Penguin Books Australia

Free recipe from The Country Cookbook by Belinda Jeffery, My Last-Minute Christmas Cake, page 34.

Makes one large cake.

300 g unsalted butter
420 g dark brown sugar
1-1.2 kg mixed dried fruits (such as raisins, pitted prunes and dates, sultanas, currants and lovely smoky sun-dried apricots - use whatever you have in your pantry)
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 cup (250 ml) rum, port or muscat
1/2 cup (125 ml) water
1/2 cup (125 ml) cognac
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
2 heaped teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups (400 g) stone-groundwholemeal plain flour
about 150 g pecan halves and 120 g whole blanched almonds, for decorating
apricot glaze (see note overleaf), optional

Although I published a version of this recipe in my last book, Mix & Bake, I couldn't leave it out here as I invariably end up making it every Christmas. Truth be known, I make it all year round as fruitcake is my favourite cake of all, and this one is lovely and dense, chock-a-block with fruit and fragrant with spices. However, I would have to say that each time I bake it, it's slightly different as I am forever varying the dried fruits and liquids that I use in it. One thing that doesn't vary, however, is that you won't find one scrap of mixed peel within cooee of it. I can't bear the stuff; never could, actually. Much to my mum's despair, I would pick out every piece of mixed peel in her Christmas cake before I ate it . . . although the fact that I persisted with such a finicky task should tell you something about my love of fruitcake.

When I was finishing off the cake, I couldn't resist gilding the lily with some gum blossoms from the flowering red gum on the corner of our street - they just seemed so perfect and appropriate.

• Place the butter in a saucepan large enough to eventually hold all the cake ingredients and melt over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir to partially dissolve it so it's wet and slushy.
• Meanwhile, slice any large pieces of dried fruit (such as prunes and dates) into two or three pieces.
• Now, tip all the dried fruit, the bicarbonate of soda, rum, port or muscat, water and cognac into the pan with the sugar mixture. Increase the heat to high and keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Stop stirring and bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 4 minutes. You need to keep an eye on it and adjust the heat at this stage, as it froths up considerably because of the bicarbonate of soda. When it's ready, turn off the heat and leave the mixture to cool in the pan. I often make this in the evening and leave it to cool overnight. However, if you do this, cover it well - I once left the lid slightly askew and woke to find an army of very inebriated ants weaving their way to and from the pan!
• Preheat your oven to 150°C. Butter a 23 cm x 23 cm x 8 cm square cake tin and line the base and sides with a double thickness of buttered baking paper.
• Add the nutmeg, cinnamon and egg to the dried-fruit mixture and stir them in well. Mix in the flour, then leave the batter to sit for a few minutes. Scrape it into the prepared tin and give it a gentle shake to level the top.