Spiced Fruit Cake

When I think of Christmas I am transported to my childhood days - when we celebrated Christmas in school. Also, I used to visit a friend's house every Christmas and have slice after slice of the most out-of-the-world delicious Christmas cake - I don't have the recipe to it but I can still remember the taste very vividly. My friend's mom used to make this cake, year after year and it always tasted the same, which means perfect every time. They moved out of India and that was the last of her cakes I tasted :( I feel a strange sense of nostalgia mixed with sadness - I had not realised until now that it has been over a decade since I last spoke to her. Where have the good times gone ! Life was simple as a kid :)

I generally buy the plum and fruit cakes from the bakery but since I have been into baking quite a lot - I decided to skip the store bought cakes for some homemade fare. It does not require you to soak the dry fruits in advance and is also alcohol free - quick and kid friendly !

Spiced Fruit Cake

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup chopped dry fruits (I used walnuts, almonds, cashews)
1/4 cup black raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 1/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 clove
1 cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt 

Pound together the clove, cardamom and cinnamon into a fine powder.

Mix the salt, flour, spices and baking powder together until well combined.

Grease and dust a baking tin.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Prepare the caramel: Take 3/4 of a cup of sugar in a thick bottomed pan and heat it over medium heat. The sugar will begin to melt and slowly turn into a brown liquid. Keep stirring till all the sugar dissolves and turns dark brown. Remove from heat and add about 1/2 a cup of water. Put the pan back on heat and stir till the sugar dissolves into the water and forms a thick caramel. Keep aside to cool for later.

Mix the dry fruits, raisins and cranberries in about 2 tbs of flour and coat them well. This helps in ensuring that the nuts don't sink to the bottom of the cake.

Beat the butter and remaining sugar till they are light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract and an eggs and beat. Then add a third of the flour mixture and fold in. Alternate between the eggs and flour until all the flour is used up.

Add the cooled caramel and dry fruits to the batter and fold it in. Pour the mixture in the cake tin and bake at 180 degree Celsius for 45 minutes.

Dust with icing sugar once cooled. Mine did not last till it was cooled so I don't have any pics with the finished cake complete with the icing sugar.

Since everybody absolutely loved it, and because I have been requested to make another batch, I do hope I will be able to share the pics of the cake in its full glory !

Be warned to make a larger batch of the cake - it vanishes in minutes.