FINALLY, A SUCCESSFUL ‘FRUITS AND NUTS CAKE’…

My mom makes the best cake in the world! B’days, Christmas or some special guests coming over, our house used to fill with this amazing fragrance of her cake… People have taken the recipe from her and I really don’t know if anyone got success in matching her’s…

Its a fruits and nuts cake with lots of nuts and cherries and I have been trying the recipe for years, always been unsuccessful… Even i  tried with an old style electric oven, the kind of oven my mom uses…. Yet, it didn't change anything…. So many disasters, one among was an awful Christmas cake!!!

Ok, then came yesterday, my friend Meera's b'day eve… The decision to bake a cake for her was bold as it would be the cake for the birthday… I had to get it right!!! It was one of my lucky days i say, eventhough the day drove me crazy because of few people in my life… So, getting a recipe work, after so many attempts…. i call it a moment!!!

The cake was a success, eventhough i was not happy with the fact that it could have burnt and got a lil’ dry…. I was happy when i saw the cake getting over, piece by piece taken away… A chef’s satisfaction…

So here I am sharing this amazing recipe…. with few changes from my mom’s original recipe….

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup chopped cashew nuts, black raisins, cherries

1 cup caster sugar (can be slightly less than 1 cup)

2/3 cup butter

3 eggs

Powdered spices – 1 clove + 1 cardamom pod + small piece of cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

Few drops of vanilla extract

A pinch of salt

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C.

2. Add 2 tbsp of flour into the nuts and dry fruits and mix them well. Set aside.

3. Combine the flour and baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside.

4. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Next, add the eggs one by one and beat.

5. Add vanilla extract to the above mixture.

6. Now, add a spoon of flour mixture and fold. Once it is used up, add the remaining flour mixture spoon by spoon so that no lumps are formed. Add the nuts and dry fruits mixture to this and combine them well.

7. To a tray greased with butter and flour sprinkled over, pour the batter and bake for 45-50 minutes until the top turns brownish. Insert a skewer into the cake; if it comes out clean, your cake is done.

Notes:

1. I usually fry the cashews slightly in butter. Fried, crispy cashews in the cake, to me, tastes better.

2. Keeping the fruits and nuts mixture in flour is important. This is to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the batter while baking.