This cake makes a lovely Christmas gift, full of Brazil nuts, walnuts and various glace fruits. It may be made in a large loaf tin 20cm x 12cm, or smaller cake tins – 8.5 x 14cm and smaller still at 10 x 5.5cm. This quantity also makes 8 tiny puddings, in mini pudding tins; I love to give these away, prettily wrapped in cellophane with a ribbon!
Ingredients
220g whole Brazil nuts
180g walnut halves
220g stoned Chinese dates, I used fresh dates
125g chopped mixed peel
85g red maraschino glacé cherries
85g green maraschino glacé cherries
60g seeded raisins
¾ cup plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup sugar
For the glaze
I tbsp powdered gelatine
125ml water
1 tbsp castor sugar
Method
Grease the cake tins of your choice, and line with 2 layers of baking paper.
Pre-heat the oven to 100ºC, fan-forced, or 125ºC regular oven.
If any of the dried fruits are a bit shriveled or too dried, re-hydrate them with a tablespoon of brandy, rum, verjuice, orange juice or whatever you prefer.
Place the Brazil nuts, walnuts, dates, mixed peel, raisins, and cherries in a bowl. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt three times and mix with the fruit and nuts. Lightly beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla; pour onto the fruit and nut mixture and mix well. This mixture will be quite stiff.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, pressing down and flattening the mixture down well with the back of a wooden spoon, to compress it.
Cook for 2 – 2½ hours. Leave in the tin for at least 10 minutes. Remove the paper before the cake is cold. Cool.
For the glaze: When the cakes are completely cold, glaze them to give a lovely gloss. Soften one tablespoon of gelatine in 60 ml water for a few minutes, until it becomes a soft paste. Either in the microwave or in a small pot and combine together the one tablespoon of sugar, in the remaining 65 ml water and slowly heat until the sugar is dissolved; bring to the boil, add the softened gelatine and stir until completely clear. Brush over the cake; allow to cool and dry; it is sticky until dry.
Wrap in baking paper and cling wrap; store in an airtight container, in a cool place or the refrigerator.
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