Tropical Christmas cake

Name: Tropical Christmas cake
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 3 h 15 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: 1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise; 250 g sultanas or raisins; 150 g dried apricots, chopped; 100 g pack Urban Fruit Gently Baked Pineapple; 125 g pack No.1 Perfectly Soft Mango, roughly chopped; 50 g balls stem ginger in syrup, drained and roughly chopped; 50 g Cooks’ Ingredients Provençal Glacé Cherries, halved; 50 g Waitrose Italian Cut Mixed Peel; 175 ml dark rum, plus extra to feed the cake; 250 g butter, softened, plus a little for greasing; 250 g light brown soft sugar; 4 Waitrose British Blacktail Free Range large Eggs; 200 g plain flour; ¾ tsp baking powder; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp mixed spice; ¼ whole nutmeg, very finely grated; 1 lemon, scrubbed, zest; 1 orange, scrubbed, zest; 200 g Brazil nuts, 50g chopped

Baking this lightly spiced treat a few weeks ahead will allow it to mature beautifully – and give the family plenty of time to look forward to devouring it. It won’t need icing or marzipan, just a final sprinkling of nuts and jewel-like fruit is enough.

4 out of 5 stars(1) Rate this recipe

Vegetarian

Serves12
CourseCake
Prepare45 mins
Cook3 hrs 15 mins
Total time4 hrs
Plussoaking and cooling

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Ingredients

1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise
250g sultanas or raisins
150g dried apricots, chopped
100g pack Urban Fruit Gently Baked Pineapple
125g pack No.1 Perfectly Soft Mango, roughly chopped
50g balls stem ginger in syrup, drained and roughly chopped
50g Cooks’ Ingredients Provençal Glacé Cherries, halved
50g Waitrose Italian Cut Mixed Peel
175ml dark rum, plus extra to feed the cake
250g butter, softened, plus a little for greasing
250g light brown soft sugar
4 Waitrose British Blacktail Free Range large Eggs
200g plain flour
¾ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
¼ whole nutmeg, very finely grated
1 lemon, scrubbed, zest
1 orange, scrubbed, zest
200g Brazil nuts, 50g chopped

For the decoration

25g Brazil nuts
30g Cooks’ Ingredients Provençal Glacé Cherries, halved
2 balls stem ginger in syrup, drained and cut into large chunks
25g Urban Fruit Gently Baked Pineapple, roughly chopped (optional)
25g No.1 Perfectly Soft Mango, roughly chopped (optional)

Method

Combine the vanilla pod, all the dried fruit, ginger, glacé cherries, mixed peel and 125ml rum in a large bowl. Cover and leave in a cool place for at least 2 hours, until the fruit has absorbed most of the liquid and the pineapple has plumped up. Remove the vanilla pod, scraping the seeds into the fruit.
Preheat the oven to 150°C, gas mark 2. Butter a round, 23cm cake tin and line with 2 layers of nonstick baking parchment (it should stand 2cm above the tin). Wrap the outside of the tin in 2 layers of parchment or parcel paper and secure with string.
Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy and light. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift in the flour, baking powder, spices and citrus zests, then gently fold in.
Fold in 50g chopped Brazil nuts, the soaked fruit and any liquid. Spoon into the tin, scooping out a slight hollow in the middle to prevent the cake forming a domed centre. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and place the remaining 150g whole Brazil nuts on the surface. Cover with baking paper and bake for 2 hours more, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Cool the cake in the tin for 15 minutes. Pierce the top a few times with a fine skewer and sprinkle with the remaining 50ml rum. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks, occasionally sprinkling with a couple of tablespoons of rum. To serve, top with the Brazil nuts, glacé cherries and ginger, and the pineapple and mango, if using.