Gingered Christmas Fruitcake With Rustic Decorations

Gingered Christmas Fruitcake With Rustic Decorations

Gingered Christmas fruitcake Moist, gingery fruitcake topped with marzipan, royal icing, sugared cranberries, rosemary and bay leaves, dried orange slices, pine cones and whole spices.

There are a lot of mixed feelings about fruitcake, some people love it, others hate it with a fiery passion; I am firmly in the first camp, I adore fruitcake (of course I do. It’s cake.) and will happily eat it year round; fruitcake is not just for Christmas, though I wouldn’t want to celebrate it without it.

Ingredients

Cake

• 80 g (2.8oz) dried figs, chopped

• 65 g (2.3oz) dried cranberries

• 65 g (2.3oz) dates, chopped

• 50 g (1.75oz) glace cherries, chopped

• 30 g (1oz) mixed candied peel

• 50 g (1.75oz) raisins

• 50 g (1.75oz) sultanas

• 50 g (1.75oz) currants

• 100 g (3.5oz) crystallised ginger, chopped

• 50 g (1.75oz0 stem ginger, finely chopped

• zest of 1 + juice 1/2 orange

• zest of 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp stem ginger syrup

• 4 tbsp ginger wine/rum/brandy/cointreau/sherry plus extra for feeding

• 140 g (1/3 + 1/4 cups) softened butter

• 140 g (2/3 cup + 2tbsp) light brown soft sugar

• 1.5 tbsp treacle

• 2 eggs

• 175 g (1 + 1/2 cups) plain flour

• 40 g (1/3 cup) ground almonds

• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

• 1/8 tsp ground cloves

• pinch salt

Royal icing

• 3 tbsp apricot jam or marmalade

• 500 g (17.5oz) marzipan

• 2 large egg whites

• 400 g (4 cups) icing (powdered) sugar, sifted

• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp glycerine optional, but stops the icing from set rock solid

Decoration

• 1 small orange

• a couple of small pine cones

• 1 egg white

• 2 tsp caster sugar

• handful fresh cranberries

• couple sprigs fresh rosemary

• a few bay leaves

• granulated sugar

• cinnamon sticks

• star anise

• icing sugar

Instructions

1. The day before you want to bake the cake, mix all of the dried fruits together in a large bowl and stir in the orange and lemon zests, orange juice, stem ginger syrup and alcohol, cover and leave to soak overnight.

2. The following day, preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2. Grease a deep 15cm/6in round cake tin and line the base and sides with a double thickness of baking parchment, making sure that it comes a good 10cm above the top of the tin.

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Full Recipe: Click Here

Created: BANKHEALTHY