Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe | Plum Cake | with step by step photos, description and video. A popular and flavoured fruity cake recipe made with a delicious combination of dry fruits and nuts. The recipe can yield a 3/4 kg cake, if you using the exact measurements from the ingredients list.
This recipe is made using the soaked fruits and nuts using wine. By the way, for those who want a non-alcoholic version could use orange, apple, pomegranate, grape juice or a combination of these. For any queries regarding how to soak dried fruits and nuts , click on the link. I had tried it as a simple piece of cake in a 7.5″ inch square pan & also as 2 round cakes of 5″ inch sized mold.
What is a Traditional Plum Cake?
Plum cake refers to a wide range of cakes made with either dried fruit (such as currants, raisins, or prunes) or with fresh fruit. There is a wide range of popular plum cakes and puddings.
Fruit cake is prepared by chopping all the dry fruits and soaking it in alcohol( rum/brandy/wine/juice). It is usually made well before Christmas, almost a month in advance, and the cake is stored in an airtight container. Then a small amount of Rum/Brandy/Wine is poured over the cake periodically. This is called feeding the cake.
Why is it called plum cake?
It is not clear, however, how it came to be called the plum pudding, or plum cake. Some believe that raisins, or currants, was also referred to as plums (or plumb) in England. The recipe was abundant in raisins, hence the name.
Tips & Important Notes To Make A Perfect Plum Cake
This recipe is very simple and beginner-friendly recipe with not many technicalities at all. Here are some important points to keep in mind while making this cake.
- Make sure all your baking ingredients are at room temperature. Even the boiled dry fruits mixture should be at room temperature when it is being added to the cake batter.
- The cake batter shouldn’t be over mixed.
- To get the best textured plum cake, it has to be baked for long time at low temperature. It takes about 45 mins at 160°C to get the cake baked to a golden beauty. The timing can vary based on the size of the cake tin also.
- Wait for the cake to be completely cooled down and in fact it best to let it rest for a night or a day before cutting it to get clean slices.
How to make Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe | Plum Cake ?
Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe | Plum Cake | with step by step photos, description and video. A traditional fruit cake with a rich, velvety texture that’s so full flavoured and moist it can be eaten plain. Once the fruits and nuts are soaked in advance the cake mixing process becomes so simple and quite easy. In addition, the spice mix makes the cake more aromatic. If you had not tried this spice mix, you should really try this one. You will love that smell. Let us move onto the recipe.
If you are looking for more fruit cake recipes of different versions, do check below:
Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe | Plum Cake
Course: DessertCuisine: InternationalDifficulty: Medium750
gm15
minutes45
minutes1
hourChristmas Fruit Cake Recipe | Plum Cake | with step by step photos, description and video. A popular and flavoured fruity cake recipe made with a delicious combination of dry fruits and nuts.
Ingredients
- Sugar Syrup
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Sugar
1/3 cup Hot Water
- Cake Ingredients
1 cup Maida
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Spice Powder(Mix of 1/2 tsp Clove Powder+1/4 tsp Nutmeg Powder+1/4 tsp Cinnamon Powder)
1/4 tsp Salt
100 gm Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Sugar Syrup
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
1/2 tsp Plum Cake Essence (optional)
1 tsp Melted Ghee
1 to 11/2 cup Dry Fruits and Nuts soaked in Red wine
Directions
- Sugar Syrup
- Firstly, For preparing the caramel syrup, add 1/4 cup & 1 tbsp sugar on a pan & heat it over a low-medium flame. Heat it & let the sugar melt over a low flame.
- Color will change from golden to brown & the it starts to bubble up. At this stage add 1/3 cup of hot water to this. You need to be very careful at this stage since the water tends to splash and can cause burns.
- Mix it and allow it to boil for 30 seconds. Turn off the flame & allow to cool down.
- Preheat the oven at 160 degree for 10 minutes.
- Preparation of Spice Powder
- In a small jar take nearly 40 cloves, 2 long cinnamon sticks and 2 nutmegs. Grind them to a fine powder. Keep it aside. Store it in an air tight container for the freshness to be kept for further use. I used the same spice powder while soaking the dry fruits.
- Preparing Cake Batter
- Let us, prepare the dry ingredients. Sieve in 1 cup maida, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp spice powder and 1/4 tsp Salt.
- Mix using a fork or a whisk. Keep it aside.
- In a bowl add 100 gm unsalted butter.
- Using a beater at medium or high speed, or using a whisk beat until it looks fluffy.
- Add 1/2 cup sugar little by little and beat until it changes color.
- Scrape off the sides.
- Add in 2 eggs along with 1/2 tsp vanilla essence. Start beating the eggs at high speed and slowly combine everything well until its creamy.
- Add the dry ingredients into this, in two batches. Mix using a spatula or a mixer. If using hand mixer, make sure here after use it only at the low speed.
- When it starts to become thick, add in 1/4 cup cooled caramel syrup.
- Mix and form a smooth batter.
- At this stage add 1 tsp melted ghee and 1/2 tsp plum cake essence. Mix in well.
- Finally, add in 1 cup of red wine soaked dry fruits.
- Combine them well. Batter will be thick.
- Transfer the contents into a 7″ square cake tin line with baking paper. Tap & level it. If using a 5″ inch cake pan you can use this same batter to make 2 round cakes of approximately 360 gm each.
- Decorate the cake top with some cashews or raisins of your choice.
- Baking Process
- Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degree for 45 to 50 minutes.
- Insert a skewer in the middle of the cake and check if the cake is baked perfectly.
- Allow to cool down for 4 hrs. Demold it and cut it next day for better results. Cut and serve the fruit cake. You will love it.
- The cake yields approximately 750 gm.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Baking this cake at 160 or 150 degree works well. The long the time takes to bake the fruit cake, the perfect the cake will be.
- The baking time will vary based on the size of the cake pan using.
- Adding ghee and plum cake essence is optional, but trust me they add a magical flavor to the cake.