Easy Fruit Cake (no added caramel sugar, alcohol and golden syrup)

Easy fruit Cake (No added caramel syrup, alcohol & golden syrup)

All the ingredients should be at room temperature and please use standard measuring cups and teaspoons. Use same measuring cup to measure flour, sugar, chopped dry fruits  and unsalted butter. Ratio is 1: 1: 1: 1, equal amount of flour, powdered sugar, chopped dry fruits and butter.

Ingredients

For the flour:

1/2 level cup (100 ml) all purpose flour ( maida ) (please use fresh all purpose flour)  Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity.

½  level teaspoon baking powder

One pinch salt

Other ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted soft butter (cooking butter). Keep aside to cool for half hour. Then it will become soft (weight measurement is 50 g)

1/2  level cup (100 ml) powdered sugar

2 eggs, (net weight of 2 eggs are 100 g)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon milk

½ cup chopped dry fruits (a mix of chopped dried orange peel, tutti fruitti, raisins, chopped cashew nuts - loosely fill in ½ cup)

Extra 1 teaspoon butter ( to grease baking dish)

Method

The cake needs to be sturdy enough to support the weight of the fruits and nuts. Not using enough flour in your recipe will make the dried fruit sink to the bottom. To prevent this, dust the dried fruit in flour before adding to the mixture. Source – thekitchn.com and ehow.

Dust fruits (cashew nuts, tutti fruitti,  raisins & orange peel) with 2 tablespoons of flour (maida). Mix well with a thick tablespoon. Flour should be well coated  on fruits and there won’t be any water content. Cover and keep aside 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 ).

Sieve thrice flour, baking powder, salt.

Preheat oven (OTG) at 170 *C or 325 *F.

In a big bowl, beat  soft unsalted butter (@ room temperature) until creamy with the help of an electrical beater.

Add powdered sugar and beat until creamy.

Add egg one by one and beat until smooth and creamy / light golden color (use electric beater).

Add sieved flour in batches (2 batches) and gently mix with the help of a thick tablespoon (do not use electric beater at this stage) until well blended / smooth cake mixture.

Add  1 teaspoon vanilla essence and 2 teaspoon lemon juice. Mix with a thick tablespoon.

Now the cake mixture is thick in consistency. At this stage, add 1 tablespoon milk and mix gently with a thick tablespoon until all the ingredients well combined.

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

 Please do not add extra milk, water, leftover lemon juice … If the cake batter is too thin, it won't bake properly.

Final procedure:

Transfer this cake mixture into a greased baking pan - ring, square or round (or paper lined ).  Spread it evenly with a spatula (decorate with cashew nuts or almonds on the top of the cake batter if required) and bake at 170 * C or 325* F for  35 - 40 minutes or till golden brown or till a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean / leaves from the sides of the pan.  Remove from the oven and transfer the cake into a cooling rack. Keep aside to cool for one hour. Cut into desired shape and size.