Florentine Christmas Fruitcake
Recipe From What's For Lunch, Honey?
Ingredients
For the cake
280g all-purpose flour
250g butter, room temperature
140g muscovado sugar
6 eggs, lightly beaten
85g ground almonds
2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground all spice
700g mixed dried fruit of choice, I used
- blueberries
- cherries
- raisins
- candied orange peel
- candied ginger
140g marzipan, cubed
2-3 tablespoons rum
For the topping
50g salted whole macadamia nuts
50g pecan nuts
85g almonds, sliced
85g hazelnuts, sliced
140g Maraschino cherries
80g maple syrup
20g black treacle
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly butter and line a the base and sides of a deep round cake form with a loose bottom (22cm) with baking paper.
In a bowl whisk the sugar, butter, flour, eggs, ground almonds and spices with an electric hand held beater. Whisk the mixture until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and it is thick and creamy.
Weigh about 100g of the batter into a smaller bowl and set it aside for the topping.
In the rest of the batter fold in the fruit and rum using a spatula, then gently stir in the marzipan. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared cake form, smoothing to the top with the spatula. Bake the cake for approx. 1 to 1.5 hours (mine took about 1.25 hours).
In the meantime, mix all the nuts and Marschino cherries with the 100g cake batter that was reserved to make the topping. Pour in the treacle and maple syrup and stir until everything is coated well.
Once the cake has baked for 1-1.5 hours remove from oven and spoon the topping mixture over the top, distributing it evenly. Cover loosely with some aluminum foil and place bake in the over for another 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes to brown the nuts. The cake is ready when a wooden skewer inserted in the middle of it comes out clean.
Cool cake completely in tin, then turn it out and cover tightly with foil. The cake will keep for 1-2 weeks stored in a cool dry place.
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