Rum and almond fruit cake
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- + soaking + cooling
- Easy
- Serves 10
Ingredients
- 100g sultanas
- 100g raisins
- 50g dark glacé cherries, chopped
- 50g crystallised ginger, chopped
- 4 tbsp dark rum
- 200g butter, softened, plus more for the tin
- 200g light muscovado sugar
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 tbsp black treacle
- 220g self-raising flour
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 small apples, peeled and grated
ALMOND BUTTERCREAM
- 185g salted butter, at room temperature
- 300g icing sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
Method
- STEP 1
Tip the dried fruits, ginger and rum into a bowl and leave to soak for a couple of hours or overnight, if you like. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line the bottom of a deep, round 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, treacle, self-raising flour, mixed spice, ground ginger and baking powder with electric beaters, until thick. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold in the apples, soaked dried fruit and any soaking liquid.
- STEP 2
Spoon the batter into the tin, level the top and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until dark golden, springy to the touch and it’s slightly shrunk away from the sides of the tin. A skewer pushed into the centre will come out clean when it’s ready. Cool, wrap in baking paper and put in an airtight container. Will keep for a week before icing, or it can be frozen. Defrost overnight at room temperature before decorating.
- STEP 3
To make the buttercream, put the butter into a bowl and gradually beat in the icing sugar and almond extract using electric beaters until fluffy. Spread all over the cake using a spatula.
