Fruit Cake (made of fruit juice and no alcohol)

Fruit Cake (made of  100 % fruit juice and no alcohol)

All the ingredients should be at room temperature and please use standard measuring cups and teaspoons. Here I ‘ve used Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity. Please follow the recipe ingredients carefully and do not make any changes. Do not open the oven door (OTG) often when baking time.

Ingredients

For the flour:

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour ( maida ) (please use fresh all purpose flour)

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon clove powder

¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

 Sieve thrice flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon powder, clove powder and nutmeg powder.

Other ingredients

½  level cup unsalted butter / cooking butter (weight measurement 50 g) Please do not measure in heaped cup

1/2 cup + 2 teaspoons  sugar, measure in cup and teaspoon and later make a powder

2 eggs (net weight of 2 eggs are 110 g)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 tablespoon  fruit juice (Tropica or Real fruit juice 100 % without sugar) + 3 teaspoon

1 teaspoon shajeera (cake jeera)

65 g (1/2 cup) raisins

3 dried orange peel, finely chopped into ¼ - inch pieces

6 cashew nuts, chopped

6 seedless dates, finely chopped (net weight of dry fruits is 125 g – any dry fruit of your choice, like black currants, sultanas, figs..)

2 tablespoon flour ( for dusting fruits)

2 tablespoon thin caramel sugar syrup

1 teaspoon extra butter ( for greasing baking pan )

1 tablespoon extra flour dusting ( for baking dish )

6 cashew nut splits (to decorate cake)

Method

How To Caramelize Sugar?

 ( An easy  homestyle  preparation)

  

Short method - Heat a heavy bottomed kadai on a medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon sugar. When it melts, color changes from yellow to dark brown. Switch off the heat .  Maintain a safe distance from the gas stove and add 3 tablespoon extra water and mix well with a thick tablespoon. Keep aside for 10 minutes.  A clear 2 tablespoon thin sugar syrup is ready now.

1 st stage:

Dust fruits ( cashew nuts, dates, raisins & orange peel ) and shajeera with 2 tablespoons of flour and keep aside in a separate container for 1 hour.

Grease baking dish with 1 teaspoon butter and dust with 1 tablespoon flour ( sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of flour inside a cake pan and shake to coat all greased surface. Turn pan upside down to tap out the excess flour ).

Pre heat oven at 170 * C or 325 * F.

2 nd stage:

In a big bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add egg one by one and beat until smooth and creamy (use electric beater).

Gently add dusted fruits (do not add leftover flour). Mix it well slowly with the help of a thick tablespoon (do not use electric beater).

Add vanilla essence and 2 tablespoon  mixed fruit juice. Gently mix it with a thick tablespoon.

Gently fold sieved flour mixture in 3 batches. Stir it slowly till blended. Add 2 tablespoon caramel syrup and mix gently. It should be a medium thick batter. If the batter is very thick in consistency, then add remaining 1 - 2 teaspoon fruit juice.  If the cake batter is too thin, it won’t bake properly. Please do not add leftover fruit juice / milk / water / flour ...

 Final procedure:

Transfer this cake mixture into a greased baking pan ( or paper lined ). Spread  it evenly with a spatula, carefully decorate with cashew nut splits and bake at 170 * C or 325 * F for 50 minutes.

Bake  till golden brown or till a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean / leaves from the sides of the pan. Keep aside to cool for one hour.

Run a knife round inside of the pan to loosen the cake, and then invert the pan. Cut into desired shape and size.