Christmas Fruit Cake
A rich, rum-soaked Christmas fruit cake loaded with dried fruits, nuts, and warm spices. Best made 3 days ahead for the flavors to develop.
The Backstory
This Kerala-style Christmas plum cake is a family tradition that I've been perfecting over the years. The secret is in the rum-soaked fruits – the longer they soak, the more incredible the flavor. People do it almost a year in advance. I start soaking my fruits in early December for Christmas baking. The aroma of cardamom, cinnamon, and rum-soaked fruits filling the kitchen is pure Christmas magic.
Instructions
- 1
Make Caramel Syrup: Heat ½ cup sugar in a pan over medium flame. Once it starts melting, stir continuously until fully melted and amber-colored. Carefully add ½ cup hot water (it will splatter - lower heat first). Stir until smooth and set aside to cool.
- 2
Prepare Dry Ingredients: Sift together 1½ cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ⅛ tsp baking soda, ⅛ tsp salt, ¼ tsp cardamom, ⅛ tsp cloves, ¼ tsp cinnamon, and ⅛ tsp nutmeg. Set aside.
- 3
Prepare Fruit Mix: Drain the soaked fruits, reserving the rum liquid. Take 1½ cups drained fruits, ¼ cup crushed cashews, orange zest, and 2 tbsp orange marmalade. Toss with 3 tbsp flour to coat (prevents sinking).
- 4
Cream Butter and Sugar: Beat 200g butter (room-temperature) until pale and fluffy (5 minutes). Add 1 cup brown sugar and beat until light and creamy. Remember unlike granulated sugar, brown sugar wont get that creamy and we don't need it to be.
- 5
Add Eggs (Critical Step!): Add 3 eggs (room-temperature) ONE AT A TIME, beating 30 seconds between each. Add 1 tbsp flour (from the dry ingredient mix) after each egg to stabilize the emulsion. Add vanilla essence and reserved rum.
- 6
Combine: Alternately fold in the dry ingredients and caramel syrup in 3 additions, starting and ending with dry ingredients. Fold in the prepared fruit mix.
- 7
Bake: Pour into prepared pan(s) lined with butter paper. Bake at 170°C/340°F for 60-70 minutes (for 8-inch pan) or 160°C/325°F for 75-90 minutes (for two 6-inch pans). Cake is done when a skewer comes out clean.
- 8
Finish: Brush warm cake with reserved rum. Cool completely, wrap in butter paper, then foil. Best eaten after 3 days minimum. For richer flavor, lightly brush with rum every 3 days for 1-2 weeks, rewrapping after each feeding. Keeps for weeks if wrapped properly.
Baking Schedule
Baker's Tips
- *Soak fruits in rum for at least 2 weeks before baking for best flavor
- *Flexibility is key with the fruit mix. The list of dried fruits is just a suggestion – raid your pantry and use whatever you have! Raisins, dates, figs, cranberries, candied peel... mix and match freely. The proportions don't need to be exact either. When it comes time to make the cake, you're only using 1½ cups of the soaked mixture anyway, so there's plenty of room to improvise.
- *Butter and eggs MUST be at room temperature
- *Warm cold eggs in bowl of warm water for 5 minutes, if pressed for time
- *Add eggs one at a time, beat well between each
- *Add 1 tbsp flour after each egg to stabilize and prevent curdling
- *For 6-inch pans, tent with foil after 45-50 min if top browns too fast
- *Curdling can happen when adding eggs to the butter-sugar mixture – it's usually a temperature issue. Make sure both butter and eggs are at room temperature before you start. If it does curdle slightly, don't worry – the batter will smooth out once you add the flour.
- *Cake gets better with age. Personally 1 week is the sweet spot and brushing rum on day 1 and 3