One my Grandma left us
So my Grandma left us this mix for fruit cake that is so easy to put together yet, is totally infallible, and you can vary for your individual tastes. You need a measuring cup – you can use a proper cooking measure – those special 250ml cups, but to be honest any decent sized cup, standard mug seems to work. It’s one those strange recipes where ingredient accuracy isn’t vital – it just works, you will also need a deep cake tin which you will line with baking parchment or greaseproof, or use a proper cake tin liner:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb / 250g margarine block – don’t worry if it’s metric or not and no need to weigh it just a whole margarine or baking block will do
- 1lb / 500g dried fruit (see note below*)
- 1 cup sugar (plain old white granulated sugar is quite OK here)
- 1 cup tap water – cold
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 and a half cups Self Raising flour
- 2 Eggs (doesn’t matter what size – but I’m thinking medium to large hens eggs – bantam eggs probably wouldn’t do unless you used more)
- Level teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
- Flavouring (see note below*)
Method:
- Turn the oven on 150C or 300F (If you’ve got gas I expect you know the conversion)
- Get a saucepan and melt the block of fat.
- Add all the ingredients – see below for* – to the saucepan with the melted fat, and mix well
- Tip into tin, bake for 2 hours in the middle of the oven at 150C or 300F – Then take it out « This is the important bit – no matter what it looks like (cracks are fine), what it sounds like, what a skewer stuck in it might show, take it out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin. If you can bear to wait if you leave it for a day or so in a cake box/tin it only improves and becomes easier to cut.
*So a note on the fruit and flavourings. The lovely thing about this cake is that you can make it your own. Add whatever fruit and flavourings you fancy. Two of my favourites are:
- Sultanas and a couple of teaspoons of almond essence, or
- Mixed fruit (I’m not keen on peel in fruit so I mix up currants, raisins and sultanas and a few glace cherries) and a couple of teaspoons of mixed spice
It makes a lovely not too heavyweight fruit cake so easily – it keeps almost as well as any fruit cake does and if you suddenly remember you haven’t make a Christmas cake then a Mixed fruit and spice one, marzipanned and Iced makes a great instant Christmas cake
