Paul's Cherry and Brandy Fruit Cake

 

This is my go to fruit cake recipe, all year round, when I'm not baking my Rum fruit cakes at Christmas time. This cake is also festively flavoured enough to grace your Christmas table, when dressed up in ribbons and bows.  Laced with brandy and adorned with whole glacé cherries throughout, it is a delicious cake to have on standby in your pantry or refrigerator when needed. This one will be travelling away with us shortly.

Fruit and Nut Sourdough Toast for Breakfast : makes 1 Loaf

This week I bring to you a fruity, hearty, and nourishing sourdough fruit loaf perfect for Sunday morning breakfast. Sourdough is a slow-fermented bread that is beneficial to our gut biome, and doesn't need commercial yeast to rise. It's made with a live fermented culture, a sourdough starter, which acts as a natural rising agent. Once you have a sourdough starter in your refrigerator, "the mother"  you can start baking sourdough bread. 

Pumpkin and Apricot Fruit Cake

Boiled fruit cakes are a great standby to have on hand in case of people dropping in for a cuppa without much warning or if you are busy and won't have time to do much cooking. They take a little while to make, however they are very simple to do. I think it is a good idea to have a boiled fruit cake recipe in your cooking repertoire when planning ahead for morning and afternoon teas, or homemade lunchbox treats etc.

This one is based on the pumpkin fruit cake my Mum used to make. I've increased the amount of  mixed fruit and added a cup of Apricot Nectar, a tip I saw on the back of a Sunbeam mixed fruit packet, resulting in a very moist cake which cuts beautifully. I buy the most economical mixed fruit available, preferably one with glace cherries in it though. A can of Apricot Nectar contains two cups of nectar so it is cost effective for me to make two cakes at the same time. I really enjoy baking a fruit cake in Winter, with the delicious and nostalgic aromas wafting through the house and the oven warming up the kitchen.

Ingredients:

500g (16 oz.) dried Mixed Fruit ( or include 125g. (4 oz.) each of sultanas, chopped dates,and chopped raisins in the 500g.)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
125g (4 oz.) butter, chopped
1 cup Apricot Nectar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup Plain flour, sifted
1 cup Self Raising flour, sifted
1 cup well drained cooked pumpkin, mashed and cold (I cook this the day before and refrigerate)

Let's cook:

Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin

Place the mixed fruit, sugar, syrup, butter, and apricot nectar in a large saucepan.

Bring to the boil, stirring continuously, and then simmer gently for 10 minutes.This will plump up the fruit beautifully.

Remove saucepan from the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda.  The mixture will froth up. Keep stirring gently until the frothing dies down. If it doesn't froth up, it means the bicarb of soda is probably stale and won't work properly.

Allow the mixture to cool.

At this stage preheat your oven to 160 degrees F.

When mixture has cooled, add the cold pumpkin and then the eggs and beat in gently until mixture is smooth.

Then add the flours and mix well to combine.

Place the mixture in the cake tin and bake for 90 minutes. Insert a skewer into the cake to check it is cooked. It will come out clean if the cake is cooked.

Original Pumpkin Fruit Cake recipe. Mum always used Fairy Cooking Margarine, much cheaper, and the results were still delicious.

Thanks for dropping by.

Warm wishes

Pauline

Fruity Noughat slice, an economical fruit and nut biscuit slice

Fruity Noughat Slice

Jump to the recipe here:

At this time of year, during the lead up to Christmas when we are making our Fruit cakes, Plum puddings, and Mince pies, this slice is an economical way of using up the leftover packets of mixed dried fruit and nuts. It is also just a quick slice recipe to have in your repertoire in case visitors pop in. It takes no time at all to throw together, and the ingredients can be varied depending on what you have in  your pantry. My Mum's generation liked to ice everything, and I still like to as well, however this slice can stand alone without the icing. Another shortcut when in a hurry.

The recipe is based on an original of my Mum's, with the rolled oats and golden syrup or honey added, a take from our friend Paul's recipe. I have reduced the amount of sugar in the interest of self preservation, however if you omit the golden syrup, you could use 3/4 of a cup of sugar or leave it as it is. Mixed fruit is a sweetener in itself. 

Just follow this recipe and I promise it will be great. Another vintage style recipe that works beautifully.

Ingredients:

½ cup white or brown sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup or honey

1 cup SR flour

1 cup of mixed dried fruit and nuts. Various mixed dried fruits, chopped dates, sultanas, cherries and/or mixed nuts (pecans, walnuts) up to a cup.

125g butter, melted

1 beaten egg

1 cup coconut (dessicated or shredded)

1 cup rolled oats

1 lemon

Icing sugar

Mix together the sugar, coconut, flour, oats, fruit and nuts. Add beaten egg, golden syrup and melted butter.  Mix well.

Press into a greased lamington tin.

Bake in a moderate oven 25-30 minutes until set.

Allow to cool. Ice with lemon icing, however it is delicious enough to stand alone without icing.

Jump straight to the recipe here:

Best wishes,

Pauline