How to make Christmas Fruit Cake | Easy Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe

There's something extremely gratifying about making your own cake and gifting your loved ones with yours. Usually, its days ahead of Christmas that I begin with the process of soaking fruits in booze and later bake them into a fruit cake that sits for a couple of days before being brought out to share. Each year, we have our family, parents, sister, brother-in-law and few close friends to whom the cake goes out to. Beyond celebrations, we seek joy in togetherness, sharing and the art of giving.

My dear friend Lubna is hosting a virtual Christmas party at Yummy Food this year. Ever since her invite, I was left to ponder what I could take along to the potluck, that, it should not only be apt for this celebration, but can also be enjoyed by the young and old without reservations. I scuffled through many options I had on mind - cookies, breads, gateau cakes, or petite fours? None gripped my mind stronger than one. Soon it was sorted. My heart was set on this Fruit cake, and nothing seemed more gratifying than sinking my teeth into a good Christmas Fruit Cake that's speckled with fruits and nuts, bursting with flavor from spices, and left plain without frosting. Simple, yet rich, its gloriously satisfying even with a small piece. Its a tradition to solemnly indulge in Kuswar, (the assortments served during Christmas) for someone like me who grew up in Mangalore. I'm away from home, oceans away from my family whom I miss dearly, so this fruit cake had to be it. Its a thing I delve into every single year, because, it brings back many fuzzy memories of home, family and friends in Mangalore.

I've made many fruit cakes in the past, like this, this and this, each with subtle variation in the recipe and fruits used, all decadent and boozy in nature. I was armed with a kitchen scale, measuring out by grams to the tee, in my initial years, but now a measuring cup does the job well as I can tell well if the cake will bake to perfection or not by the look of its batter. A good Fruit Cake holds a special space in my heart, it doesn't matter if the fruits are soaked over months or made in an instant like the one I have at Yummy Food's party today. Its a simple cake, but packed with flavors from spices and fruits that makes it so luxurious and indulgent. I stick by using a non-alcoholic mulled fruit drink in my recipe, so you don't have to worry if you have a young kid to cater to, but feel free to substitute with a booze or fruit juice of your choice.

So join me over on Yummy Food as we celebrate this season of reflection and celebration. We'll soon leap into the new year that brings along more hopes, positivity and strength. Come let’s bake this cake to celebrate the last leg of 2016 and welcome 2017 with arms wide open. Before you hop over, here's me wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

When I first came to the US, I really wanted to explore the local and seasonal fruits and vegetables that are rare or are mostly imported in India. In our weekly visit to the farmer's market, I often look out for local produces, such as asparagus, arugula, broccoli, kale, baby carrots, varieties of squash that are not so native to Indian cuisine. I cook with some, tweak and toss them in Indian spices to suit our tastes, bake the others and some go into salads to be munched fresh. It's kind of satisfying to know that the food you devour is fresh and local.

Local and seasonal fruits are my absolute favorites. I love the pears we get here, beautifully golden red, crisp, sweet and juicy. Poach them with some spices or relish them as is, they are delicious. The oranges are my all time favorites, and since its in markets all over now, we get them by kilos every week. We bring berries occasionally, because they are tart and mostly suitable to bake desserts or make smoothies than relish them as is. But since its spring time, the markets are full of berries in vivid colors and its too hard to resist this temptation to pick them when you see them all around.

Considering the tropical climate Southern India has, the vegetation does not support the growth of berries such as strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Getting these berries fresh are rare and even if we do, they are exorbitant and pricey for regular use. The closest local berries I have seen are mulberries, but again they are rare and pricey. Over the years, strawberries have gained popularity in India, but we refrain from buying them often since they are heavily loaded with pesticides to save the deep pink berries from pest infections. Although it's quite common now to get imported canned berries or their preserves, they cannot replace the joy of devouring a real fruit. So while I am here, some of these fresh berries will become a part of my shopping list.

