Rich Fruitcake

Total Time: 73 hrs 45 mins Preparation Time: 72 hrs Cook Time: 1 hr 45 mins

Ingredients

• 250 g plain flour
• 250 g butter
• 150 g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons caramels (or more for better colour)
• 150 g black currants
• 100 g sultanas
• 50 g raisins
• 50 g glace cherries
• 50 g tutti-frutti
• 1 teaspoon lemon, grated
• 50 g almonds, chopped
• 50 g cashews (rolled in caramel)
• 1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ground nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons black currant jam

Recipe

• 1 soak black currants, sultanas, raisins, cherries and tutti-fruiti in orange juice for 2 days.
• 2 as far as preparing caramel is concerned, you could either caramelise sugar at home by melting it over the gas with a little water and butter (to keep it from drying) or you could buy brown sugar from the market.
• 3 instead of caramel, add 100 gms.
• 4 brown sugar.
• 5 but remember to add a tablespoons.
• 6 or more of caramel too.
• 7 to prepare this cake, you require a 7 inch round cake tin (plus greae proof/butter paper).
• 8 you will also require a balloon whisk to blend the ingredients and bowls to mix them.
• 9 to start preparing this cake, put castor sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl.
• 10 add sugar.
• 11 stir well with a balloon whisk.
• 12 add nuts.
• 13 fold in three-fourth of the flour into the mixture.
• 14 in the remaining flour, mix the soaked fruits so that they will not stick to the bottom while baking.
• 15 add the fruits and stir again.
• 16 take the cake tin, cut a circular shape from the grease proof/butter paper, by placing the tin on top and tracing around the base, and insert it into the tin.
• 17 do not forget to brush the insides of the tin and the sides with vegetable oil or butter before placing the lining.
• 18 make strips of the paper to line the sides of the tin.
• 19 preheat oven to 140 degrees for 10 minutes.
• 20 spoon the prepared mixture into the tin.
• 21 bake for an hour and 45 minutes.
• 22 when baked take it out of the tin and leave it to cool overnight.
• 23 cover it airtight with cling film.
• 24 you could leave the lining paper on the cake to keep it moist.
• 25 when cool, place it on a cake base, apply black currant jam on all sides and roll out the marzipan (recipe posted separately) dough.
• 26 cover the cake with the dough tightly so as to avoid air bubbles.
• 27 cut the edges to shape the cake.
• 28 now roll out the fondant icing and place it on top to cover the cake completely, till the edges of the base.
• 29 decorate it with red ribbon and make a spray of flowers using the sugar paste (also known as"fondant icing"- recipe posted separately).
• 30 add red colour to it before creating the flowers.
• 31 you can use flower moulds to make roses.
• 32 make cherries and leaves for effect.
• 33 enjoy an early chirstmas!