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

- cranberries

- 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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Weigh about 100g of the batter into a smaller bowl and set it aside for the topping.

  4. 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).

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2010 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | If you are interested in using my texts or photographs please contact me | You may not use my work for commercial purposes without my permission | You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work in any form | Please Ask First