Christmas fruitcake
Ingredients
• 600g sultanas
• 450g raisins
• 200g dried apricots, roughly chopped
• 1¹⁄³ cups sherry or apera
• ½ cup apricot jam
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• 250g butter, melted and cooled, plus extra, to grease
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs, whisked
• 2 cups plain flour
• ½ cup self-raising flour
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 250g packet ready-to-roll marzipan
• Fresh flowers, to decorate
Buttercream
• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 1½ cups pure icing sugar, sifted
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
Note: Allow 2 hours soaking
Cook’s tips
• To bring out the richest flavours from the dried fruit, soak it (see Step 1) for up to a month in advance, keeping it in the fridge.
• Try using dark brown sugar instead of the caster sugar for a darker-coloured cake.
• If you prefer a more traditional fruitcake finish, use ready-to-roll fondant (available from supermarkets) instead of the buttercream.
• Decorate with pretty sprigs from the garden, wrapping the stems in foil
Method
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Put sultanas, raisins, apricots, 1 cup of sherry, jam and orange zest and juice in a large bowl, mixing to combine. Cover and leave to soak for at least 2 hours.
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Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease 2 x 17cm round springform cake tins and line bases and sides with a double layer of baking paper. Stir butter, sugar and eggs into fruit mixture until well combined.
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Sift flours, cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg over mixture, stirring to combine. Spoon into prepared cake tins. Smooth down surface with the back of a wet spoon and tap cake gently on a benchtop to settle mixture.
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Wrap a double thickness of brown paper or newspaper around tins and secure with kitchen string. Bake for 2 hours 15 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer. Remove from oven and pour remaining sherry over surface of cakes. Put on a wire rack to cool completely before removing cakes from tins.
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To make buttercream, put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until soft, smooth and pale in colour. Leaving mixer running, add 2 Tbsp of the icing sugar at a time, beating well after each addition, until all icing sugar is added and a thick, smooth cream forms. Add vanilla extract, beating to combine.
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Trim cakes and place one on a cake stand. Roll out marzipan on a surface dusted with icing sugar until 4mm thick. Cut a 17cm round from marzipan and put on top of base cake, trimming if necessary. Put remaining cake on top.
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Spoon buttercream onto tiered cake and spread evenly with a palate knife. Decorate top of cake with fresh flowers and serve.
