Again, it’s the time of the year for Christmas delicacies. Of course, all of us have our own to-do-lists for New Year and Christmas festive tables. However, it is about time for trying something new, special, and luscious.
Please, draw your attention to this fabulous dessert. This Christmas dried fruit cake boasts its rich, melt-in-the-mouth texture. It is loaded with the mix of roasted nuts and dried fruits laced with alcohol – a perfect combination for winter. Bursting with the flavor of fragrant spices like cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves, this cake becomes even more tempting.
Though the recipe for this Christmas dessert is rather time-consuming, each scrumptious bite of the cake makes it worthy efforts.
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- a pinch of salt
- 250 g (1/2 lb) flour
- 50 ml dairy cream
- 150 g (5 oz) raisins
- 100 g (3,5 oz) sugar
- 1,5 tsp baking powder
- 150 g (5 oz) dried apricots
- 100 ml rum (cognac, liqueur)
- 45 g (1,5 oz) powdered sugar
- 300 g (10,5 oz) nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds)
- spices (cinnamon, cloves, vanilla) – to taste
- dairy butter (for greasing)
Cooking
Before baking this Christmas cake with dried fruits and nuts, it’s necessary to prepare the products beforehand.
Wash dried apricots and raisins thoroughly. Let them dry completely. Cut dried apricots into little pieces, combine them with raisins and soak in an alcohol of your choice – whether it is rum/cognac/liqueur (I will use cognac). Let the dried fruits infuse for a couple of hours. This not only gives the fruit cake a subtle cognac flavor and a moist texture, but also allows it to be stored for a long time.
In case you want to bake an alcohol-free cake, use orange juice to soak the dried fruits, but such a cake can not be kept for as long.
Peel nuts and fry them in the heated oven for about 10 minutes. Let them cool.
Whip eggs with sugar, salt, and dairy cream until a homogeneous mass. Stir in sifted flour mixed with baking powder.
Add nuts and mix to combine. Then add dried fruits and stir everything carefully. Season the dough with spices.
Grease two middle baking trays (mine are 25 cm in length and 12 cm in width) or one big one and fill 2/3 of the tray with the dough.
Cover the dough and put it in a warm baking oven (40°С=104°F) for half an hour.
Then bake the cake at 180°С (356°F) for 40-50 minutes. You can check whether the cake is done or not using a toothpick (if it comes out dry, then the cake is prepared).
Let the cake cool completely before eating it, this allows the cognac to soak in and all the flavors to marry.
Before serving, top the cake with powdered sugar. The most difficult part of this recipe is to hide the bakery from family members who will gather in the kitchen once they feel the flavor of the cake. In other case, you’ll have to bake one more cake.))
Have you liked the recipe for a Christmas dried fruit cake?
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