Plum Cake

Plum cake is the one that comes to my mind after Santa during Christmas season😃 It was in my wish list for a long time. I made sure to bake it this year before Christmas & post it in my blog. But I was not much confident about the outcome as I rarely bake cakes & also its my first try on Plum Cake. And yes..finally I made a super soft & aromatic Plum cake👍 Felt nostalgic as it tasted similar to the one which my Dad used to get me from a famous bakery in my hometown😃 I always had a doubt why its called Plum cake when no plums are added to it or rarely can see dried plums in it. Then I came to know, initially Plum cakes made in European countries were prepared with fresh plums & hence the name. Then it changed over time & a wide range of cakes made with dried fruits & nuts are often referred as Plum cake or Fruit cake. In traditional method they used to soak the dried fruits & nuts in Rum for a month before adding to the cake mix. But in this recipe I soaked those in Orange & grape juices replacing Rum. Its a bit long process, but worth the taste😋
Try this recipe & celebrate Christmas with a yummy Plum cake🎂 Wishing you all a Merry Christmas🎄🎅 & a Happy New year💥

🎂Plum Cake Recipe🎂

Preparation Time : 15-20 mins | Soaking Time: 1day | Baking Time : 40-50 mins | Makes:1.65 lb
Category : Dessert | Cuisine : Indian

Ingredients   

All purpose flour/Maida - 2 cups

Brown Sugar -2 cups

Unsalted butter(softened) - 1 cup

Eggs - 5

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp

For Soaking:

Orange juice - 1 cup

Grape juice - 1/2 cup

Chopped nuts(Almonds,Cashews,Walnuts,Hazel nuts,Pistachios) - 1 cup 

Raisins(Black) - 3/4 cup

Tutty fruity+cherries - 1 cup

Orange Zest (top layer of orange peel)) - 1 tbsp

 

For Sugar caramelization:

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 1/4 cup

Boiling water - 1/4 cup

For Spice Mix:

Cinnamon - 2 inch piece

Cloves - 5

Cardamom -2

Method:

1. The first step is soaking. Chop the nuts you needed to add. Put the nuts in a mixing bowl along with raisins, Tutty Fruity, Cherries & Orange zest & mix well.

2. Prepare a cup of fresh Orange juice & 1/2 a cup of grape juice. Add those juices to the above mixture in the bowl.

3. Allow overnight or 1 day to get those dryfruits & nuts to get soaked well & absorb those juices. I allowed to soak it for a day.

A day after..look how the fruits & nuts absorbed the juice.

4. Now comes the Caramelization part. Add 1/2 cup of sugar in a heavy bottomed vessel & a little water, say 1/4 cup or even less. Allow it to boil till all the sugar got dissolved & a thick syrup consistency is reached. It should be brown. Turn off the stove. 

While that process is going on keep ready 1/4 cup of  boiling water. Now add the boiling water to the thick, brown sugar syrup. The syrup will harden a bit. Turn on the heat again & heat till the sugar crystals dissolve. Once all the sugar crystals are dissolved & you get a smooth syrup (just like honey consistency) turn off the heat. Set aside & let it cool while you proceed with the cake preparation.

5. Add 1/2 cup of sugar, cloves, cinnamon stick & cardamom in a small mixer jar/blender & make it a fine powder.

6. Sieve 2 cups of all purpose flour/maida & set aside. Add softened butter in a mixing bowl & blend well with a hand whisk or an electric whisk.Then add 5 eggs & blend well. Now add caramalized sugar syrup, powdered sugar & spice mix & blend.

To the blended mixture add the remaining 1 cup of sugar, a tbsp of Vanilla extract, all purpose flour, a pinch of salt, baking soda & baking salt and blend well for 2 mins.

7. Finally add the soaked nuts & fruits mixture along with the juice to the above blended mixture. Blend those well. The mixture should be neither thick nor watery. It should be in the consistency shown in the pic. 

   Coat the cake tin/pan with butter & dust it with little flour. Or you can place a butter paper if u have.

8. Pour the blended cake mix to the coated cake pan evenly. 

9. Preheat the conventional oven to 350 F. Bake it for 40-50 mins. If you are baking in 10 inch pan it may take 70 mins. Check after 40 mins inserting a tooth pick. If it comes out clean without sticking, your cake is done & ready to take it out from the oven.

10. Allow it to cool completely & then make pieces.

Now the yummy Plum cake is ready to eat!🍰

Points to be noted:

• You can coat the soaked dry fruits & nuts with 3 tbsp of flour before blending so that it wont get deposited at the bottom while baking. 

• If you want to make this cake instantly without soaking for a day, you can boil those dried fruits, nuts & juices altogether for 5 to 6 mins in medium flame. Allow to cool completely & then add it to the cake mix batter.

• Don't skip adding Orange zest. It adds more flavor to the cake. You can add less cloves if u want less spice flavor. I added more to supress the egg smell.