Fancy Fruit and Nut Cake
Preparation 30 Minutes
Cook 3.5 hours Minutes
Serves 12
Method
Preheat oven to 150°C
- Grease a standard loaf tin (21 x 13cm or larger). Line base and sides with baking paper, extending paper 6cm above rim to form a collar.
- Coarsely chop half the nuts, glacé fruit and cherries and place in a large bowl (reserve the remainder of each for topping). Add raisins and dates and stir to combine.
- Sift flours and cinnamon, then stir 1⁄4 cup into the fruit mixture.
- Beat eggs, sugar, 2 tablespoons of brandy and rind together until light. Add remaining flour and stir to combine, then fold through fruit mixture. Spoon into prepared tin/s and press down with back of a spoon.
- Cut remaining glacé fruits into quarters. Press gently on top of cake along with whole nuts and whole cherries.
- Cover top of cake with paper bag or baking paper, resting on the collar. Bake large cake for 11⁄2-13⁄4 hours or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin.
- Place apricot conserve and remaining brandy in a small saucepan. Simmer, stirring for 3 minutes. Strain, then brush over cake. To serve, cut into thick slices.
Ingredients
1/3 cup Sunbeam Dry Roasted Almonds
¾ cup Sunbeam Brazil Nuts
1 cup Sunbeam Macadamia Halves
400g mixed glacé fruit – pineapple rings,
whole apricots and whole figs
200g Sunbeam Mixed Glacé Cherries
1 cup Sunbeam Raisins
1½ cups Trident Pitted Dates, halved
½ cup plain flour
¼ cup self raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon, ground
2 eggs
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup brandy
2 tsp orange rind, finely grated
½ cup apricot conserve
Recipe Collection
Pumpkin Fruit Cake
Preheat oven to 160⁰C. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.
- Bring to the boil mixed fruit, sugar, syrup, butter and apricot nectar, stirring all the time and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add bicarbonate of soda. Allow mixture to cool.
- Add eggs and pumpkin. Beat till smooth. Then add flours and mix well to combine.
- Place in tin and bake for 90 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Crunchy Apple Slaw
- Place pinenuts and sesame seeds in a small frying pan and cook for 5 minutes until golden and toasted. Set aside.
- Combine the cabbage, apples, spring onions, raisins and mint in a large mixing bowl and toss well.
- Whisk together the oil and vinegar. Season to taste. Pour over apple mixture and toss well. Spoon onto serving platter and sprinkle with toasted seeds and nuts and some additional mint leaves.
Hot Cross Bun Choc Truffles
Combine hot cross buns, sultanas, mixed peel and mixed spice in a food processor and blend until a fine crumb.
Combine dark and milk chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 2 mins (stopping every 30 seconds and stirring) until the chocolate is completely melted.
Add melted chocolate mixture to the food processor and blend until combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 4-6 hours until firm enough to spoon.
Spoon mixture into 2 tablespoon sized portions then roll into balls. Roll in cocoa powder, dusting off excess powder. Line a baking tray with baking paper, place balls onto the tray and refrigerate for 30 mins to harden.
Place white chocolate into a small, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 min, stopping every 20 seconds to stir, or until completely melted. Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a piping bag fitted with a small, round nozzle.
Pipe a cross (to resemble a hot cross bun) onto the tops of each ball then return to fridge for a further 30 mins to set.
Sunbeam Raisin Toast
Gather the ingredients.
Yeast needs warm water to activate, not hot. Just warm. Sprinkle your packet of yeast over the top of the warm water. You don’t even need to stir it in.
Once you get the yeast on the water, add about a teaspoon of granulated sugar.
After a couple of minutes it will start to look cloudy and have a little bit of foam on top.
Once you see the foam, & bubbling you’re ready to use your yeast in this recipe.
In a large bowl, combine the Sunbeam raisins, warm milk, butter, sugar, and salt; stir to dissolve the sugar. Let the mixture cool to lukewarm.
Stir 1 1/2 cups of the flour into the milk mixture and beat until smooth.
Add the yeast mixture and the beaten eggs to the milk mixture and mix to blend well.
Add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft but stiff dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Butter or oil a large bowl. Place the dough in the greased bowl. Turn it over to grease the entire surface of the dough.
Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let it stand in a warm, draft-free place until it has doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Punch the dough down and divide it into two equal portions. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Shape the dough into two loaves and place them in two greased 8-by-4-inch loaf pans.
Cover the pans with a kitchen towel and let the loaves rise for about 45 to 60 minutes, or until the dough has almost doubled in bulk. Then preheat oven to 180c.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Place foil over the loaves for the last 10 minutes if they look overly brown.
Remove the loaves from the pans and let them cool on racks.
Toast & enjoy!
Crunchy Apple Slaw
- Place pine nuts and sesame seeds in a small frying pan and cook for 5 minutes until golden and toasted. Set aside.
- Combine the cabbage, apples, spring onions, raisins and mint in a large mixing bowl and toss well.
- Whisk together the oil and vinegar. Season to taste. Pour over apple mixture and toss well. Spoon onto serving platter and sprinkle with toasted seeds and nuts and some additional mint leaves.
Fruit & Nut Biscotti
Heat oven to 180 degrees C. Generously butter or spray bottom and sides of loaf pan with cooking spray.
In large bowl, stir flour, nuts, sultanas, flax seeds, brown sugar, salt and baking soda. Stir in milk. Pour batter evenly into prepared pan.
Bake 50 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack. Transfer to freezer and freeze at least 1 hour, but no more than 3 hours.
Heat oven to 200 degrees c. Remove loaf from pan. Use sharp serrated knife to cut loaf into 1/8-inch thick slices. Arrange slices in single layer on rimmed baking sheets. Bake 15 minutes until golden brown, flipping halfway through baking. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
Store at room temperature in airtight container up to 1 week.
