Christmas Fruit Cake (Plum Cake)

What's Christmas without Fruit Cake? We baked my mom's famous Christmas Fruit Cake (Also called 'Plum Cake' among our friends and family) for Christmas 2019 as I was curious to see the procedure involved (My mom always said that everything needed to be timed perfectly and measured accurately to make sure the cake turned out perfect). Of course, my mom did 75% of the work! When we were done, I swore to find a simpler recipe with the same results 😉.

Ingredients:

Dry Fruit Mix:

250g golden raisins (sultanas)
250g black raisins
250g brown raisins
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tbsp lime juice
6 tbsp sugar

Blackjack Caramel:

1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup water 

Cake Batter:

250g flour
1tsp baking powder
200g ghee
50g butter
300g caster sugar
12 cloves (1/2 level tsp powdered)
2 pieces cinnamon (1/4 tsp powdered)
Small piece nutmeg (mustard seed amount of powder)
4 eggs
4 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 cup cashew nuts
1/4 cup pineapple jam
1/4 cup marmalade

Method:

Preparing the dry fruits:

In a mixing bowl, mix the rum, orange juice, lime juice and 6 tbsp sugar.

Finely chop the different raisins, and add to the mixture and leave it aside for 3-4 hours.

Steam the mixture (do not cover it) over boiling water by stirring continuously. 

Blackjack Caramel:

Heat the sugar in a non-stick saucepan. 

As the sugar begins to darken and caramelize, turn the heat to low. 

Add the water and stir until all the sugar has dissolved and the syrup turns black.

Turn off the stove and set aside.

Preparing the cake batter:

Beat the eggs with the 4 tbsp caster sugar until light, fluffy and stiff peaks form.

Mix the butter and ghee, add the powdered sugar and mix till even. 

Add the beaten eggs. 

Add the dry fruit mixture and combine well to avoid lumps. 

Add the blackjack, jam, marmalade and finely chopped cashews, and mix well. 

Add the flour, baking powder and mixed spices. Leave aside for 2 hours. 

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes and at 300 degrees F for 1 hour.