Christmas Fruit Cake with Rum ….

“Through the window I see snowflakes
My Mama’s making fruitcakes
Our tree all lit up makes us feel love and cheer
So kiss me beneath the mistletoe ’cause Christmas is here”

On the 12th day & Grand Finale of my Bakes and Treats I bring to you Classic Christmas Fruit Cake ..
Have You Made Your Christmas Cake Yet ???

This Fruit cake is full of fruit and nuts soaked in rum for more then a month. I especially love this fruit cake for its wonderful combination of nuts and dried fruits with barely enough cake batter to hold it all together.
This fruit cake is full of raisins, currants, dried cranberries, dried apricots, and candied fruits and peels…
This cake can be frozen so it might be a good idea to make two and then you can freeze one for later in the year.

For Soaking the Fruits

Dry fruits – 3 cups (I used Golden raisins,Black Currants,Prunes,Glazed Cherries ,Pineapple, Apricot, Cashews,orange peels & lemon peels )
RUM ( I Used dark Rum) it should completely cover all the dry fruits ..

Caramel Syrup (to be used in the Cake)

Sugar – 1½ cups
Water – 1 tbslp
Hot Water – ¾ cup

Spice mix for the cake

Cinnamon powder – ½ tsp
Clove powder – ½ tsp
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Nutmeg powder – ½ tsp
Dried ginger powder – ½ tsp

Ingredients for the cake

For Fruit Cake

Butter – 1 cup or 2 sticks (at room temperature)
Powdered OR confectioners sugar 2 ½ cups (OR 1 cup of dark brown sugar )
Eggs 3

All purpose flour – 2 ½ cups
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Salt – 1/4 tsp
All the above mentioned Spice mix
Small pieces of walnuts and Almonds – 1 cup ( or nuts of your choice)

All of the Rum soaked fruits

Directions:

For Soaking the fruits

I soak my dry fruits at least 1 month in advance .
Chop all the dry fruits and place them in an airtight container, soaking them in required amount of Rum. Make sure that all the dried fruits are completely covered with rum ..

For Caramel Syrup

Mix 1.5 cups of sugar with 1 tblsp water on medium heat in a deep bottomed saucepan. Keep on stirring until the caramel syrup looks almost dark brown or black in color.
Take it off the stove and add hot water . Stir well ..

To Bake the Fruit Cake

1. Preheat Oven to 350F and
2. Grease your Cake pan/ bunt pan (I used a non-stick Bundt cake pan)
2. Sift all the dry ingredients at least twice to get rid of all the lumps – (Flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and Spices.)
3.Add the nuts ( almonds & walnuts ) mix well and keep aside.
4. Beat the butter with powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until well incorporated.
5.Add in the dry ingredients slowly and mix until combined.
6. Add the Vanilla essence and Caramel syrup and combine everything together.
7.Strain the rum soaked dry fruits saving the rum to be used later , and coat them with sall-purpose flour so that the fruits don’t sink to the bottom of cake
8. Add the fruits into the cake batter , Using wooden spoon to mix the fruits into the cake evenly.
9. Pour the cake batter into your prepared cake pan bake for an hour.
10. I did a cake test at 55 mins by inserting a chopstick into the cake center.
If the chopstick comes clean, the cake is ready.

After Baking

1. Use a skewer to poke a few holes almost all the way through the cake immediately after getting it out of the oven . & pour 3 Tbs of the saved rum over the cake
2.Allow the cake to cool and then flip the onto a wire-rack.
3. Once the cake is released from the pan brush it all over with reserved rum .

I hear sleigh bells are ringing
My whole family singing
We know Santa’s bringing
Special presents this year
So kiss me beneath the mistletoe ’cause Christmas is here