Rich English Fruit Cake

Some friends asked me for the recipe of fruit cake I use.

I found this recipe very good.

English fruit cake recipe             The recipe is by Eddie Spence book “The art of royal icing”

Ingrdients:   for a round 7” cake

12 oz. currants

4 ½ oz sultanas

4 ½ oz raisins

3 oz cherries

2 oz peel

2oz ground almonds

7 ½ plain flour

¾ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp mixed spice

6 oz butter

6 oz soft dark brown sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 tbsp black treacle

3 fl oz  brandy/rum/cherry or other liqueur your choice, for soaking fruit

Direction:

1 Cream the sugar butter and treacle together.

2 add the eggs in at least 6 stages. 

3 Fold in the rest of the dry ingredients.

4 Add the fruit and mix by hand, do not use mixer.

5 Place the mixture in to the tin

6 bake in a preheated owen for 2 ¼ hours (for a 7” cake),

Better if you put paper around the cake and on the top, to prevent burning.

This cake should be prepared at least one month before you eat, ( you can also eat it after cooking).

Every week you have to spry it with the liquor, this helps the maturation of the cake,

then you wrap it in a cellophane sheet.

 In Englan they use to cover the cake with marzipan, using apricot jelly ( not buttercream!)