Boiled fruit cake

Navy Fruit and Nut Cake

 

 

100g margarine (or butter)

150g dark sugar (démariera)

500g mixed fruit and nuts (I made my own with 50g each of diced figs, dates, prunes, and ginger, mixed peel, cranberries, 75g glazed cherries, 75g large sultanas, make up the rest of the weight with sliced almonds. (You can use what ever nuts you like, in fact you can use what ever fruit you like)

1 pkt Mixed spices (I used Liebküchengewürz)

170 ml water

60 ml (more or less) of Navy Rum

1 heaped tsp. of bicarbonate of soda (Natron)

2 beaten eggs

75g of plain flour

25g wholemeal flour

100g of SR flour

Put the fat, sugar, fruit, water, rum, bicarb, mixed spices into a large sauce pan bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. When it has cooled down a little, add the flours and beaten egg, mix well.

Pour into a loaf tin (I have a silicon baking form so I suppose it should be “pour into a silicon loaf form”) bang it onto a hard surface to get rid of any air bubbles and make sure that all corners are filled .

 

Put into the centre of a pre-heated oven (175°C) and bake for 1 ½ hrs, check after 1 hr (push a skewer in and test, it should come out clean when cooked) if it is browning too much cover with a piece of baking paper.

NB if you don’t have self raising flour (it is not readily available in Germany) just add 2 ½ level spoons of baking powder (Backpulver) to the 200g of plain flour. (or a mixture of plain and wholemeal).

Bicarbonate of Soda is Natron.

I find that Liebküchengewürz is a very good substitute for mixed spices.

I converted this from a recipe that was on the wildfood board, I believe it is not a new recipe and can easily be adapted. I think I shall work on a Diabetic one (using sugar substitute) and also try adding oranges and lemons and fruit juice instead of the water, Cointreau would then be very nice as the booze. You can of course leave the booze out, but go on spoil yourself it’s Christmas.

 

 

 

The loaf after I cut the end off to sample it, I also had a piece for breakfast with a nice cuppa, I also gave my work collegue a slice and had packed the rest in foil to take home for his wife and daughter along with the recipe.