Bake a Light Fruit Cake

A light fruit cake is a wonderful thing to have in the cupboard, either to serve to guests or to enjoy yourself after a hard morning's work. This is an easy recipe which requires no specialised knowledge at all - anyone can do it. It produces a light textured cake which improves if kept for a few days.

Ingredients

  • 10 oz self raising flour
  • 5 oz butter
  • 5 oz sugar (brown for a darker cake, white for a lighter one)
  • 1 desert spoon golden syrup
  • 2 table spoons of ground almonds
  • 1 lb dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, currants, mixed peel and cherries)
  • grated rind of one small lemon
  • 2 eggs
  • a little milk
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • rum or brandy (optional)

Steps

  1. Preheat your oven to 160 C.
  2. Line an {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} baking tin with greaseproof paper.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, rub in your fat, flour and sugar (using your finger tips) until you have a mixture that looks a little like bread crumbs.
  4. Add the mixed mixed spice, dried fruit, lemon rind and ground almonds and mix them in so that they are evenly distributed through the mixture.
  5. Add the eggs and syrup and a splash of milk - you need the mixture to be stiff but for your spoon to move through it fairly easily. Mix gently with a wooden spoon.
  6. Transfer the cake mix into your lined tin and gently spread it out to the edges using a spatula. Make sure to get all the mix out of the bowl.
  7. Bake for 1 hour, 15 minutes approximately.
  8. Test the cake is cooked by placing a skewer into the centre. If it is cooked, the skewer will come away clean. Listen to the cake as well, if there is a hissing sound, then place the cake back in the oven for 10 minutes more.
  9. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. Turn it out after a couple of hours and allow to cool right down on a rack.
  10. Wrap your cake in tinfoil when it is quite cold, and store.
  11. Finished.

Tips

  • oven temperatures vary - check your cake after an hour but do not be surprised if it takes longer to cook.
  • soak the fruit overnight in rum or brandy for a moister cake.

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