Dunkelheit

Yule Fruit Cake

Fruit cake is a traditional Yule / Christmas cake. Versions of it exist throughout Northern Europe. This recipe is for the traditional British style of fruit cake.

• ⏲️ Prep time: 24 hours
• 🍳 Cooking Time: 40 - 60 minutes
• 🍽️ Servings: 20

Ingredients

• Wet Mix
  • Almonds
  • Currants
  • Glazed Cherries
  • Orange Peel
  • Raisins
  • Sultanas
  • Apricots (Optional)
  • Figs (Optional)
  • Prunes (Optional)
• Dry Mix
  • Almond Flour
  • Plain Flour
  • Spices:
    • Allspice, Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, Mace, Nutmeg
• Butter Mix
  • Butter
  • Dark Muscovado Sugar
  • Treacle
  • Eggs (Optional)
• Spirit (Rum or Brandy)
  • Brandy will give your cake a fruitier taste.
  • Rum will give your cake a sweeter taste.

Directions

1. Add all ingredients of the Wet Mix in a large mixing bowl and mix until an even distribution is observed.
2. Add your chosen spirit to the Wet Mix. Use an amount that is roughly one quarter of the Wet Mix.
3. Mix everything until wet.
4. Leave the Wet Mix for at least 24 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 165°C, prepare enough baking paper for cake or bread tin(s).
6. Add all Dry Mix ingredients and mix in a separate mixing bowl.
   • Proportion spices as you like for taste.
   • Proportion flours as you like for texture.
7. Add Butter to a mixing bowl, add the muscovado sugar and beat until creamy.
   • You can add egg to this if you wish.
8. Add the Dry Mix to the Butter Mix and mix in batches, adding treacle as desired.
9. Add the Wet Mix in batches until everything is in the same bowl.
10. Add the cake mix to your baking tin(s) and flatten on top.
11. Bake for 40 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven and poke the centre with a wooden toothpick or kebab skewer / chopstick.
    • If clear the cake is done.
    • If not then return to oven for 5-10 minutes and check for clean centre.
13. Sit for 10-15 minutes and then feed the cake with some of your chosen spirit.
14. When cooled prepare for storage in a cool and dry place, feed the cake once or twice a week with your chosen spirit.
15. After 6 weeks the cake is ready to be eaten.

Notes

1. You can add other fruits, spices, etc as you please. This is a “rustic” recipe intended to use whatever you have or would like to use.
2. Feel free to experiment with the spirit used, mixing the two for the soak or alternating for the feed, etc.
   • Just make sure you do not use a liqueur and you are using a spirit, you do not want to introduce surface sugar to the cake after it has baked.
3. I personally don’t use eggs in mine as I prefer a dry textured fruit cake.