I have a penchant for blueberries in particular. It must be their distinct blue color, so unusual of a fruit that I rave about. They make amazing desserts while adding glamour and flavor. I have baked with them in the past, like this crumble or cupcakes, made fro-yos and tea cakes and love every bit of their flavor. As they bake, they spread their lovely velvety indigo hues. I find them best to leave them whole in the batter. If you mash or pound them, they make the batter ugly. Instead let them play on their own. As they burst in the heat, they seep out their juices, colors and flavors beautifully. Don't forget a dash of good vanilla extract. They bring out deep flavors of the berries. Additionally they give satisfaction that you've sneaked some fruits in there and know you get a bit of nutrition while adding calories!

Blueberry Pound Cake

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour divided
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-2 tbsp. milk
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and dust flour on a rectangular 7" x 11" cake pan.

Firstly, bring all your ingredients to the room temperature, i.e. eggs and butter. Cream the butter and sugar till it is light and pale. Add eggs one at a time and beat vigorously until light and fluffy. Add a tablespoonful of milk and the vanilla extract. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together into the creamed mixture and beat. Add another tbsp of milk if the batter is too thick. Gently fold 1/2 the berries into the batter. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Drop the remaining berries into the batter from the top. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a fork / toothpick comes out clean.

February is here, much sooner than I had expected. The past month has gone by so fast like a blink of an eye, leaving me wonder what’s making life so recklessly fast paced and ridden. The weeks in January just galloped away, much before I realized that we had stepped into February and are soon half way through into it. Do you sense the same notion that I do? Really, I have no clue why.

I have been feeling too restless lately, my mind too busy, my emotions disparate and my body physically dissolute. Hanging between the pendulums of taking some important decisions, I am primed with making those choices that will bring about big change in our lives. Of taking a stance whether I should or should not. There are many at this moment, some long standing ones that need to be pushed off, some small yet important that cannot be ignored and some as big that they cannot be disregarded. The pressures to be decisive will increase as time clocks away and things will get clearer as I tick off each of these from my bucket-list. Time is a good healer and things will settle down soon. Soon I will come to a consensus to believe that - what happens shall be for our good.

While all of these have kept my mind busy lately, somewhere in the corner of my mind nests my dire desire to stay composed and stress free; of looking out means to get away from these chaos of life. On one such weekend, this Coffee and Walnut Strudel Tea Cake was made.

Coffee and Walnut has always been a winning combination for me, that being one of my favourite choices of cake whenever I order out. The Strudel with Oat topping gives this tea cake a lovely rugged, tough look, without ignoring the beautiful crunch in each bite. Hope you enjoy this cake as much as I did.

Coffee and Walnut Struesel Tea Cake

INGREDIENTS

For the cake loaf:

175 gm. plain flour
175 gm. salted butter
175 gm. brown sugar
1 tbsp. ground flax seed in 3 tbsp. water *
2 tbsp. yogurt *
1 tbsp. strong black coffee
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
60 gm walnut pieces

For Struesel Topping:

20 gm. broken walnuts
20 gm. regular oats
40 gm. plain flour
25 gm. granulated sugar *
25 gm. cold salted butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 190º and grease a loaf tin with butter. In a large mixing bowl, sift all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the walnuts and stir well. In another bowl, pour all the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix well till just combined. Pour batter into the loaf tin.

To make the Sruesel topping, take the walnuts, oats, plain flour and sugar in a mixing bowl. Gently rub in cold butter into this mixture till its crumbly. Top this crumbled mixture on the cake batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool on a rack and slice to serve.

* I strongly dislike the flavor of flax in my bakes. However I do realize that flax is one of the easiest and best replacement for eggs. Similarly I always had winning results with yogurt as replacement, hence I combined both of these to get the perfectly textured cake.
* I used granulated sugar for the struesel topping because I ran out of sufficient brown sugar. You may use brown sugar instead.

