Can you imagine Christmas is just about 5-6 weeks away ! Can't really express my feelings. Wow.... I'm getting excited though I'm not celebrating it. Just feeling excited like I used to even since I was a kid. In my memories, Christmas is something really special cause its very near to Chinese New Year. You know what I mean !
haha.... The continuously festive mood.just blow me away but this year my family is not celebrating the Chinese New Year cause according to the Chinese custom, it is forbidden to celebrate anything within a year after my father in law passing. However, we will still go home to have our New Year eve dinner like every year. So, just to lift up the festive spirit I baked myself a festive fruit cake. Oh yeah, this is just so delicious. I wrapped them into few small portions then keep frozen, where I can enjoy anytime I want.
I didn't add in the candied cherries as my family didn't like it at all especially the smell of it. However, I replaced some other dried fruits instead such like apricot & cranberries.
Ingredients :
(A)
250gm butter, softened
250gm brown sugar
4 eggs
1 TB ground mixed spice (I used five spice powder)
300gm all purpose flour
(B)
250gm dried apricot, chopped
250gm raisins
250gm sultanas
250gm dried cranberries, chopped
5 TB brandy
*extra 4 TB brandy (for final topping)
Method :
(1) soaked ingredients (B) over night.
(2) beat butter & sugar till fluffy pale then whisk in eggs one at a time till everything well combined
(3) now, fold in flour & mixed spice and mix well.
(4) next, stir in ingredients (B) and blended well then pour batter to a 7" baking tray lined with parchment paper.
(5) finally, bake at preheated oven 175'C for about an hour or till tester came out clean and pour in the extra brandy liquor immediately.
*
chocolate ganache : 200gm chocolate (chopped) melted into 60ml hot heavy cream
Lastly, I covered the cake with an extra touch of
chocolate ganache.... just playing greedy.
haha..... Hope you guys are having a great time during the weekend & enjoy your early Christmas shopping. >o<
