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Eliza's Fruit Cake
This is our go-to Christmas cake recipe. The prunes deliver a wonderful, moist texture without overpowering the taste. You can vary the fruit and nuts you use — just make sure you use the same total volume.
Prep Time
30, plus soaking mins
Cook Time
2 hours mins
Serves
makes 1 large cake
Special Occasions
Baking
Dessert
$$
Ingredients
3 cups pitted prunes, halved and soaked overnight in 4 tbsp brandy or whisky
250g butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups mixed dried fruit
2/3 cup chopped dried apricots
1 cup raisins, or sultanas
1/4 cup citrus peel, chopped
about 60 whole blanched almonds, to decorate
ALMOND PASTE
1 1/2 cups ground almonds
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
Method
Preheat oven to 150°C fanbake. Grease a deep 21cm-diameter cake tin and line with baking paper.
Beat together butter and sugar until creamy then beat in eggs one at a time.
Fold in flour and baking powder until smooth, then add dried fruit, citrus peel and soaked prunes and mix until evenly combined.
Pour into prepared tin and bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (about 2 hours).
ALMOND PASTE
While cake is baking, make Almond Paste by mixing together ground almonds, caster sugar and egg.
Remove cooked cake from the oven, leaving it in the tin.
Top with Almond Paste, decorate with almonds and return to oven for about 15 minutes or until almonds are lightly browned.
Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin. It will keep for weeks in a sealed container in a cool place and improve with age.