How to make Velvet Beet Cake| Easy Velvet Beet Cakei

I have attempted to bake a Red Velvet cake on several occasions in the past. There’s a strong temptation to get the perfectly red one with beets and no fake colouring. Alas, I failed. So, I call this one a Velvet Beet cake and not a Red Velvet cake that I would have loved to call otherwise. It’s funny because, each time I got perfectly baked cake with pleasing results and good texture, it was sans that deep red colour that would qualify it to be called as a Red Velvet cake. It always ended up brown and chocolatey, often good to be christened as a nice Chocolate cake. Even the best of the beet cake recipes have not helped me.

So it stays to be a Beet cake, till I achieve the perfect palette of colours in them and share them with you here. :)

None can ever figure out that beets are sneaked in there. Not even the husband who saw me busy puree them late night and putting them together! He says he can’t imagine a cake out of beets. But why not, when we have cakes made from carrots? And you are sure to get a thumbs up. Don’t let the folks know there’s a vegetable in there. It makes them biased. Instead, let them enjoy, allow them to take second and third helpings and let the cat out of bag later. I bet you’ll get gawked looks like I did! It’s amusing.

I say this one is extremely healthy. Because I use olive oil instead of butter, beet puree makes up for the eggs, organic vanilla powder and brown organic sugar add depth of flavors instead of the refined one. So it’s eggless, butterless and certainly healthy with vegetable sneaked it. I feel no guilt when I feed my daughter the slices of this cake as she despises beets in their true form. This way though I sneak them into her and I am a happy mother to a cheerful toddler.

Velvet Beet Cake

Recipe minimally adapted from here

INGREDIENTS

1 medium sized, beetroot (boiled until tender, then puréed)
1/3 cup oil (I used Olive-Pomace oil)
1 1/4 cup organic brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. organic vanilla powder
1 1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk (use any vegan milk of your choice, like soy or cashew milk for vegan option)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease the bundt pan with oil and dust with plain flour.

Wash thoroughly and boil the beet until its soft and tender. Using a blender/mixer, purée it to a fine paste along with milk and brown sugar. Opt for regular sugar if you don't have brown sugar. Next add in oil and vanilla powder/ extract and blend further until incorporated. Set aside. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the beet milk mixture and stir gently until all is well incorporated into the batter. Bake for 40 minutes or till done. Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and test for done. Remove and allow the cake to cool on a cooling rack. Serve as is or with dollops of cream or ice cream.

Hovering over government offices is one of the biggest nightmares one ever faces in India. Several round about trips to the officers cabins followed by incessant persuasion, pleading and bribing, yet the tasks often remain at the same state from where they started. The papers don't move ahead, the officers are unwilling to listen or answer and an even greater worry - the bribe.

My own experiences in the past have been fairly bitter. I battled to get through my replacement driving license for the lost one. My husband made several trips to the driving license offices going through those repetitive tests with the same officers, each time being refused to have cleared the test for lame excuses! He made it through the test finally by trailing a middleman by overpaying handsome charges for licenses and the bribe. A painful woe. We never got around to getting the ration card done, hence we have no subsidized gas connection. The saving grace is our local supplier from whom we buy cylinders at exorbitant prices. And so we've been carrying on that way for long.

On Thursday, last week when I took a day off from my work to get my passport renewed, I went to their offices with little hopes, or rather being optimistic about doing several rounds of visits to process my renewal. My preparedness was to witness the worst; a futile day, those chaotic queues, stampede of crowd running around like headless chicken from tables to tables into the noisy, rude officers, papers strewn all over, long waiting hours or to be even being sent back for more documents and paper work, almost admonishing the fact our government processes would ever change for good. Pocket full of cash in dire needs to fulfil any greedy officer and be my saving grace, I made my way well in time to the passport office.

Though managing a huge crowd is always a huge challenge I agree to, I was pleasantly surprised with the way the entire process was revamped to make it systematic and defined. Here I was mighty pleased that I conquered one such a battle, with no pleading, no bribing and fairly efficiently managed system that was automated and smooth, all conducted within 2 hours! 5 days post I have my passport in hand and that's a huge relief. Yes, I am all happy and elated the way it has been processed swiftly. My recent past experiences, be it getting the UIDAI or my passport have been pleasant one to say, though not entirely easy, yet it gives many hopes that our country is changing for good.

