Ingredients

  • 3 cups of store bought fruit cake mix
  • ½ cup each of prunes and dates chopped
  • ½ cup almonds halved
  • 2 tablespoons of marmalade
  • 1 apple peeled and grated
  • 1 cup of brandy
  • 100gms butter
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • 3 eggs 
  • 1 ½ cups of plain flour
  • 2 tablespoons of Schococoa
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 100 grams Schoc Dark Chocolate chopped

Method

  1. Place dried fruits, marmalade, apple and brandy in a saucepan and gently heat until the fruit is soft and plump with brandy. Cool.
  2. Prepare a 20cm round baking pan by greasing and lining with baking paper and wrap the outside of the pan in two sheets of newspaper. Tie with string to hold tight.
  3. Preheat oven to 140°C
  4. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar, then beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well
  5. Fold in sifted flour, cocoa and spices with a spatula then fold in the fruit mix, almonds and chocolate
  6. Turn into baking pan and cook for 3 hours. Test. It should still be moist but not liquid.
  7. Cool in the baking pan until cold
  8. Store in a well-sealed cake tin until Christmas.

You can decorate your Christmas cake with traditional marzipan and fondant icing, or top with glacé cherries and roasted almonds and glaze with a warm solution of marmalade diluted slightly with hot water. It’s a rich, moist cake though and delicious on its own. We decorated ours with pinecones and pine needles then dusted with icing sugar and added a tealight candle.

Peace, love and chocolate