The first Christmas after I got married, my husband had to work on Christmas Day so I met him at lunchtime and we had a picnic lunch in the Botanical Gardens, which was a lovely way to celebrate our first Christmas together. That first Christmas also meant my first Christmas cake baking effort. It was a disaster, a soggy undercooked cake – ruined. When I told Mum she smiled and told me to mashing it all up in a bowl add a cup of cold tea and recook it as a pudding and to this day I’m still amazed that it worked. My cooking improved somewhat after that and this Dutch Fruit Cake became the recipe I used for many years. Adding the mixed peel and nuts and brushing the cake with brandy while still hot makes the cake a little more Christmasy.
DUTCH FRUIT CAKE
- 125g butter
- 250g sugar
- 1 cup cold water
- 125g currants
- 250g raisins
- 375g sultanas
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- lemon juice
- 2 eggs well beaten
- 1 cup Self Raising Flour
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 dessertspoon treacle or golden syrup
- ½ teaspoon bi-carb soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon of boiling water
Line a cake tin with a layer of brown paper and a layer of baking paper. Boil together butter, sugar, water, fruit, spices, lemon juice for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool. When cool stir in beaten eggs, flours, treacle and lastly bi-carb soda dissolved in boiling water. Bake in a moderate oven 180o for 2 hours. Mixed peel and nuts can be added if like. For a Christmas touch – when still hot from the oven pierce the cake with a skewer and brush with brandy.
Beb's Recipe Drawer 