Cherry and Brandy Fruit Cake

Boiled fruit cakes are excellent to fall back on when in a rush, and knowing that I will want cake in the house when I return from being away this is perfect. I'm packing, so this is all being done hurriedly, however it is so reassuring to know that there will be some fruit cake in the refrigerator when I return, as fresh as when it was made, and possibly even tastier as the brandy does it's work over time.
However, next time I make this cake, I will leave the cherries whole rather than cutting them in  half, as they seem to have disappeared amongst the other fruit. Although this hasn't affected the flavour, there is such delight isn't there with finding a few whole cherries when eating fruit cake?

This cake mixture makes two good sized round cakes, I use 20 cm cake tins. I only made these yesterday, and half of this one has disappeared already. Needless to say, Neil loves fruit cake. I have another one though to take with me as well.

If I ever write a recipe book, I'm sure it will be filled with all of the wonderful recipes that friends have cooked and shared with me over the years. This is Paul's delicious fruit cake recipe which I have been wanting to try for a long time and can also be made into large muffin size cakes and given to friends as Christmas gifts. He has done this, and sold them at a Christmas school fete, where they all sold as soon as they hit the cake table.

Add a few nuts, some more brandy, some ribbons, and some icing and this fruit cake could stand proudly as your Christmas cake.

Let's Cook:

Boiled Ingredients:

250 grams butter
1 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of water
3/4 cup brandy
1/2 kg sultanas
1/2 kg raisins
2 pkts glace cherries, left whole
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice

Method:

Place all the above ingredients in a large saucepan, melt the butter and slowly bring the ingredients to the boil. Simmer until the fruit softens, add 1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda, stir, and remove from heat to cool. I generally leave fruit cake mixtures to cool overnight.
Let's cook:

In a large bowl add the following:

1 1/2 cups of plain flour

1 1/2 cups SR Flour

3 eggs plus the cooled fruit and mix thoroughly.

This is a photo of the first one I made of this cake.

Cook in one tin or two, or even muffin tins. It is preferable to line the cake tins with two layers of brown paper to prevent them from burning.

In two 20 cm tins, cook for one hour and ten minutes at 160 degrees.

Best wishes,

Pauline