Fruit & Nut Cake

I actually baked this cake for last year's Christmas. Yeah it is supposed to be a Non Alcoholic Christmas cake with ground spices but its not quite our favorite. Hence I made a FRUIT & NUT CAKE, a special request from Big A (who particularity insisted there be no cinnamon...poor guy hates it and I usually add it to everything muhahaha)!!! Its just a basic vanilla cake with dried fruit and nuts of our choice. Moist and perfect for non Christmas cake lovers like us. 

Makes One 9 Inch Round Cake

Recipe very Slightly Adapted from HERE

You Will Need:

100 gms Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1/2 Cup Tightly Packed Dark Brown Sugar (White Sugar also works fine)

2 Large Eggs

1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

1 Cup of Plain Flour (Scoop out a tbsp of flour to toss with the fruit and nuts)

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

A Pinch of Salt

1/4 Cup of Whole Milk

1/4 Cup of Tutti Fruti

2 tbsp of Dried Cranberries

2 tbsp of Chopped Glazed Cherries

2 tbsp of Raisins

10 Cashew Nuts, Broken

10 Almonds, Roughly Chopped

10 Walnuts, Broken

***You can add any dry fruits and nuts in addition to the above mentioned. And add more or less depending on how much you like. I prefer a little less.

The Cooking:

Preheat oven to 160 degree Celsius and grease a 9 inch round cake pan.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl.

In another bowl cream the butter till pale. Now add the sugar and beat for another 5 mins till the butter and sugar is light and fluffy. Now beat in one egg at a time making sure you incorporate well after each addition. Pour in the vanilla extract and beat again for few seconds. Make sure you scrape the sides of bowl so that the batter is evenly combined. Now gently fold half of the flour mixture. Pour in the milk and mix. Add the remaining flour and fold again making sure there is no lumps.  

Combine the dry fruits & nuts in a bowl and add the tbsp of flour. Toss till the flour has coated the nuts and fruits. Now fold this into the cake batter. DO NOT BEAT OR OVER MIX. This process of tossing the fruits & nuts in the flour will help them from sinking to the bottom while baking.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40 - 45 mins or until when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, Be sure to check the cake after 35 mins since the temperature and time will vary for different ovens.

Happy Baking!