Kerala Plum Cake | Christmas Fruit Cake

Kerala Plum Cake | Christmas Fruit Cake

                  I had a wonderful experience baking this Kerala Plum Cake | Christmas Fruit Cake. This recipe requires no alcohol, no soaking of fruits and is just very simple with minimum ingredients. When I first saw this in Nagalakshmi’s space, I was not so much interested as it was not an eggless version. Later when I read the comments on the post, something attracted me to give a try, as there were many people who had messed up and failed to bake a perfect one following this recipe. Though she has not personally baked this cake herself but gave very good tips which helped me to bake this successfully.   It turned out exactly as she had said it would be, slightly crumbly with cracks on top. But it was moist and delicious.

Ingredients

(Original recipe was for a 6 “Pan, I proportioned it for a 9” pan, i have also added the ingredients for 6" pan at the end of the post.  if you want to go for the 9"pan, can double the ingredients of the 6" pan too as my cake was a bit on the thinner side, you can refer the pics )

1 ½ cups plain flour (app 195 gms)
1/2 cup chopped cashewnuts

¼ cup walnuts
1/3 cup black raisins
1/2 cup mixed dry fruits (dates, cherries, orange peels)
1 ½ cups + ½  cups white sugar for caramelizing ( I used ¾ cups for caramelizing and felt my cake turned darker because of that)
1 cup butter, at room temperature ( I used ½ cup butter + ½ cup olive oil)
4 large eggs
1 clove + 1 cardamom pod + small piece of cinnamon + a pinch nutmeg (pound together to powder)
1 ½  tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Method

1.   Heat a pan with ½ cup of sugar and a tbsp. of water on a low flame, do not burn. Initially it melts and turns to a light brown liquid and let it boil for a while more, you can see a dark brown caramel liquid, add ¼ cup of warm water to this. Off the flame and set aside. make sure there are no crystals in it else put it back on the heat to melt the crystals. set this aside to cool completely. you can prepare this a day ahead of baking the cake

2.   Chop the nuts to small, add 3 tbsps. of flour to the fruits & nuts and mix thoroughly to coat them well. Set aside. this is done to prevent them from falling off at the bottom of the batter. Preheat the oven at 170 C.

3.   Sieve the remaining flour and baking powder, spices, and salt until well combined.

4.   Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy - about 10 mins by hand, 3-4 mins with an electric beater.

5.   Add vanilla and oil (if using). Mix until combined. Next, add 1 egg and beat. Then add 1/2 of the flour mixture and fold. Likewise, alternate between the eggs and flour mixture until you finish

6.   Add the cooled caramel and fruits and gently fold in. Pour batter into a greased cake pan and smooth the top.

7.   Bake for 40 mins until the top turns a dark brown and when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out with dry crumbs or clean. You can start checking from 30 mins.  The top looks overdone and it is just normal, but make sure the inside is also completely cooked. 

8.   Dust with icing sugar when the cake is completely. cooled

Ingredients for 6" pan (as per original recipe)
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup chopped cashewnuts
1/4 cup black raisins
1/2 cup mixed dry fruits (dates, cherries, orange peels)
1 + .5 cups white sugar
2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
1 clove + 1 cardamom pod + small piece of cinnamon + a pinch nutmeg (pound together to powder)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt