classic christmas plum cake

Classic Christmas Plum Cake

It’s almost Christmas! Can you feel the Christmas vibes all around the town? I am sure that this Classic Christmas Plum cake will add more joy to this Christmas. Well, what’s Christmas without some delicious plum cake right? Christmas is incomplete without plum cake.

Did you know how did the tradition of plum cake start? Here is your answer! We all know that Christmas is that time of the year where we forget counting calories and eat to our heart’s content. This pretty much answers the tradition of classic Christmas plum cake. Folks in Medieval England had the tradition of fasting keeping Christmas in mind. Christmas is a time of feasting. They wanted to prepare their body for it. This explains their fasting. On Christmas Eve, porridge was prepared at every house with rich honey, oats, dry fruits, spices and many more. This was eaten to prepare their stomach for the upcoming feast. This porridge turned into Plum cake as the days passed! That’s the magic.

This Classic Christmas Plum cake is rich in flavors. Let me tell you how. My preparation for this Christmas started a year ago. I have used one year old soak for this plum cake. You can imagine the flavors that this cake is going to give. As you can see in the image, I still have that soak, so I am going to leave it for 1 more year, what do you think?? Let me know in comments!

Soaking the fruits:

Cranberry, cashews, orange peel, ginger peel, almonds – I have used all this generously for this cake to be perfect. I have also used Old monk Rum for this soak, you can use any of your favorite liquor. For a non-alcoholic fruit cake, check this recipe. The details on the preparation of soak is given below. It’s time to get into the procedure!

If you try out any recipes, do tag me on Instagram or Facebook with @bakewithbittybakes.

classic christmas plum cake

Classic Christmas Plum Cake

Christmas is incomplete without a perfect classic Christmas plum cake. Agree? Here is the detailed procedure of how to make one. I am sure this christmas is going to be fun!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Course Dessert

Ingredients
  

To make Soak:

  • 1/2 cup Chopped Nuts almonds, cashew, walnuts
  • 1/2 kg Dry Fruits apricot, fig, raisins, black currants, cranberry
  • 1 tbsp Candied Orange Peel
  • 1 tbsp Candied Ginger Peel
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Ginger Powder
  • 1/2 tsp All Spice Mix/ Garam Masala
  • 1/2 cup Rum or any other liquor

To make Cake:

  • 113 g 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
  • 130 g 1 cup All purpose Flour/ Maida
  • 80 g 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 50 g 1/2 cup Ground Almonds
  • 1 tsp Orange and Lemon Zest
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 1/4 cup soaked liquor

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 160 C for 10 min. Prepare a rectangle tin of 6" with at least 3 layers of butter paper on all the sides. Since fruit cakes cook longer, it might burn if you use 1 layer.
  • Whisk the flour, ground almonds, salt and baking powder.
  • Toss the soaked Fruits and nuts in 2 tbsp flour (check below how I soaked fruits)
  • In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar till creamy.
  • Add 1 egg at a time. Just mix till incorporated.
  • Mix in the tossed nuts and dry fruits.
  • Fold in the flour mix. Add rum.
  • Place it in the prepared pan and bake at 160 C for about 60-90 minutes.
  • After 60 min, check using a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
  • Usually Fruit cakes are best eaten next day.

Soak your fruits and nuts:

  • Chop all the fruits and nuts.
  • Mix all the spice powders, orange and ginger peel.
  • Pour in rum and mix well.
  • Put it in a glass jar. Add some more rum.
  • Let it soak, turn the jar twice a week. Since the liquor settles down at the bottom.
  • There should be enough liquid when you soak. If it dries out, add some more liquor. See that it doesn't totally dry up. Check at least once a week.
  • Once soaked, leave it in a cool place, not in fridge. You can soak it for 1 month up to 1 year. Mine is a year old soak.
Keyword christmas cake, plum cake

This might be a little different and little time taking procedure. Trust me. It’s all worth it! The taste is beyond expectations and I don’t even have words to describe the rich flavor. Now you know which recipe to follow to make Classic Christmas plum cake this year.

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4 thoughts on “Classic Christmas Plum Cake”

  1. Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth

    So much loaded in every bite… Very interesting to note how the cake came into being…

  2. That’s a Beautiful Plum cake with so much flavour Sharmila. Loved reading your post and of course the pics.

  3. That’s such a beautiful and flavourful plum cake Sharmila. Loved reading your post and of course the pics.

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