Christmas Cake| Fruit Cake| Christmas Fruit cake| Kerala Christmas Fruit cake Recipe| Indian style Christmas Fruit Cake with caramel syrup and without alcohol. About this particular recipe is commonly followed in India to get flavour and colour for the Christmas cake. This is a moist flavourful cake rich in dry fruits and nuts and flavoured with caramel and the spices. Tasty rich cake with soft fruits and bits of crunchy nuts tastes really amazing. For this recipe i have just made the caramel and referred my White fruit cake and Chocolate Fruit cake recipe for quantities and made the cake. As i made two cakes at a time i cut one of the cakes and tasted. It was moist and tastes amazing. So do try this recipe for this Christmas and let me know the out come!!!


Christmas Fruit Cake recipe

INGREDIENTS: (Half the ingredients if you want 1 small cake)
Black raisins, seed less- 1 and1/2 cup
Sultanas| golden raisins- 1/2 cup
Dates| prunes, deseeded- 1/2 cup
Orange juice and Zest- from 2 nos (could be replaced with rum or wine for soaking)
Cherries in syrup, drained and cut- 1/4 cup
Cashewnuts- 1/2 cup
Almonds|walnuts- 1/2 cup
Spices:
Cinnamon stick- 1 inch
Cloves-5
Nutmeg- 1/4 piece
Dry ginger- 1/2 inch (optional)
Butter- 200 grams-1 cup
Sugar, powdered- 1 and 1/4 cups (i replaced 1/4 cup with brown sugar for more colour and flavour-optional)
Eggs, large- 4
Vanilla essence- 1 teaspoon
Caramel syrup- 1/2 cup (click on the link for recipe)
*All Purpose Flour| Self Raising Flour- 2 and 3/4 cups+ 1/4 cup for dusting on fruits
Baking Powder- 1 teaspoon
Baking Soda-1/2 teaspoon
Salt- pinch
*Donot add baking soda if you use SRF.

Pre-preparations:
Soaking Fruits
Grinding the spices
Line the baking tins

Christmas Cake recipe

PROCEDURE:
  • In a bowl add the black raisins, sultanas and dates and squeeze the orange juice (2 nos) and mix with a spoon and cover it and allow to soak it minimum 2 hours (or) give one day in fridge. Refrigerate the mixture until you use. If you donot get time to soak the fruits just boil the mixture for 3-5 minutes to soften the fruits. Cool the mixture and follow the recipe.
  • Take 1/4 cup of flour on a flat plat and drain the soaked fruits from juice and reserve the juice if left; add the cashew nuts, almonds and cherries and roll well to coat well; set aside.
  • Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. (Dense cakes should be baked for lower temperature for longer period)
  • In a deep mixing bowl add the butter and cream to make a paste. Now add the powdered sugar and mix well till you get a creamy mixture.
  • Now add two eggs at a time and beat well till you get a curdled like mixture.
  • Add the vanilla essence and the soaked juices remaining if left and mix well.
  • Add the prepared caramel syrup and beat well to combine.
  • Grate the zest of two oranges using grater and add into the batter.
  • Powder cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and dry ginger using a mortar and pestle or a blender and pass through a sieve and add with the all purpose flour. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt too with the flour and sieve to combine the mixture or mix well with a whisk.
  • Add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time and beat in low speed until the whole lot get incorporated without any lumps.
  • If the batter goes thick add little orange juice to loosen the batter.
  • Add the dusted fruits and nuts and gently mix with a spatula to evenly mix into the batter.
  • Mean time prepare the cake tin by lining bottom and the sides of the cake. I have used two sheets at the bottom to prevent the cake from burning at the bottom. 
  • To protect the top of the cake from burning i have kept the side little larger the tin.
  • Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.(I used 18-20 cm pans-2 nos take 1 hour to bake) or  (> 24 cm-1 number takes around 2 hrs to bake)
  • Tap each once again on the counter to remove air bubbles, and smoothen the top layer.
  • Transfer the cake pan to oven and cover the top with another butter paper, to protect the top.
  • Bake for about to 45 minutes-1 hour or more. Loaf tins take more time than round cake tins. (Depends on the size of your pan)
  • Check the cakes are done by inserting a skewer. 
  • Cool the cake for 10 minutes and remove from the pan.
Christmas Cake recipe

Christmas Cake recipe without alcohol