This is my favourite fruit cake and is a winner with my mother who I consider the queen of fruit cakes.
The key is to soak this in tea overnight which makes the fruit all plump and juicy and the dollop of jam makes it a little bit sticky. This is a recipe I have written down from last year so I hope I haven’t left out any crucial details, usually I bake just before hand to make sure its just right, but it was a little hot today!
Ingredients
225g salted butter plus a little extra for greasing the tin
250g dried fruit eg raisins, peel etc
50g glacé cherries, cut into quarters or halves
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
225g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
capful of almond extract
a big spoonful of jam of your choice or whatever you have in (I had strawberry)
2 x teabags of your choice (as the name suggests, mine was Yorkshire Tea)
baking parchment
2lb loaf tin
Method
Make up tea in a large mixing bowl the night before and soak all fruit and cherries.
When ready to make the cakes, drain the fruit and discard the tea. The fruit should be really juicy and have plumped up. Leave to drain in a sieve whilst you do the rest.
Just before you start the bake, coat the fruit in a a few spoons of flour to try and stop it sinking (as the fruit is soaked in tea, I often do find its quite heavy!)
Pre-heat the oven to 180c/160 fan oven/gas mark 4. Grease and line the loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
Whisk the butter and sugar in an electric mixer or with a whisk until light and fluffy
Add the eggs slowly, one at a time.
Add the jam
Sieve in the flour, ground almonds and almond extract and fold in with a wooden spoon.
Add in the fruit.
Put in the oven for 1.5 hours and remove when skewer comes out clean.
