Rich Plum Cake

This is a very festive cake and deserves a special occasion to be served. A christening or a wedding might be the right celebration. It's a bit too heavy and sophisticated for a birthday, though.

Sometimes not only the cake is drenched with brandy or rum, but the ingredients are as well. The dried fruit and peels are placed in an enclosed container and are soaked with the darkest variety of rum / brandy, anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months ahead. The cake ingredients are mixed, and once the cake has finished baking, brandy / rum is poured onto it while it is still hot.

In addition to the black currants, you can use a few varieties of nuts, however, I prefer not to use them in the cake. Rather, I sprinkle finely sliced almonds on the top (if I am not decorating it). The almonds get a little toasted and look very pretty against the brown crust of the cake.

Get the full recipe here...

Prep Time: 30 mins Total Time: 2 hours Makes: 1 cake Ingredients: Method of Preparation: 1 1/2 cups self raising flour 3/4 cup sugar 3 eggs 3 tbsps butter 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup molasses 1 cup black currants 1/2 cup mixed dried peel 1 tsp grated lemon peel 2 tsps nutmeg powder 2 tsps cinnamon powder 2 tsps vanilla extract In a small bowl combine the flour, currants and dried peel. In a bowl, beat together butter, oil, sugar, lemon peel, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder and vanilla extract. Add the molasses. Beat the eggs separately till thick and add to the liqiud mixture. Fold in the flour and the dried fruits, mix evenly. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 - 180 deg for 1 1/2 hours or till done. Cool the cake and cover tightly before storing. Personal Notes: Instead of molasses, you can use caramel syrup. If you wish, you can soak the dried fruit for about 3 - 4 days in some grape juice mixed with a little brandy. Drain thoroughly before using. Wrap this cake tightly in butter paper and foil before storing it, to develop the flavours. Plum cake is best made about a week before it needs to be served. This cake can be enhanced with a thin covering of marzipan and an outside coating of royal icing. Similar Recipes: http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm=rich+plum+cake Google Images: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=rich+plum+cake Google Book Search: http://books.google.com/books?q=rich+plum+cake Courtesy: CrazyaboutBaking.blogspot.com

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