Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe

This recipe is my grandmother's recipe that I love making. It takes a while to make it but in the end its totally worth the effort and time.

Christmas Fruit Cake

Stage 1 Ingredients

1kg + 1 cup Cake Fruit Mix (usually a mix of raisins, sultanas and candy peel)
2 cups Water
2 cups Brown Sugar
200g Butter
2 tsp Bicarb / Baking Soda

Stage 1 Method

Combine all the above ingredients, except for the baking soda, in a large pot. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes on low heat. Remove from heat and add baking soda. Leave over night.

Stage 2 Ingredients

1 box Green Glace Cherries, halved
1 box Red Glace Cherries, halved
1 cup Dates, chopped and softened in boiling water
2 tsp Mixed Spice
1 tsp Cinnamon
3 tsp Instant Coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
5 Eggs
3 1/2 cups Cake Flour
3/4 cup Brandy

Stage 2 Method

Add the cherries, dates, spices and coffee to the fruit mixture. Add 2 eggs and 1 cup flour, alternate eggs and flour until all thouroughly combined. Add the brandy. Spoon into well greased baking tins (I used two loaf tins and one small round tin). Bake at 140°C for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. These cakes keep for quite some time, but to ensure their freshness keep them in an airtight container and once a week "feed" with 15ml brandy.