Recipe for: Power fruit cake
Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, cut into pieces
2 cups mixed fruit (I used cranberries, goji berries, blueberries, dried sour cherries and currants)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (or other chopped nuts of choice)
1 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp clove powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 pint milk
1 cup glace cherries washed of excess syrup and dried on kitchen paper
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp soda bicarb
Method:
1. Place the sugar, butter, fruit, spices and milk in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
Boil for a minute or two, then switch off the heat and let the mixture cool. It might look curdled as it cools, but dont worry, all will be well.
2. Preheat the oven to 160C.
3. Add the nuts to the fruit mixture and stir,
then add the beaten eggs and mix well.
4. Add the flour and fold through the mix. The batter will be quite thick.
6. Place the mixture in a greased, deep square 8" cake tin.
Bake for about 1 hour, checking that the cake isnt burning on the top, after about 30 minutes. If it looks like browning too quickly, cover the top with brown paper.
7. The cake might need more than an hour to cook, or less, depending on the sort of oven you have. After 40 minutes, check the cake with a skewer to see if it's cooked. If not, check every 7 minutes until the tester comes out clean.
8. Cool in the cake tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
