Egg less Liquor Less Christmas Special Fruit Cake

 

Fruit cake is a rich dense cake loaded with  candied fruit ,dry fruits , nuts and  spices,and  usually made during Christmas. Basting fruitcake with rum,brandy or wine also provides moisture and helps preserve the cake. You add the above mentioned  liquor  to fruitcake both before baking through soaking the fruits and after baking by applying directly to the cake .

(source-wiki how)
This year I  soaked lots of dried fruits,candied fruits in rum,have a plan of making  a rich fruit cake on 25 th December .Two days back suddenly  I had a thought  what about my those readers  who are not fond of egg contained  and alcohol soaked fruit cake. For them I baked this fruit cake,it is alcohol  free and egg less also.Here I soaked dry fruits in fresh orange juice.Try it at your home on this Christmas  and give a nice  treat to your loved ones.Do not forget to let me know how it is.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Author - Moumita 
Preparation Time - 15 Minutes +1 day (soaking )
Baking Time 40 minutes 
Servings - 4 People 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------INGREDIENTS 

 Fresh Orange Juice - 1 Cup (From 2 Oranges)
Tutti Frutti- 1/4 cup
Cashew nuts(chopped )  - 2 tbsp 
Walnuts (chopped ) -2 tbsp
Dried Dates -2 tbsp (Soaked and chopped)
Almonds - 2 tbsp (soaked ,peeled and chopped) 
Golden Raisins - 2 tbsp
Black Current-1/4 cup
Glazed cherries -1/4cup (chopped )
Ground Nutmeg-1/4tsp
Ground Cinnamon - 1/4tsp
Salt - 1 pinch
All Purpose Flour - 1.5 Cup+1tbsp
Condensed Milk -1 Cup
Butter - 1/2 Cup(softened, not melted)
Granulated  sugar -1 Cup
Milk -1/4 cup (at room  temperature )
Vanilla Extract - ½ tsp
Orange Zest - 1 tsp (peel the skin of orange)
Baking Powder - 1.5 tsp
Baking Soda -1 pinch 
Icing  or Powdered sugar - 2 tbsp 
Cookie cutter-Star shape and Tree shape (or if you do not have cookie cutter of these shapes..draw some star shapes  and tree shapes on paper and cut them.

Tips
You  can replace the Dried Fruits and Nuts as per your preference.

METHOD 
Mix all the dried fruits,tutti Frutti , glazed cherries  in a Glass Bowl/Container and Cover with Cling wrap and refrigerate overnight .

Just before making the cake, drain the fruits. Keep aside. Dust the fruit and nuts with  1 tablespoon flour so they don’t fall to the bottom of the batter while baking. Shake off excess flour before mixing in the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree c for 10 minutes

Take a big mixing bowl. ..add butter and sugar ..whisk it properly.

Add vanilla essence, milkmaid and milk into butter...and mix them properly until you will get a smooth consistency

Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl...mix them properly

Add all the drained flour coated dry fruits  and spices  in the flour mixture..fold them properly as all dried fruits gets coated properly with flour.

Make a well in centre of the flour mixture ..add liquid mixture in it...and mix them properly...stir it until a creamy batter is formed without lumps

 Lining the 9"inch cake pan with greaseproof paper or wax paper (it is easily  available at book store in India ) or parchment paper. It is best to use two layers. Now Grease the paper with  butter. Pour the pan and fll the pans about 2/3 full. After putting mixture in the pan and smoothing the surface, hold the pan with two hands and  drop the tin three times to remove air bubbles.

 Bake for 40 minutes  until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Baking  times are vary  because we all use different ovens..so keep checking.

Remove from oven..let it be cool .Put all the star  and tree shaped  paper on cake...and sprinkle icing or powdered sugar through a strainer  on cake...fill the top of the cake  with icing sugar. ..and them remove all these tree and star shaped paper...and see the top of the cake. ..now it looks like a perfect  Christmas cake....slice and enjoy.

Once the cake has been cut, store in a well-sealed container. Do not store in the refrigerator.


In this Christmas, if you want to make more cakes,just click here