Jiggle bells jiggle bells…
Whoopee…! Christmas is here. And with Christmas what is that thing other than Santa and gifts you are waiting for? Of course, it’s a yummy plum cake!
We have one humble suggestion!
Now, instead of waiting for your bakery-wala to store the new batch of plum cake in the market, why don’t you make one at your home?
Thinking it’s a rigorous process? No ladies, it’s just a matter of reading this blog.
We have decoded the process into simple and easy steps with pro tips in this read so that you visit this read again and again at this time of the year.
So let’s get started!
Pro Tips:
- Soak the dry fruits for at least 1 week or more in rum or alcohol.
- If you are too late, ensure you soak them for at least 24 hours.
- Store these soaked dry fruits in a glass container and avoid plastic as it may react with alcohol.
- You can avoid soaking the dry nuts in the rum.
- You can coat the dry fruits and nuts with a little bit of maida and keep them aside and add them only after the batter is half ready so that it doesn’t settle at the bottom.
- All the ingredients should be at room temperature. Don’t add anything taken directly from the refrigerator.
Ingredients:
- 750 gms mixed dry fruits -(raisins, black currants, cranberries, sultana, prunes, figs)- of your choice
- 300 gms of dry nuts (cashew, pistachio etc.)
- 200 ml rum
- 1 Lemon zest
- 1 Orange zest
- 1/4 tsp clove powder
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tbsp nutmeg powder
- 50 gms tooti-fruity
- 250 gms unsalted butter
- A pinch of salt
- 200 gms brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 100 gms almond powder
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 4 Eggs
- Icing sugar (for decoration)
First things first
Now, there are a few things you should prepare beforehand to make the process easy and for a delicious plum cake.
- Soaking and setting the dry fruits and nuts ready
- Put all the dry fruits and tooti-fruity in a glass jar and add rum/wine/alcohol
- Cover it and keep it aside for as many weeks or at least 24 hours to let fruits soak in brandy.
- On the day of baking, take the soaked dry fruits in a bowl and sprinkle maida and coat them well in maida and keep it aside.
- Prepare the caramel syrup
- In a pan take sugar and heat it till it boils and turns brown.
- Gently and carefully pour water step by step
- Set it aside to come to room temperature.
- Setting the cake tin and preheating the oven
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
- Set the baking pan according to the size of the cake you want and grease them with butter
- Do not forget to set them with butter paper!
Let’s start!
- In a bowl take butter (at room temperature) and powdered sugar and using a hand blender/whisk, mix them to a fluffy texture
- Add eggs one by one and blend them well.
- Add vanilla extract and caramel syrup to it and mix it.
- Now add orange juice, lemon juice, lemon zest, and orange zest. Mix them thoroughly
- Sift refined flour, almond powder, baking powder, clove powder, ginger powder, cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder in a bowl and add them to the batter after removing the chunks.
- Put the soaked dry fruits and nuts coated in maida along with a few tbsp of the liquid
- Mix all the ingredients really well using a spatula or spoon and not a blender
- Now transfer the stuff to a greased pan and decorate the top with nuts and cherries if you want.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes.
- Please wait outside while it is ready.
- Take out the pan after 15 minutes and let it cool for a few hours. Wait for a little more
- Drizzle icing sugar on top and decorate it with Christmas decorations if you like
- Tadaa… it’s ready!
So ladies, indulge yourself in the easy process and make a perfect classic plum cake and serve it hot straight from your own oven.
Do not forget to share with us, not the cake, but your opinions and review. Till then let me bake another interesting read for you guys.
Also read: 2 SUPER DELICIOUS CAKE RECIPES YOU MUST TRY THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON
