Fruit cake soaked with brandy

Fruit cake soaked with brandy. Image: Carla Zinkfontein.

Fruit cake soaked with brandy – Prepping for end of the year already?

A delicious fruit and nut studded fruit cake perfect for a festive celebration.

Fruit cake soaked with brandy

Fruit cake soaked with brandy. Image: Carla Zinkfontein.

Are you a person who likes to plan ahead and store some recipes for upcoming events? If yes, you may want to keep this fruit cake soaked with brandy recipe for the end of the year.

Fruit cake is a delicious dessert that you either love or hate and is usually served during the Christmas season. However, a fruit cake soaked with brandy is not a cake you can quickly whip together a day before the time. Anyone who has tried that will testify that if you do not give the cake enough time to soak up enough brandy, the cake will be dry and without much flavour.

If you bake your fruit cake soaked with brandy at least a month or longer before the festive season you will have a really delicious fruit cake to serve. Fruit cake also does not spoil easily and can be kept in the fridge for two to three months. If you freeze it, you can keep it for up to a year.

Save this delicious fruit cake recipe for your Christmas celebrations.

Fruit cake soaked with brandy recipe

5 from 2 votes
Recipe by Carla Zinkfontein Course: DessertCuisine: GlobalDifficulty: Easy
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

55

minutes
Total time

1

hour 

25

minutes

Ingredients

  • 175 g 175 unsalted butter, chopped

  • 210 g 210 light brown muscovado sugar

  • 400 g 400 mixed dried fruit

  • 1 cup 1 glacé cherries, roughly chopped

  • 1 cup 1 dried cranberries

  • zest and juice of 1 orange

  • zest of 1 lemon

  • ½ cup ½ cherry brandy

  • ½ cup ground almonds (coarsely ground – not the type that is like flour)

  • 3 large 3 eggs, lightly whisked

  • 1 + ⅔ cup 1 + ⅔ plain (all-purpose) flour

  • ½ teaspoon ½ baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon 1 ground mixed spice

  • 1 teaspoon 1 ground cinnamon

  • ¼ teaspoon ¼ ground allspice

  • To feed the cake
  • 1-2 tablespoons 1-2 cherry brandy

Method

  • Take a large saucepan pan and add the butter, sugar, dried mixed fruit, glacé cherries, cranberries, orange and lemon zest and juice and all but 4 tablespoons of the cherry brandy.
  • Heat on medium heat until the mixture comes to a gentle bubble, then turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 150°C and line a 23 cm spring-form round cake tin (with a removable base) with baking parchment.
  • Add the ground almonds into the slightly cooled fruit mixture and mix, then stir in the eggs.
  • Add the flour, baking powder and spices and fold together until everything is just combined.
  • Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth flat with the back of a spoon.
  • Bake for 45 minutes, then turn down the heat to 140°C and cook for a further 1-1+½ hours, until the cake is dark brown on top and an inserted skewer comes out clean (if you’re using a gas oven, the cake may take 15 – 30 minutes longer to cook). Cover the top of the cake with foil if it starts to darken too much.
  • Take the cake out of the oven, and whilst it’s still hot, use a skewer to make about 10 – 12 holes all over the cake.
  • Pour 4 tablespoons of cherry brandy all over the top of the cake.
  • Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then remove it and wrap in a double layer of baking parchment and then in a double layer of foil. Place in an air tight container at room temperature.
  • Feed with 1 – 2 tablespoons of cherry brandy once a week up until a few days before you marzipan and ice the cake.

Notes

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