Light Fruit Cake

Sometime last week, my husband asked me if I could bake a fruit cake. Not the Steamed Fruit Cake which I usually made for Hari Raya, but just a baked version. So after looking through some books & websites for a suitable recipe, I decided to use the one from Joy of Baking.

I love the look of the cake... it rises very nicely & that creates a crack on top, which I like. The outer crust has a lovely colour & the colourful fruits make the sliced cake look very pretty. Having said that, I'm not a big fan of dried & candied fruit, so I'm not really excited with how the cake tastes. I took a small slice & thought that there was just too much fruit & that made the cake way too sweet. My husband, on the other hand, thinks the cake is good as it has good amount of fruits & is not too sweet. I guess, that's all that matters.... he likes it!

I made some minor changes to the recipe. I omitted the alcohol, reduced the sugar by 20g  & used the ready-mixed fruits in a box instead of buying the fruits separately. I also coated the fruits with some flour. This is supposed to prevent the fruits from sinking to the bottom as the cake is baking. I also mixed in the fruits after the flour as I didn't want to end up over mixing the fruits which may also cause the fruits to sink. If you're a fan of fruit cake, I think you're going to like it. So, why don't you bake it!

Light Fruit Cake

Ingredients:

250g mixed fruits (candied mixed peel, candied red &/or green cherries & dark raisins)
20g plain flour
50g ground almond (almond meal/flour)
170g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
120g unsalted butter, room temperature
80g granulated white sugar
1/2 tsp salt (Omit if using salted butter.)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
Zest of one small lemon (outer skin)
60 ml milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees with the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line & grease a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan.
2. In a bowl, combine the mixed fruits & 20g plain flour & mix well until all the fruits are coated with flour. Set aside.
3. In a different bowl, whisk together the rest of flour, ground almond & baking powder. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, salt & sugar until light and fluffy. 
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the extracts & lemon zest. 
6. Beat in half the flour mixture just until incorporated. Then beat in the milk and then the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated. Do not over mix.
7. Add the mixed fruits & beat until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
8. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and, if desired, decorate the top of the cake with sliced or flaked almonds. Bake for about 50 -70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (If you find the cake is browning too much, cover with a piece of aluminum foil.) 
9. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before removing from pan. The cake does benefit from being stored a day or two before serving, as this softens the outer crust and allows the flavours to mingle.

Makes one loaf.
Adapted from recipe by Joy of Baking.