Light Summer Style Fruit Cake, and Two Very Special Cakes

If you visit my little blog regularly, you will know by now that I jump between experimenting with recipes and teaching myself cake decorating. I am harbouring a not so secret desire to one day quit the rat race of medical sales, and become a self employed cake decorator, although trust me, at the moment that day seems a long way off in the distance. I have the best family and friends in the world, who are constantly requesting cakes for events to test me, and this month I faced my two biggest and most important challenges yet, as I have baked for two very special events.

Firstly, my grandparents business is celebrating it's 50th year, which is such a fantastic achievement, even without considering the current financial climate. They have built such a wonderfully solid family run business together, and we are all so proud of them. Secondly, Gary's Mum was sworn in as Mayor of Newton Abbot, his hometown in Devon, and we were invited down to the Mayor Making Ceremony, which definitely called for cake! 

Summer Style Fruit Cake

For both occasions, because I was going to be making cakes that would be on display, and would be consumed by a lot of people, I wanted to make a good solid fruit cake, that would be robust enough to be sculptured, transported, and sit in the open air possibly for hours at a time. For me, I always associate fruit cake with Christmas Cake, and brandy soaked fruit, and I really didn't want that flavour for these cakes, what with both events being in May. I had previously made these Honey, Fruit and Nut Flapjacks using tropical fruits, and they tasted so floral and summery I decided to try and get that taste into my cakes. I grabbed my favourite Christmas Cake recipe, and started to chop and change the ingredients, and this is what I came up with...

Ingredients:

330g sultanas

170ml cold green tea

zest and juice from 1 small lemon

85g dried apricots

85g dried tropical fruit (I used a mixed selection that was already partially re-hydrated)

130g cherries

170g salted butter

170g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

zest of 1 lemon

15g honey

170g plain flour

30g roughly chopped pistachio nuts

Method:

(I made three cakes together here, so the images of the fruit portions may look considerably more than the quantities stated. The method remains the same)

• Start by soaking the sultanas to make them extra juicy. Brew the green tea, and leave to cool completely. Once cool, add the green tea to the sultanas and add the juice and zest of one lemon. Leave to soak for at least two hours, or overnight if possible. (I used partially rehydrated apricots and tropical fruits, so didn't need to soak them. If you are using fully dried fruits, add them to the sultanas to soak before use)
• Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees. Prepare a 20cm/8 inch cake tin by lining with greaseproof paper. Prepare a 'lid' for the tin also, by cutting another piece of greaseproof the same size as the tin, and cutting a small cross in the top to allow steam to escape. 
• Prep the remainder of the fruit by chopping it into pieces roughly the same size as the sultanas and halving the cherries.
• In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth, then add the sugar and cream together.
• Add the eggs one at a time and beat in. 
• Add the lemon zest, honey and flour, and fold the mixture together until all the ingredients are fully combined.
• Add the chopped pistachios, and the mixed fruit, and stir through well, so that the fruit is evenly distributed through the cake mixture.
• Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin, cover with the lid, and bake for 2 and a half hours, checking after the first 2 hours. The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. 
• Once cooked, remove the cake from the oven, and place on a cooling rack. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before removing it. 
• Cover and decorate as desired.

Because I was sculpting these cakes into a shape, I had the baker's privilege of sampling the cakes upfront, and my goodness did it taste good! The cake has all the structural integrity of a Christmas cake, but the flavour is light and delicate, and the lemon and green tea flavours sit really well with the tropical fruits and apricots. Soaking the fruit in the green tea makes the final cake wonderfully moist as well, despite not being 'fed' with copious amounts of booze like a traditional fruit cake. I would thoroughly recommend this recipe for a summer wedding or similar event as a great seasonal alternative to traditional fruit cakes. 

And as for what I did with these beautiful cakes once I had baked them... well...

Honey, Fruit and Nut Flapjacks

I think everyone has a handful of easy recipes that they make over and over again because they are simple and they taste good. They become a weekly feature in the home, and almost a habit for the baker, until one weekend, you forget, or have commitments that prevent you from making that regular batch, and suddenly you break the habit and don't have any for ages. Chocolate Brownies are one of mine, and Flapjack is another.

Honey, Fruit and Nut Flapjacks

I adore flapjack for its simplicity, a few ingredients in a bowl, bake it and done, and also because it just about convinces me that I'm taking a healthy choice over cake or pudding... ok, I said just about! 

I particularly like this recipe for two reasons, one because I have adapted it over time to have the easiest list of ingredients and quantities to remember by heart, and secondly because of the use of honey rather than golden syrup, which gives the flapjack a really subtle flowery taste rather than sticky sweet. (You could always directly replace the honey for golden syrup if you wished however.)

The Recipe

100 grams butter

100 ml honey

100 grams golden caster sugar

200 grams rolled or porridge oats

100 grams mixed fruit and nuts (I have used chopped hazelnuts, dried apricots, mango and pineapple, and glace cherries here, - but feel free to mix up to your tastes with this - you could have lots of flavours like me, or keep it simple with one or two key ingredients)

Makes 16 square flapjacks, or 8 breakfast bars.

To make the flapjacks, line a 20 cm square tin with baking parchment and grease well. 

Put the butter, honey and caster sugar in a saucepan, and heat until the butter and sugar are melted and then stir all the ingredients until well combined.

Meanwhile put the rolled oats, fruit and nuts into a large bowl and stir together. Pour over the butter and honey mixture, and stir well until all of the oats and fruit are coated. 

Transfer the mixture to the lined tin, and spread evenly, pushing the mixture into the corners and pressing down flat with the back of a spoon or spatula. 

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. Avoid letting the edges burn.

Remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack still in the tin. Leave to cool for 3-4 minutes, and then whilst the mixture is still warm, use a pallet knife to slice the flapjacks into the sizes required. 

Leave in the tin to cool completely, then lift out of the tin using the baking parchment. You may need to re-cut the slices here with a knife, by just cutting through the marks made with the pallet knife. 

Flapjacks will keep well in an airtight tin for 7-10 days... not that they have ever lasted that long in our house...