Plum Cake

In India I couldn't think of a x-mas without plum cake or the so called Christmas cake. In my grandmas house, where the visitors were abundant during Xmas time, I remember the stacked up store bought plum cakes guests used to bring for Ammachi. Here plum cake doesn't have much importance for Xmas as in my home. Anyways I wanted to try plum cake beforehand and amazingly it came out so well.

For me Christmas is not complete without the cake and wine and along comes the nostalgic memories of bright stars lightened up by the bulbs, the Xmas trees we made in our sit out,  the gifts we keep under them so that we can exchange it on Xmas eve ( and the way daddy tells us to clear it out when the leaves start shedding). In fact Christmas is a magical season with  many many many sweet memories.

The usual recipes has more sugar and I have reduced it a bit here as My husband and me are not very fond of too much sugar. Now Sabu insists on making this plum cake every now and then and its a hit in my family.

INGREDIENTS:

Fruits:Dates, Raisin, Nuts, almonds, cherries, tutti fruity  - 2.5 cups
 

Spice:
Caraway seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, cardamom (powdered) - half tsp

All purpose flour - 2 cups
sugar - 2 (1 for caramelising and the other for batter)
Butter - 200 gms
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Eggs - 5 nos
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
salt - half tsp
orange juice - 2 tbsp
wine - 2 tbsp

FRUITS: * soak the chopped fruits and nuts in rum and preserve for a week or two in an airtight container.Make sure all the fruits are soaked in rum.
* Drain the fruits and keep it aside.
* When fruits are added to the cake batter, toss them in some flour. This prevents fruits settling to the cake bottom.

MAKING CARAMEL:

* Melt 1 cup sugar with 1 tbsp water by stirring until sugar melts and eventually turns dark brown.  Now add half cup water and stir before the sugar recrystallises.
 * Make sure you do this step at a safe distance because adding water to molten sugar can cause splash and lead to serious burns if you are not careful.

MAKING CAKE:
* Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.
* Sift the all purpose flour and baking powder.
* In another bowl beat butter and powdered sugar till light and fluffy.
* Add the eggs one at a time to the beaten sugar butter mixture
* Add caramel, vanilla essence, Orange juice,wine and salt. beat it.
* Add the flour and baking powder to the in parts and mix well. fold in the fruits mix to this.
* Bake for 45 minutes and use it the next day.Serve it with wine to make it the perfect x-mas combo.