, for once I decided to use only what I had in the cupboards to produce a scaled down version. I surprised myself on this one. Having to halve the recipe (more on that later) and using substitutions and less ingredients, I still produced a relatively moist and flavourful cake. Neil liked it too. (I'd like to think Nigel would approve, also).

Nigel's recipe used both light and dark brown sugar. I only had Demerera, so this is what I used.

Again, the recipe stipulated about 5 different kinds of dried fruits, 2 types of nuts, raisins, sultanas, currants and cranberries, the zest and juice of an orange and the zest of a lemon . (I guess this is a Christmas cake after all). Oh and let's not forget the brandy!

It looks like the fruit cakes I remember my dad making in his bakery..

Recipe : Fruit cake (Adapted from Nigel Slater's 'The kitchen diaries')

125g (4.5oz) butter, softened

125g (4.5oz) brown sugar

300g (10.5oz) glace fruits

2 tbsp glace cherries, cut in half

1.5 eggs

2 tbsp sliced almonds

125g (4.5oz) currants

2 tbsp rum

3 mandarins, peeled and squeezed to release their juice, (discard the mandarins, keep the juice)

the zest of half a lemon

1/4 tsp baking powder

125g (4.5oz) plain flour

You need a cake tin with a removable bottom, with some greaseproof paper inside, make sure it comes all the way up to the top and beyond and grease it with butter or margarine. Nigel suggests two layers of paper.

Set the oven to 350oF (160oC or gas mark 3).

Beat the butter and sugar together, preferably with an electric whisk until light, fluffy and pale beige.

Add the eggs, one at a time, (to get half an egg, break one into a bowl, mix together and then use half) and mix well. It looks curdled but will sort itself out.

Add everything else except the flour and baking powder and mix well.

In another bowl, mix the flour and baking powder then add to the cake batter.

Pour into the prepared cake tin and flatten the top down a little.

Now, the tricky part. I scaled this recipe by half by simply halving all the ingredients, that's easy enough. However, the baking time is not half of the original recipe. Consulting many web sites left me a little confused, but one thing was certain, it is trial and error and careful observation. Nigel's instructions were for one hour at 350oF and then turning the oven down to 330oF for another hour and a half. Most sites said that the cake would take about 3/4 of the original cooking time, for a cake scaled down to half, BUT, mine took less than half of the time. Confused? Yep, me too.

So, for this cake, I suggest 45 minutes at 350oF and then about 30 minutes at 330oF. The best thing is to remove the cake and check with a skewer. Pierce the middle of the cake with the skewer and if it comes out clean the cake is ready. Transfer to a cooling rack.

If you like, you can pierce the cake and pour some alcohol into it to keep it moist. You can do this everyday if you want a really boozy cake as these things last a long time, wrapped in foil.