Christmas Rum Cake - Warm spices, candied fruits, crunchy nuts embedded in a gooey, moist crumb soaked in enough rum to reach blissful heaven! A no-fuss, easy recipe to make the loveliest cake of the season!
3Eggs, room temperatureYou can replace the eggs with 120 gms of plain Greek yogurt.
2 1/4cup (300 gms)All-purpose flour
1/2cup ( 50 gms)Almond flour
1tspBaking powder
1/2tspBaking soda
1.5tspCinnamon powder
1.5tspGinger powder
1/2tspClove powder
1/2tsp Nutmeg powder
Zest of 1 orange
1/4cupAlmonds, chopped
1/4cupCashew, chopped
Instructions
Soaking dry fruits
Combine all the dry fruits and orange peel in a jar. Pour over the rum and whiskey. Stir well and set aside for at least 1 week.
Cake
Preheat your oven to 170C. Grease and line an 8" cake tin with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper too.
Sift together the flours, spices, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.
In another bowl, beat together the butter and jaggery powder or brown sugar, until pale and creamy.
Add in the eggs, one at a time.
Fold in the dry ingredients, until no white streaks remain.
Fold in the orange zest, nuts, and all the soaked fruits ( keep aside 2-3 tbsp for topping the cake later).
This will be a thick batter. Pour into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top.
Bake at 170C for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.If the top is getting too brown, cover lightly with foil.
Once you've taken the cake out of the oven, use a wooden skewer to poke holes on the surface of the cake. Brush with rum or the leftover alcohol from soaking. Let the cake cool completely. Cover with aluminum foil and let the cake rest for at least 1 day.
Next day, unmould the cake and place it on a serving platter. Brush the surface again with rum or leftover soaking alcohol.
Top with reserved soaked fruits and some glace cherries if you like. Cut into slices and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
*This cake can be kept out for 1 week before serving. Just make sure its tightly covered in aluminum foil. *You can brush or feed the cake with rum or leftover alcohol from soaking the fruits every 2 days for a more intense flavor.*If you don't have the time to soak the dried fruits for a week, simply combine all the soaking ingredients and bring it to a gentle simmer on low heat. Take it off the heat, let it come to room temperature, and then proceed to use in the cake as per the recipe.