Christmas is finally upon us and the one thing that is synonymous with this particular holiday season is plum cakes. Can't you already imagine the aroma of a delicious plum cake fill the air in your house? So, for all you plum cake lovers out there, this holiday season we have got three variations of the plum cake for you to try. You can thank us later. But for now, let's begin with the first one.
The traditional plum cake:This one is for all those of you who love the traditional plum cake. A fruity and nutty cake with the goodness of dried cherries, almonds, raisins and many more dried fruits. It works great as a dessert with a dollop of ice cream or works perfectly with your evening tea too. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 6 eggs, 125 gm almonds - chopped, 2 tsp vanilla essence, 2 1/2 cups mixed fruits-chopped (sultanas, raisins, candied peels and cherries), 2 cups refined flour, An 8 inch round cake tin, lined with a double layer of grease-proof or brown paper at the bottom and on the sides.
Process:
Mix the chopped fruit and almonds with 2 Tbsp of the maida and keep aside. Mix the cream, butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together.Fold in the flour and then the fruit mixture. Transfer mixture into the prepared tin and bake in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes (Oven temp: 150 C-300 F). And there you have it; a traditional plum cake.
Plum cake with spices:Yes, you read that right, this recipe includes adding spices to your plum cake. Don't worry, it may seem a little weird but trust us when we say that the end product is amazing.
Ingredients:
Soaking fruits- 300 grams dried Black grapes / Dark Raisins - seedless, 200 grams dried Apricots, 100 grams Golden Raisins / Kishmish, 100 grams Currants
Spice mix- 6 Cloves, 4 Cinnamon sticks (Cassia) (1 inch each), ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg, 6 Cardamom, 1 tablespoon Coriander Seeds, ½ teaspoon Cumin Seeds, 1 teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder, 1 teaspoon, Dry Ginger powder, Zest of one lime, Zest of one orange
For the cake- 200 grams brown sugar or demerara sugar, 200 grams white regular granulated sugar, 2 Cups (500 ml) Water, 100 grams butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 4 eggs, 420 grams All purpose flour ( Maida), 2 teaspoon Baking Soda
Process:
Dry roast all the ingredients listed under Spice Mix One. Dry roast on low flame until the spices are fragrant. Remove from heat and let it cool. Grind the spices in a small mixie jar/spice grinder to a very fine powder. Take a pan and add in the dry fruits, finely ground the Spice Mix, pour in water, butter, salt and both the sugars. Bring the mixture to a boil. Once its boiling, reduce the flame to low and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 325 F / 160 C. Whisk the eggs in a cup. Add it to the cooled fruit mixture. Mix well. Sift the dry ingredients together namely flour and baking soda. Add it to the cooled fruit mixture. Fold the flour with a wooden spatula and mix well to combine. Grease and flour “two 9 x 5 bread loaf pans” or “three 6 x 3 inch round cake pans”. Line the pan with parchment paper. Transfer the cake batter to the pan. Level the batter with the back of a spatula. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan until room temperature. Gently invert the pan and remove the cake from the pan and store it in an air tight container. The flavor of the cake improves the next day.
Plum cake with rum/brandy:
For all those of you out there who want to take it a level up, this recipe is for you. If you don't want to go for a traditional plum cake or the one with spices you could try this one with rum/brandy.
Ingredients:
Mixed fruits- Dates, Figs, Cherries, Ginger peel, Orange peel, Tutty fruity, Black raisins, Yellow raisins, Almonds, Walnuts, Cashew nuts etc altogether – 3 cups Rum/Brandy – 1.5 cups
For Caramel- Sugar – ½ cup, Water – 1 tbsp, warm water – 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
For Cake- Plain flour (maida) – 2 cups, Baking powder – 1¼ tsp, Baking soda – ½ tsp, Sugar – 1 cup+ 2 tbsp, Unsalted Butter – 200 gms @ room temperature, Eggs – 4 @ room temperature, Vanilla extract – 1 tsp, Apricot Jam – 1 Tbsp, Cloves – 2, Cardamom – 2, Cinnamon – a small piece, Nutmeg – a small piece
Process:
Wash and Soak all the dry fruits properly and leave in sunlight a whole day to dry up. Chop washed and dried fruits and nuts and fill in a glass jar. Add brandy/rum in this and keep for 3 weeks. Try to soak it for a minimum of 1 week, at least. Shake the jar of soaked fruits once in a while. Combine ½ cup sugar and 1 tbsp water in a sauce pan. Heat it & let the sugar melt. When the color of the melted sugar becomes dark brown, remove the pan from fire and add 1/2 cup warm water to this. You need to be very careful at this stage since the water tends to splash and can cause burns. Bring it back to the heat and boil for 3-4 minutes. Remove from fire and let it cool completely. Grind all the spices with a pinch of sugar, to a fine powder & keep aside. Preheat the oven at 180 C for 10-15 mins, before baking. Drain the soaked fruits and keep aside. Retain 4 tbsp from the drained liquor.
Toss the drained fruits in 2 or 3 table spoon of maida (All purpose flour). (This will prevent the fruits from sinking to the bottom of the cake). Sift the plain flour with baking powder and baking soda. Powder the sugar and keep aside. Separate the yolks and white of the eggs. Beat the egg yolks and add the softened butter to it. Beat it till it forms a smooth paste. Add powdered sugar to this, gradually. Beat after each addition. When it becomes smooth add vanilla essence and cooled caramel, spice powder and jam. Beat again. Add the sifted flour in 2 batches. Add the drained liquor. Beat after each addition. Now clean the blades of the blender and wipe neatly. (Not even a drop of water is allowed while beating egg white). Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Fold the fluffy egg white into the batter very gently. Make it two-three parts and fold accordingly. Then fold in the soaked and coated fruits. (Do this part very carefully, do not mix for too long, Just two or three folding is enough for the dry fruits just to disappear in the batter). Grease the baking dish and line with baking paper.
Pour the batter into the prepared tins. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean. The baking time can vary depending on the oven and also the size of the tin used.
Well, we hope these plum cake recipes helped you. Stay tuned for more updates.
