Bake a Rum Cake for this Christmas – A Recipe

Preparation time : 20-30 mins
Soaking time : 24 hrs or more
Baking time : 30-40 mins

Ingredients :

To Soak :

1/2 cup rum
1 cup dry fruits and nuts (combination of raisin, dark raisin, seedless dates, pitted prunes, glazed cherries, tutti frutti, almonds, cashewnuts and walnut)
1 tbsp Orange zest

For Cake Batter :

1 cup maida (all purpose flour)
2 large eggs, at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
1/4 cup olive oil / vegetable oil / canola oil (or) 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp

Method :

For Soaking :

Finely chop all the dry fruits and nuts and mix with orange zest. Take a jar or wide glass bowl. Combine rum & fruits and nuts mixture.

Make sure that all the fruits are soaked well in rum. Cover it well and keep at room temp if you are going to use it next day. I let it soak for 4 days. All the rum was absorbed by fruit n nuts mixture. If you have left over rum, then you can use it in cake.

Preparing Cake :

Beat brown sugar and honey using hand whisk or electric beater till smooth. Add one egg at a time and beat it again. Add vegetable / olive oil and beat it. Keep it aside.
Sieve maida, salt, baking powder, nutmeg powder and cinnamon powder. Add flour mixture to wet mixture slowly and combine well with spatula. Finally add soaked fruits and nuts. And just fold it. Dont over-mix the batter.

Preheat oven to 180 degree C for 10 mins. Pour this batter into the greased cake tin and bake for 30-40 mins or till a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Take out the cake from oven and let it cool completely.
Using a fork or toothpick, prick the top and sides of the cake and brush with rum. Wrap the cake tightly with cling firm or foil sheet and keep at room temp. Slice it and serve next day or you can also serve it after 2 or 3 days.

Notes :

For non-alcoholic version, you can use apple juice, orange juice, grape juice or combination of apple & orange, vice-versa. For alcoholic version, try with rum, wine or brandy.
To skip caramel syrup part, i have used brown sugar and honey.
To prevent cake burn at top, you can cover it with foil sheet while baking.