Rich Christmas Fruit Cake for a new beginning

Dear All,

Wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year !!!

Christmas and New Year's Eve are definately not complete with a fruit cake. We know its christmas when the market is floaded with various types of fruit and dundee cakes, christmas trees and decorations. We dont really celebrate christmas but i love the season as it gives me a reason to bake! This was the first time I  made a fruit cake at home and definately not the last. I followed Raaga's recipe as a base and I absolutely loved the results! Cake turned out to be rich, moist and full of flavors!

I totally agree with Divya that the recipe is a keeper! I loved it for its simplicity and hassle free making. I didnt even dust the soaked dry fruits with flour but still the dry fruits got distributed evenly in the cake batter without sinking to the bottom. I used a combination of orange juice and rum for soaking my dry fruits as i wasnt keen on using only rum as this was the first time I was using alcohol in my cooking.

A very interested incident happened when i set out to buy Rum for my fruit cake. Here in india it is not very common to use Rum or Wine in cooking nor its common to find a girl standing in a liquor shop buying Rum!!! This was the first time i ever visited a liquor shop in my whole life. It was 31st dec, new years eve and the liquor shop was jam packed with men, as soon as i entered the shop all heads turned around in my direction as if they saw a ghost! Ignoring all glares i asked the person at the counter for some cooking rum, i must say the expression on his face was somewhere between shocked  and confused. Below is the conversation I had in 5 to 7 mins i spent in the liquor store, I hope you enjoy reading it :-)

Me: Can i get some cooking Rum pls? (trying to sound at ease)
He: Cooking...errrr what? (Confused)
Me: Rum...which can be used in cooking and baking...(flashing a smile)
He: (even more confused) Just a moment , I will be back.
(He went and consulted the owner of the shop , who looked like a stuffed teddy bear in denim jeans and a shirt which was specially stiched to fit him)
Owner: Yes how can i help you?
Me: I need rum which can be used in cooking.
Owner: (Surpirsed...shocked..cant really explain his expression) Oh..ok (talking to the other person)...Please get the XYZ rum bottle from up.
(I was getting extremely impatient after all I wasnt used to the idea of people staring at me as if I am an ET. After 2 mins I saw this big bottle of rum which i figured will go on for another decade)
Me: Oh this is very big bottle, can i get the smallest one available?
Owner: Errrr....Sure, 250 ml is ok?
Me: Perfect!!!

Recipe Source: Raaga
Pls Note: I have made few changes to the original recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour (300 gms)
1 cup dry fruits (raisins, dates, sultanas, currants, prunes)
1/2 cup mix  nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts)
1/2 cup tuttu frutti
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp clove powder
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
1 cup orange juice
3 tbsp rum (optional)

For Caramel:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup boiling water

Procedure:

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  Soak the dry fruits, tutti frutti along with with cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg powder in orange juice and rum anywhere between 24 hours to 1 year. I soaked dry fruits for 2 days. Do stir the jar once a day.
  
  
  
• 
  
  On the day of making the cake, start by first making the caramel. In a heavy bottom pan, heat the sugar in a slow flame. The sugar will began to melt, stir this mixture slowly until all the sugar is melted and caramel is formed. When all the sugar crystals have been melted, add in boiling water and stir in to form smooth caramel syrup. Be very careful when adding boiling water as it will splutter a lot. Cool this mixture completely before using in the cake.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Sift the flour along with baking powder and keep it aside.
  
  
  
• 
  
  In a mixing bowl, beat together brown sugar and butter until light and fluffly. Slowly add in one egg at a time and beat well. Add in vanilla essence, dry fruits, flour and caramel mixture turn by turn. Mixing properly each time.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Grease & line 2 loaf tins and bake the cake at 180 degrees C for 40 to 45 mins. Do a tooth pick test to confirm.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Try storing the cake a week in the fridge wrapped in foil or cling film. This cake ages beautifully.
  
  
  

Rich Christmas Fruit Cake is off to Cake N Cookies event by Mahima and to Sara's Cakes N Cookies event.
This cake is also off to Divya's Show Me Your Cake event.

Gingerbread House for Daring Bakers December 2009 Challenge

Dear All,

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Until this month I had only read about Gingerbread Houses in books or either seen them on internet. Making gingerbread house was quite a new and exciting experience due to lack of time and as it was the first time i only used half of the recipe and made a smaller version of the house. Decoration too i have kept simple just using white chocolate and sweet chocolate balls. 

I have used Y's recipe for gingerbread which is adapted from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice A Ojakangas. Anna's recipe used molasses which is not available here. The dough was quite easy to manage as i halved the recipe. I didn't face any problem of the dough being too dry unlike few fellow DB's mentioned. The texture of the dough was perfect. Not too sweet and not too dry, the flavors of ginger, cinnamon and cloves complimented each other perfectly.

I used this template for making my gingerbread house. As this was the first time I was trying my hands on making a real gingerbread house and also the fact that i was too scared to try and make a huge house, i halved the recipe and still got enough to make one medium size house, i still have some dough resting in my fridge. Apart from the fun in decorating the house, the gingerbread smelled delicious. The fragrance in my kitchen made made my taste buds dance.

To decorate the house, I have used Royal Icing. This was also the first time i tried my hands on royal icing and i must say I am pretty impressed. Its super easy and dry's off very fast. I would for sure be using royal icing for decorating cookies.

Overall the challenge was lot of fun and a memorable experience!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!!!