Christmas Rum Cake

This cake is my favourite for 2 reasons. First, I love the entire process of making this cake. Second, My family and friends love this cake. This is a dry fruits and nuts cake made by soaking dry fruits and nuts in Rum... The same can be done by soaking the dry fruits and nuts in Brandy as well. Personally I like the taste of rum cake better than the brandy cake. Non- alcoholic version of this cake can also be prepared by soaking the dry fruits and nuts in fruit juice..

Ingredients:

 To Soak:

     1. Mixed fruits & Nuts - 3 cups

     2. Rum/ Brandy - 1.5 cups

 Caramel:

     1. Sugar - 1/2 cup

     2. Water - 1 tbsp

 Spice powder: 

     1. Cloves - 2

     2. Cardamom -2

     3. Cinnamon - a small piece

     4. Nutmeg - a small piece

 Cake:

     1. Plain flour - 2 cups

     2. Baking powder - 1&1/4 tsp

     3. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

     4. Sugar - 1 cup + 2 tbsp

     5 Unsalted butter - 1 cup + 2 tbsp

     6. Eggs - 4

     7. Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

 
Recipe:

     The pictures shown are just for the reference of baking process. I baked a large quantity. So it wont serve as a guideline for the quantity.

 Soaking:

          Soak dry fruits and nuts of your choice ( I used golden raisins, dates, tutti frutti, dried apricots, orange peel, lemon peel, ginger peel, cashew nuts, almonds, pista) in rum for at-least a week. You can soak up-to 2 months. Shake the jar of soaked fruits & nuts once in a while. Fruits juice can be used for soaking if you dont want to make a non-boozy cake. If you are using fruit juice, soak just for a day. 

     Caramel:

        Add 1/2 cup of sugar in a tbsp of water in a sauce pan. Heat it and let the sugar melt. Heat till it reaches dark brown colour. Watch for the colour. If you miss the stage, the caramel will turn bitter. Once the colour is achieved, remove from the flame and add 1/4 cup of warm water. Be careful while doing so. It may splatter. Again keep in flame and heat it for few mins. Switch off the flame and allow the caramel to cooled down.

      

 Spice powder:

      Grind all the ingredients under the ingredients list and grind it to a fine powder with a pinch of sugar.

 Cake:
      Drain the soaked dry fruits & nuts and reserve the remaining rum.

     Coat the drained dry fruits & nuts with few spoons of flour. This will help in preventing the dry fruits & nuts from sinking at the bottom of the cake.

      

     Sieve the flour with baking powder and baking soda and keep it ready.

     Beat egg whites till peak occur

     Beat egg yolks and butter to a smooth paste.

Add powdered sugar to this little by little. Beat after each addition. Add vanilla essence, cooled caramel and spice powder to this mixture and give a mix.

    Add the flour mix in 2 batches. Beat after each addition. Fold in the beaten egg whites in 2 batches. Dont over beat the mixture. Jus fold. After mixing, add the drained dry fruits and nuts. Add the retained rum as well. Pour the prepared batter in lined tins.

     Bake for 40 minutes @ 350 deg Farenheit.

    Time may vary. Check the doneness of the cake by inserting a tooth pick or bamboo skewer in the centre of the cake. The quantity mentioned in the ingredients list will yield one 9 inch round cake and one 9 inch loaf cake.

      Am following the above recipe for years now. Has never failed to amaze us with its extraordinary taste and flavour 😋 Happy Baking 😍