250 g / ½ lb raisins
350 g / ¾ lb sultanas
250 g / ½ lb glacé pumpkin[ii]
250 g / ½ lb dried apricots
1 jar ginger in syrup[iii]
½ jar jar chow chow[iv]
250 g / ½ lb glacé melon
150 g / 5 oz candied orange peel[v]
125 g / ¼ lb diced cashew nuts
250 g / ½ lb butter
310 g / 10 oz sugar - 4 oz dark muscovado sugar and 6 oz caster sugar
250 g / ½ lb fine semolina[vi]
12 large egg yolks
6 egg whites - 1 US cup of egg whites
3 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp honey
½ jar fine orange shred marmalade 370 g jar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp orange oil
2 tsp mixed spices
½ fleshly ground nutmeg
1 cup brandy or whisky + more for preserving[vii]
340 g/ 12 oz jar apricot conserve for glazing
cake + marzipan for covering the cake
[i]
Use French Provincial glacé cherries
[ii] Gracé
pumpkin is known as Petha in Indian – available from Southall Sri Lankan shop
[iii]
Jar size 350 g & 190 g drained weight. Do not use the syrup for the cake
[iv]
Jar size 375 g & 9 oz drained weight. Do not use the syrup for the cake
[v]
Made from 4 large Navel oranges – syrup made from 3 cups sugar and 1 cup
water. Boil the orange peel in water
twice and drain. Then simmer in syrup
for 45 minutes, then roll the peel in sugar and allow to dry for 5 hours on cooling rack before
packing away, which will make 350 g candied peel
[vi]
Don’t use super fine or coarse semolina.
Dry fry the semolina until slightly brown in medium heat and allow to
cool over night.
[vii]
For preserving the cake, feed the cake with whisky or brandy or any spirit
every week for three months. If kept for
less than three months, feed the cake twice a week – requires 12 feedings. Allow 5 days since the last feeding before
packaging the cake into pieces.
Notes: You will notice that only 8 ozs of fine semolina is used. If I were to make an English fruit cake with the above ingredients, I would use a lot more flour and a lot less eggs.
Method
1.
Prepare the candied orange peel from 4 oranges
2.
Chop the vine fruits and soak in 1 cup brandy
for a week
3.
Cream the butter with 4 oz dark muscovado sugar
and add in the egg yolks one at a time
4.
Fold in the spices, flavours, half jar of
marmalade into the butter mixture
5.
Whisk the egg white and then add 6 oz caster
sugar and whisk until stiff peaks and set aside
6.
Fold in the whisked egg whites into the batter
7.
Mix the semolina with the dried fruits
8.
Fold in the soaked diced dried fruits into the
cake mixture
9.
Pour the cake mixture into a heavily lined 10
inch square baking tin
10. Bake
at 120 C convectional oven, bottom shelf, on top of a pizza stone, with the
sides of tin protected until the cake is cooked, and this took over 10 hours
11. When
the cake has cooled, drizzle ¼ cup brandy on the cake and store the cooked cake
for 12 weeks, feeding the cake every two weeks.
12. Break
the cake up and add ½ cup brandy to the broken up cake mixture – mix the brandy
well making sure all the cake pieces is moist
13. Form
the cakes into presentation size pieces [perhaps 2 by 3 inches] with a thin
layer of marzipan on the top, secure by apricot jam
14. Wrap
in parchment paper and tissue paper and secure in cellophane bags and store the
pieces of cake for at least a couple of weeks before serving.
15. The
cake should make about 60 pieces
Dr Marie would bake her cake for about 4 hours. However, I started baking the cake in a preheated oven at 11:40 pm last night and it is now 9:20 am the next day and the cake is still not cooked. So for point 10 - I would say bake the cake until it is cooked - the duration of baking depends on your oven.
When the cake is baked and I have put the marzipan on the cake, I will take a picture or two to share with you.
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