Tropical Christmas Cake Recipe

Instead of the traditional fruit used in a rich fruit cake like sultanas and currants, this recipe uses tropical ones like pineapple, papaya and mango giving a very different flavor and a lovely, moist cake.

Ingredients

• 6 oz raisins
• 4 ozs ready to eat dried apricots
• 4 ozs stoned dates
• 3 ozs ready to eat dried mango
• 3 oz ready to eat dried papaya
• 3 oz dried pineapple
• 2 oz dried cherries
• 2 oz dried cranberries
• 3 oz crystallised ginger
• 4 oz chopped almonds
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
• Rind of one lemon, grated
• Juice of one lemon
• 8 fl oz (200ml) rum or other spirit
• 7 oz self raising (cake) flour
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 7 oz softened butter
• 3 oz demerara (light brown) sugar
• 3 oz black treacle (molasses is a good substitute)
• 3 beaten eggs

Method

1. Cut up any large pieces of dried fruit, they should all be no larger than one inch cubes. Put all the dried fruit (not apple or lemon) in a large bowl, add half the rum or other spirit, cover with a clean cloth and leave overnight.

2. Grease then line an 8in cake tin (pan) with a double layer of greaseproof (wax) paper, grease the paper. Preheat oven to 150 deg C (300 deg F).

3. Mix the lemon rind and juice with the grated apple then stir it and the chopped almonds into the dried fruit mixture. Sieve (strain) the flour and spices together.

4. Cream the butter, demerara sugar and black treacle together - it's easiest to do this with an electric mixer until relatively lighter in colour and fluffier.

5. Gradually beat in the eggs then fold in the sieved flour and spices. Again do this gradually, a bit at a time.

6. Stir the dried fruit, nuts and apple into the cake mixture.

7. Transfer the mixture to the prepared cake tin (pan) and bake for about 2 hours 30 minutes. A skewer or fine bladed knife should come out clean when it is done. If the top of the cake is browning too fast, cover it with foil for the last 15 to 20 minutes. When it's cooked, leave to cool in the cake tin.

8. When it's cold, make holes in the cake with a skewer or fine bladed knife and use the remaining rum to pour into the cake.

9. Wrap it in greaseproof paper then store in an airtight container. In a cool, dry place, it should keep for at least 6 weeks.

10. You can cover with marzipan and then icing in the traditional way.

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