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Christmas fruit cake with ginger
Serves: 12
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Martin Poole
Christmas fruit cake with ginger
Recipe by Jo Wheatley
Serves: 12
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time:
See more recipes
Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
595Kcal
Fat
27gr
Saturates
11gr
Carbs
76gr
Sugars
63gr
Fibre
4gr
Protein
7gr
Salt
0.4gr
Jo Wheatley
Jo baked her way into our hearts by winning The Great British Bake Off in 2011. Her cookbooks, Home Baking and A Passion for Baking, are full of easy cakes and impressive desserts to share with friends and family.
Jo Wheatley
Jo baked her way into our hearts by winning The Great British Bake Off in 2011. Her cookbooks, Home Baking and A Passion for Baking, are full of easy cakes and impressive desserts to share with friends and family.
Ingredients
- 500ml well-brewed Lady Grey Tea (use 4 tea bags)
- 500g mixed dried fruits
- 200g soft unsalted butter
- 125g dark brown soft sugar
- 50g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 250g self-raising flour
- 3 tsp mixed spice
- 75g mixed peel
- 50g stem ginger in syrup, drained and finely chopped
- 3 tbsp brandy, plus 4 extra tbsp for feeding the cake
For the fruit and nut topping
- 100g apricot jam
- 375g dried fruits, candied peel, undyed glacé cherries (halved), crystallised ginger, oven-roasted Brazil and pecan nuts
Step by step
Get ahead
Make up to 2 weeks ahead; store in an airtight box in a cool place. Decorate to serve.
- The day before baking, pour the freshly made tea over the fruit in a bowl; soak, covered, overnight.
- Strain the fruit; tip into a bowl. Grease and line a 20cm-deep cake tin. Wrap the outside of the tin in brown paper and secure with string. Preheat the oven to 160°C, fan 140°C, gas 3.
- Using an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Gradually whisk in the eggs. Fold in the flour and spice.
- Microwave the mixed peel for 20 seconds, then whiz in a food processor with 2 tablespoons of boiling water to a smooth paste. Mix into the fruit with the ginger and 3 tablespoons of brandy.
- Fold the fruit into the batter; spoon it into the tin; level. Bake in the lower half of the oven for 90 minutes, reduce to 150°C, fan 130°C, gas 2, and bake for 1 hour. If the top is browning, cover loosely with foil. Insert a skewer: if it's clean, it's ready.
- Cool in the tin for 20 minutes; turn out to cool on a wire rack. Wrap in baking paper and foil. Prick the bottom of the cake with a cocktail stick and feed with 2 tablespoons of brandy weekly for 2 weeks.
- Gently heat the jam in a small pan until boiling, then boil for 1 minute or until reduced by a quarter. Sieve, then cool. Toss with the fruits and nuts to glaze. Spoon over the cake and finish with a pretty ribbon.