For the day I took off from work, and the day I had at hand all for myself, what best can a baker do other than bake a lovely cake to celebrate something that ended positively? Yes, I cooked up a storm in the kitchen and this Apple Raisin Cake was a result of one such celebration.

Apple Raisin Cake

INGREDIENTS

Dry Ingredients:

1 medium sized apple, cored and chopped
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
A generous pinch of spice powder (cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg powders)
3/4 cup powdered sugar (increase to 1 cup if you prefer sweeter)
2 tbsp. dry raisins

Wet ingredients:

1/3 cup salted butter, melted
1 cup yogurt / buttermilk
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. of vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Line a 9 inch baking tin or a fluted cake pan.

To prepare the cake batter, combine the flour, the baking powder and soda along with the spice powder and sieve them together. Add the sugar to this and mix well. Add in the chopped apples and raisins to these dry ingredients and toss well.

In a separate bowl, stir in all the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir using a wooden spoon. Pour the batter to prepared cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven for 40-50 mins at 180 degrees C till a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

2nd February 2013: It was quite a relaxed Sunday. I plonked myself on my deep brown and black shaded sofa, threw my legs up on the aged teak coffee table that adorns my living and sat there gazing at a bunch of my favourite magazine collection from BBC GoodFood. The past one year has seen me as an ardent lover of their series and my subscription was due for closure. In the morning the courier guy had just hand delivered my last copy and I kept pondering if I should renew them or stick on to the 12 magazines I had at hand. They lay there in absolute desire to be flipped over again and again and as I made myself comfortable with a cup of coffee, I couldn't hold my fondness for them any longer and I flipped them all over again. I was lost and in love again.

And like it often happens, as I read through them, admire the photographs and get critical, flipping recipes over, I do not realize how I have lost on time. Admit, I spend a lot of my time, often quite futile over these cookbooks. Because it happens frequently that I take more than hours to pin down a recipe that I actually wish to recreate in my kitchen. Again I'm lost. I simply don’t feel guilty either.

So this Sunday wasn't any different. I dreamt of making a savoury, flipped over a couple of recipes and couple of magazines too. Pulao was done, the vegetable stew busy brewing up on the stove, so cooking was almost over. How about a salad I think. I flip over pages. I scan my pantry for those cheeses and herbs. I realize soon I need to stock them. I hunt for desserts instead to make my Sunday worthy. I flip over to the last page and there the beautiful raspberry brownies hold my utmost attention. I know what I have been looking for. Finally! I rush to my kitchen, pull my kitchen scales out, do a quick melt of butter in the microwave and stir all things good to bake these dark beauties.

So these brownies were made, ditto the way the magazine said, measuring out ingredients carefully by their weight, replacing the raspberries for some dried cranberries. I suggest you make them and you’ll know yourself how good they are. They are deep, fudgy and chocolatey with beautiful fruity bites from cranberries. A bit of cheating in your diet is all okay. So forget your fears, pick up a slice and devour them happily to your hearts content.

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Brownies

Inspired by Best-ever Chocolate & Raspberry Brownies from BBC GoodFood magazine

150 gm dark chocolate broken into chunks
125 gm salted butter
200 gm soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
70 gm plain flour
25 gm cocoa powder
100 gm cranberries (I’ve used Ocean Spray here)

Heat the oven to 180 deg C. Line a baking dish with baking paper. Put the chocolate, sugar and butter in a pan and gently melt, stirring well with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat.

Stir in the eggs one by one, into the chocolate mixture. Sieve the flour and the cocoa and stir in. add in half the cranberries and scape the batter into the tray. Then scatter the remaining cranberries over the top of the batter. Bake for 30 minutes or 5 more minutes if you prefer a firmer texture. Cool before slicing and store in air tight containers for up to 3 days.