Christmas Fruit Cake

Chop the mixed dry fruits ( raisins, apricots, dark raisins, dried cranberries, tutti frutti, cherries, dried figs, dates) and place them in a jar

Add fresh orange juice, orange marmalade mixture and orange zest Mix everything well. Keep them soaked for 24-48 hours in refrigerator. You can soak them for 2-5 hours and use them as well if you are in a hurry. If you are baking the cake on the same day you don’t have to refrigerate the fruits.

After 24 hours take a non stick pan, add the soaked dry fruits along with the juice, sugar, spices, butter and cocoa powder.

Stir and bring it to boil. Simmer for 5 to 10 mins with occasional stirring.

Turn off the flame and use it when it comes to room temperature.

Sieve the wheat flour, almond meal, with baking powder, and salt for 5-6 times.

Beat the eggs and add them to the fruit mixture, mix them well.

Fold the flour into the wet ingredients in batches, mix everything well until well combined.

Add the nuts(cashew nuts, almonds, walnuts) and give it a stir.

Scoop the batter in parchment lined baking tin, this cake gets baked for a longer time so there are chances of it to stick to the bottom. Hence it’s better to use parchment paper to line the tin.

Bake at 150 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until done.