As a child, Christmas time was just one long blur involving family, laughter, beach holidays (it’s Summer here in South Africa), food and gifts. Of course, the gifts were exciting but it was always the food that astounded me. A table groaning under the weight of all the food my family members would lovingly prepare. My gran’s turkey with bread stuffing always took center place and around it we would have numerous salads, gravy, potatoes, gammon and more. And for dessert, a traditional trifle (which I only ate if I was one of the first to dish), a baked pudding of sorts and my aunt’s amazing fruit cake. I would be amazed at the almighty cakes she would produce and loved that I knew she had started baking early in November already. You see, her cakes have to be fed brandy for quite a few weeks before they are ready to be enjoyed and for this reason was I only ever allowed to have the tiniest piece. But how I savoured it. Every bite, enjoying the rich, dark fruity taste. To this day, I adore fruit cake. I know it’s quite polarizing. You either love it, or you hate it. And right now, I am one of few people that absolutely adore it in my family. And so, I decided to bake one for the very first time this year. My aunt was so kind to share her recipe with me but to keep her original recipe safe, I’ve tweaked it here and there and put my own spin on it. I also know that not everyone wants to get drunk on a piece of cake (who are those people even?) so I’ve made suggestions where you can leave out the alcohol. Her recipe is dead easy but does require a little effort as it’s not exactly a throw-in-a-bowl-and-go kinda recipe. The fruit is lovingly cooked with butter and sugar and then cooled overnight so that the flavours can marry and become rich and intense. This is where I made the first change to the recipe. Instead of just using a dried fruit mix made for cakes like this, I made my own with golden sultanas, raisins and candied orange peel as well adding Medjool dates and glace cherries. And then for the kicker, I found maple-infused prunes at Woolworths and now I know not everyone will have access to it but fear not, I have a solution. Try to find soft, squishy prunes and soak them in a glug of maple syrup for a few hours before cooking with the rest of the fruit. This adds intense caramelly, almost bourbon-like flavours to the cake, especially if you use good organic maple syrup. After baking, the cake will be dense and rich and this is when you would normally start feeding it brandy. A few cap-fulls every few days for a month or so, but if you don’t have the time or want for that process, simply make a syrup with sugar, water, butter and maple syrup and add a good glug of brandy (which is optional). This is poured over the cake as it comes out of the oven and left to soak in overnight. The cake can then be wrapped and refrigerated for up to a month where the flavours will just become more intense or it can be enjoyed immediately. Whichever way you choose, I guarantee a fruit cake so rich and full of flavour, you won’t be able to stop at one piece.
My top 10 Christmas recipes:
