No butter or oil, no sugar, all wholemeal flour and it still tastes good! I made this on Saturday when I spent what seemed the whole day in the kitchen baking and doing dishes. I had to make DH's birthday cake and I also made streusel-topped chocolate chip muffins and while I was at it decided that I'd make this cake again. I haven't made it in such a long time. I don't know why because it's easy to make, delicious, and I never feel guilty when I have a slice!I'm afraid there's only one photo and it's not that great, so you'll just have to take my word for it that this cake is worth making. (I've noted the metric to imperial conversions at the bottom of this post.)
Fruity Fruit Cake
410g-425g can sliced peaches or apricots in natural juice (you can use other fruit such as canned pears or pineapple, but I feel that peaches or apricots help lift this cake out of the ordinary. Note - DH doesn't like it when I use pineapple but then he's not a fan of cooked pineapple even on pizza - I think pineapple works okay but peaches or apricots are better)
1 tablespoon honey (optional but you'll want it if you're using canned pineapple)
500-525g dried fruit (use a mix of whatever you have on hand, for example, raisins, apricots, currants, mixed peel - chop the larger fruit into smaller pieces)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice (or your favourite combination of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc)
1. Drain the canned fruit, reserving 1/2 cup of juice. Mash or puree the fruit.
2. Place fruit, reserved juice, honey and dried fruit into a large saucepan.
3. Heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add baking soda and mix well. Leave to cool slightly.
5. Meanwhile, grease a 20cm round cake pan and line base with paper. I love to use the method that I posted about here. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
6. Mix together flour, baking powder and mixed spice.
7. Add eggs to fruit mix, and then add flour. Mix well.
8. Spoon into prepared pan.
9. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
10. Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before turning out.
Now please excuse me, I suddenly feel like a cuppa and a piece of fruit cake.
[Using an online conversion table, 410g = approx 14oz, 500g = approx 18oz, and 160 degrees C is 320 degrees F.]
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