I fond always for the fruit cake we used to get in India from bakeries, they always have loads of cherries,nuts and black raisins, am somewat missing those fabulous cakes here. Two days back i tried to recreate that fantastic buttery fruit cakes with loads of dried fruits like cherries,apricots,golden sultanas and raisins..Usually this kind of fruits cake are prepared with fruits and nuts soaked in alcohol,but since i dont like it,i simply soaked the dried fruits in half a cup of orange juice and left aside for whole nite, they worked out prefectly and this cake tastes absolutely buttery,delicious and super divine when served with a cup of coffee simply for an evening snacks..
1+1/2cup All purpose flour
1cup Sugar
2nos Eggs
1cup Dried fruits (cherries,raisins,golden sultanas,apricots)
1/2cup Butter
1/2cup Oil
1tsp Vanilla essence
1/2cup Orange juice
1/4tsp Salt
1tsp Baking powder
1tsp Baking soda
Soak the chopped dried fruits in orange juice and let them sit overnite or more than two or three hours..In a bowl,sieve the flour,baking powder and baking soda with salt and keep aside..
Preheat the oven to 350F..Beat together the butter and sugar until they turn creamy, add the eggs one by one,beat well and add the vanilla essence,oil slowly,mix well..drain the orange juice from the soaked fruits and mix a tablespoon of flour to the fruits and keep aside,this keeps the fruits not to sink to the bottom of the mould while baking..
Slowly add the fruits,soaked juice and flour to the already prepared sugar-egg mixture,mix with a spatula,dont over mix, grease a loaf pan and pour the mixture into the pan..
Bake for 35-40minutes until a skewer comes out clean..Let the cake gets cool completely and slice as per ur need and enjoy with a cup of tea..
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