Fruit Cake - ఫ్రూట్ కేక్ - Merry Christmas Eggless Cake - గాయత్రి వంటిల్లు
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Recipe Text
For making candied peels and fruit candies Click here to watch my another movie
Ingredients:
Maida – 35gms
Sweetened Condensed Milk – 100gms [At Room Temperature]
Unsalted Butter – 25gms [At Room Temperature]
Baking Powder – 1/8tsp
Hot Water – 1/8Cup {Microwave On High Power For 10 Seconds}
Instant Coffee Powder – 1/3tsp
Cocoa Powder – 1/3tsp
Candied Plum Pieces – 25gms
Candied Pineapple Pieces – 30gms
Mango Jelly Pieces – 25gms
Currants – 25gms
Dried Apricot Pieces – 10gms
Sultanas – 25gms
Candied Gooseberry Pieces – 10gms
Raisins – 10gms
Candied Lemon Peels – 5gms
Candied Orange Peels – 25gms
Fig Pieces – 15gms
Dried Date Pieces – 15gms
Almond Pieces – 10gms
Cashew Nut Pieces – 10gms
Walnut Pieces – 10gms
Candied Syrup – 25gms {Syrup Left After Making Gooseberry Candy) {Jam May Be Substituted}
Brandy – 20ml {Orange Juice May Be Substituted}
Mixed Spices – Few (Fennel Seeds, Piece Of Nutmeg, Piece Of Cinnamon, Clove, Green Cardamom, Few Seeds Of Black Cardamom, Piece Of Star Anise, Piece Of Mace)
For making candied peels and fruit candies Click here to watch my another movie
(Online Conversion utility to convert Gms to Cups & Temperatures etc)
Preparations:
Into a mixing bowl add cashew nut pieces, almond pieces, sultanas, walnut pieces, currants, raisins, fig pieces, apricot pieces, date pieces, candied pineapple pieces, candied gooseberry pieces, candied lemon peels, mango jelly pieces, candied orange peels, candied plum pieces and brandy. Mix all the ingredients well and see that all nuts and fruits are coated with brandy. Cover the bowl and keep it aside overnight. For handy use soak the nuts and fruits in a jar, cover and shake it to coat the nuts and fruits with brandy evenly. Observe that the fruits absorb the brandy in ten minutes. For those who do not wish to use brandy, replace it with orange juice.
Next day preheat oven (Conventional oven suits better as cake takes longer time to get baked---here I have used an OTG) at 150OC. Take an oven proof cake bowl and add ghee into it. Coat the ghee by smearing at the bottom and sides of the bowl. Take butter paper in three layers and place at the bottom of the bowl. Similarly line the sides of the bowl also with layered butter paper. Coat the butter paper with ghee and keep this bowl aside.
To hot water add instant coffee powder and cocoa powder and mix well.
Using a mortar and pestle crush the mixed spices to a powder. Measure 1/8tsp of this powder and keep it aside till use.
Method:
Into a mixing bowl add unsalted butter and candied syrup. Mix well till the mixture is smooth and creamy. Then add sweetened condensed milk and mix till smooth. Now add the coffee-cocoa mixture and mix well. Add the measured spice powder and flour mixture to the prepared butter mixture and mix well. See that there are no lumps and the batter is smooth. Now add the soaked nuts and fruits and mix well. See that all the nuts and fruits are evenly coated with the cake batter. Transfer the mixture to the prepared cake bowl and level it with a flat spatula. Place this bowl in preheated oven and bake the cake at 150OC for one hour.
After one hour, place another rack above the cake rack in oven and cover it with a plate or aluminium foil—so that the top portion of the cake gets less heat and it would not burn. After covering bake the cake for another 30 minutes at 150OC. To test the cake, insert a toothpick and check. If the toothpick comes out clean, it indicates that the cake is done. If batter sticks to the toothpick, then bake the cake for some more time. When the cake is done, remove the bowl from oven and leave it in the bowl for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, transfer the cake on to a wire rack. Carefully remove the butter paper from the sides and bottom of the cake. Place the removed butter paper on wire rack and invert the cake on to this butter paper---this way the cake will not get the print of wire rack. Cool the cake completely before transferring it on to a serving plate. Cut into pieces and serve.
Points To Remember:
As cold things take longer time to bake, see that the sweetened condensed milk and unsalted butter are at room temperature.
Coffee and cocoa mixture would give a nice caramel colour along with flavour to the cake.
For the flour, butter and condensed milk used in this recipe, in total use 250gms of nuts and candied fruits/dry fruits.
As we are using many candied fruits which have their own unique flavour, there is no need to use any essence.
I have used the candied syrup in this recipe. As the candied syrup also has the flavour of the fruit used, I have used it in this cake in place of jam. Any jam of one’s preference may be substituted in place of candied syrup.
To soak fruits and nuts I have used brandy. Orange juice may be substituted in place of brandy. The dried fruits soaks up the alcohol or orange juice and is plumped out during baking resulting in a very moist cake. I made this cake using orange juice also. I have observed that the cake made using orange juice is very moist compared to the cake made using brandy. The reason is alcohol evaporates while orange juice got added to the liquid content in the cake. Also the candied fruits got soaked in orange juice becoming soft and got mixed up while baking giving it altogether a new flavour. Whereas when we use brandy the dry fruits like currants and raisins get plump up and all fruits and nuts used in the cake retained their shape even after baking. Hence when we take a bite of this fruit cake, we get different flavours in different bites depending on the fruit we get in that bite. Hence brandy is preferred over orange juice.
One can soak these fruits and nuts for up to two weeks also.
Mix baking powder well into the flour—if necessary sift baking powder and flour together to get mixed.
As the baking is done in a slow process at 150OC (slow baking) and also we are using less quantity of flour, use three layers of butter paper so that it will not get burnt.
Use freshly ground spices to get a flavourful cake.
A fruit cake is not light as a sponge cake, so it does not need to be beaten as much. Just mix till the batter is smooth.
After transferring the cake mixture to the prepared cake bowl smoothen it with a flat spatula making sure that the fruit is hidden by the cake mixture, because it is the fruit that will burn when exposed.
Use a serrated knife to cut the cake for best results. As the cake is rich with fruits and nuts it would be easy when we cut it using a serrated knife.
One more tip to cut the cake is to freeze it for 30 minutes before cutting to get even pieces.
It is advisable to use an OTG (Oven Toaster Grill) or a conventional oven over the convection mode (or a combination mode) of a microwave oven as the baking process is slow and takes longer time to bake.
Here I have shown the fruit cake using lesser quantities as we don’t have small children at home and it would be heavy for elders. For those who wish to make the cake in a bigger quantity multiply the measurements given and try.
Enjoy this rich eggless fruit cake even if it is not a festive season.
Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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