Plum Cake

 The best plum cake or fruit cake I've eaten was in India, that my mom's student would bring for Christmas. Several years ago I got the perfect recipe for the plum cake that I used to make every year for Christmas. Delicate cake filled with dried fruit soaked in wine. I lost the recipe a couple years ago and have been searching for that perfect recipe. Last Christmas my school mate who was here for vacation brought me a plum cake made by her sister-in-law. It reminded me of the cake I used to make. I was so happy to finally get the perfect recipe once again. I soaked the fruit in rum and wine for 6 months and made the cake couple weeks back to bring for my sister.

Ingredients:

3 Cups dried fruit (black raisins, golden raisins, chopped dates, candied pineapple, candied cherry, tuti fruity, chopped cashew nuts, chopped almonds)

1 1/2 cups wine 

2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 Tablespoons

1 cup sugar

1cup butter at room temperature

4 eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup sugar for caramelizing

3/4 cup hot water

3 Tablespoon orange zest ( from 3-4 oranges)

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon all spice

                                                          

Method:

Soak fruits and nuts in wine for 1 month. Stir or toss every week.

                                 

                                                        

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two 9" round pans, and line with parchment.

2. Drain wine from fruit. Save the drained wine.

3. Now to caramelize sugar; in a saucepan place 1/2 cup sugar. Add hot water and mix to dissolve.

                                                             

4. Bring it to a boil. Do not touch the solution. It will start to caramelize in a few minutes (15). 

                                                             

5. Remove from stove when the color changes to dark amber. Add 1/2 teaspoon water little by little. Allow to cool.

                                                            

6. Separate the eggs. In a medium mixing bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.

                                       

7. Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. Set aside.

8. In a large bowl, cream egg yolk and sugar with a spatula.

                                        

9. Add 1 cup room temperature softened butter to the yolk mixture and beat until creamy for 4 minutes. Add orange zest and vanilla. Beat until creamy, 1 minute.

10. Add all spice. Add flour in increment and beat on low speed, scraping as needed.

                                                             

11. Add caramelized sugar and mix gently.

                                         

12. Gently fold the egg white in two installments. Fold until fully incorporated.

                                                                

13. Add 2 Tablespoons of flour to the drained fruit and mix gently.

                                                                

14. Fold fruit gently into the cake batter. Stir in 2 Tablespoons of the wine reserve. The batter should be thick.

                                        

                                                               

15. Divide the batter among the 2 prepared pans. Level the pans with a spatula, and tap the pans on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

                                        

16. Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely. Wrap tightly and store in a container. This cake freezes well.

                                        

                                           

Notes:

1. You can soak the fruit anywhere from 1 week to 12 months. The longer they are soaked the better.

2. I have used wine and rum for soaking.

3. Take care not to over mix batter.