My lovely Mum knew I hated the cherries and mixed peel, so her and my Grandma would make a 'golden fruit cake' at Christmas time, which was just for me (or so I liked to think). This cake was light in colour and rather than all the heavy currants, sultanas, raisins and glace cherries of a regular fruit cake, it contained only a mix of glace apricots, pineapple and pear. It was delicious!
As an adult, my tastes have changed a bit and I now don't mind a heavy fruit cake, but I still prefer Grandma's recipe. I have been making the same cake for years now and decided that I would make a few changes to it this year and see how it went.
This years recipe contains a lot less fruit, so it's more cakey and less dense. It probably won't keep quite as long as traditional fruit cake, but time will tell. Usually the cake is eaten before it has a chance to go stale anyway!
I've also added some dried cranberries for a bit of Christmas colour and some glace ginger, which I love in a fruit cake. It adds an unusual hot, gingery, sweet flavour, which I associate with Christmas. As well as flour, this also contains some almond meal, which gives a nice moistness to the cake too. To top it off, chopped roasted almonds give a bit of crunch. You could equally use toasted macadamias for an Australian twist.
I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do. I still think of my Grandma when I eat a slice with a cup of tea.
Golden Fruit Cake
250g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup currants
1/4 cup dried figs, chopped
1/4 cup glace ginger, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup almonds, roasted and coarsely chopped
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Grease and line either a 20cm round or square cake tin with 2 layers of baking paper, extending 5cm above the rim.
Soak raisins, currants and cranberries in boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain. Add ginger and fig to the other fruits.
Cream butter and sugar in a bowl of a mixer and add vanilla essence.
Beat in eggs, one at a time.
Fold in almond meal, sifted flour and milk until combined.
Stir in reserved fruits and almonds.
Pour mixture into the tin and smooth the surface.
Bake for about 1 hour 20 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. If it starts to brown too much on top, cover with a piece of foil.
Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, before turning out on to a rack to cool completely.
Slice into small pieces and dust with icing sugar to serve.
To store, keep the cake wrapped in a layer of baking paper, then foil, then cling wrap. That will keep it moist and stop it from going stale.
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