Easy Fruit Cake

Christmas is bobbing in and it's only a month away...no two months away! the first image that pops in our mind when we picture our Christmas table is the fruit cake-with those generous amounts of delicious noble fruits steeped in the volatile liquor. i've been baking the traditional sherry-sozzled Christmas cake for the past two years and i wanted a change. i'm almost always giddy with my family responsibilities and personal career moves and i almost know that i'm biting more than i can chew. but i'm gonna chew for a while more. and i cannot sham on my fruit cake. and i suddenly remember variety is the spice of life. so i begin this daring move of fruit-cake-recipe-skewing and glide in with this easy yum yum fruit cake! my mum-in-law says the basic go-go for a fruit cake is a 2:1 ratio for the fruits:maida, i. e., 500 gm fruits for 250 gm maida and i decide to believe her!

maida-250 gm
sugar-200 gm (powdered)
butter-200 gm
eggs-5
vanilla essence-1/2 tsp
tonovin or grape essence-1/2 tsp
powdered nutmeg and cinnamon-1 tsp each
baking powder-11/2 tsp
soda bicarb-1 tsp

The dry fruits and wine proportion was totally a by-default decision based on the random availability of stuff. i fortunately fulfilled the required ratio.

currants-60 gm
cherries-50 gm
almonds and cashewnuts-100 gm (together)
dates-100 gm
orange peel-20 gm
fresh apple-1/2-1
homemade grape wine-11/4 cups

All the dry fruits were chopped fine and soaked together in one cup wine in a glass container for a week at room temperature. a day before i baked the apple was chopped fine and soaked in 1/4 cup wine and left outside.

Sift maida, baking powder and soda bicarb. beat the butter and sugar till soft. add the eggs one by one (i think i added two by two!!) and continue beating. mix in the flour till well-blended. add the essence and the soaked fruits and hand-mix nicely. place the batter in a cake tin and bake till a toothpick inserted comes out clean. cool, cut and hog away...

It's better to use a spring form pan with a removable bottom or oil your butter paper and place in the cake tin and bake. use rum or brandy if wine not available but reduce the quantity to half cup.