Non Traditional Christmas Rum and Fruit Cake

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Yes oh, I baked! I really love cake and this recipe was born while I was teaching myself how to bake one; and boy the pictures do not do it justice rara!

Last Christmas, I had wanted to make some cake for my ajebutters, but I also wanted an adult flavor, so I decided to make another in which I added some rum. The taste of this cake takes me back to when I was little and when my mother always baked cakes. You have got to try the Nigerian sponge cake. Not only is it moist, but it tastes like heaven. There is something nostalgic about this cake. See, my mother was an avid baker. She baked anything from pies to cakes; while me, I never really liked baking(still don’t). I only manage baking sometimes; even so, I always pray for the time to pass :). I was getting ready to bake this cake when I got so confused. After a small consult with my friend Ify, I got back on track and I was very happy with the result of that day’s baking 🙂

I remember as a little girl, my mother after attending cuilinary school, used to bake a lot. She began to sell her pastries and cakes. She eventually became a caterer and sold her wares to schools, shops and super markets. My mother, worked too hard. She would stand for hours, baking and cooking during the week and eventually, during the weekend she would bake several wedding cakes for clients. Even when we fell on hard times, mother’s baking was what we relied on to provide our daily meal. All these memories flooded my mind while I baked this cake and it had me in tears the whole time. I remember telling my mother that I wanted to blog and cook. She got very scared for me, she was very concerned about the standing and the lack of rest, but she eventually gave me her support when she saw my passion for cooking(not baking oh 🙂 )

Back to the recipe, I have made other versions of rum cake where you had to ‘baptize’ the cake with rum every so often, but my lazy behind does not have the energy to start trying to remember where I must have kept the cake; talk less of to start pouring rum on to it. I made chinchin once and for a while I forgot where I had placed it. lwkmd! na to bake am chop oh. I kent shout 🙂

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If you like Nigerian cakes or just cakes in general, you will love this recipe. I baked this cake to go in the freezer, but once it was out of the oven, I had a few friends stop by and each one took a piece home; and by evening, the cake was gone.  This cake is way more delicious and looked better without the powdered sugar on top(I don’t know why I did that). You can enjoy this cake for tea time or even with some ice cream or coffee at dessert time after your Christmas dinner.

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This recipe is not just for lazy bones like me, but for people who don’t want to spend too much time baking one cake for the holidays. It is easy enough for you to make it and also have time to spend with your family.

Bake with me 🙂

Non Traditional Christmas Rum Cake
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all purpose flour(sieved)
  • 4 eggs
  • ¼ cup caster sugar
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 3 level tsps. baking powder
  • ¼ cup browning(see note)
  • 1tsp vanilla
  • 2½ sticks or 1 1/10 cup unsalted baking butter(at room temperature)
  • ½ tsp nut meg
  • ¼ cup rum, baileys or whisky(optional)
  • ¼ cup raisins or black currant
  • ¼ cup golden raisins
  • A handful of cranberries(optional)
  • a handful of black currant(optional)
  • salt ¼ tsp
  • ¼ cup chopped walnuts(or any kind)
  • ¼ tsp lemon shavings
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • Any type of nuts for garnish
  • 1tsp flour for dusting the baking pan
  • ½ tsp butter for oiling the baking pan
  • A handful of nuts for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees, soak the raisins in the rum and set aside
  2. Combine flour, baking powder, nut meg and salt; then sieve using a fine mesh sieve and set aside
  3. Beat eggs until fluffy
  4. In a bowl, cream the sugars and butter; until it looks light in color and fluffy(do not over cream). Pour in the eggs, browning, nuts, raisins/rum, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon shavings and mix for about a minute until well combined(do not over work this stage of the mix). Add the flour in little quantities while folding it in with a spatula. Grease a baking pan and dust with flour to prevent the cake from sticking. Pour in the batter and smoothen the top with a spatula. Place in the oven; making sure to reduce the heat to 300-325 degrees. Bake for about 35-45minutes or until you can dip a tooth pick into it and it comes out clean. Place the cake on a rack to cook for about 10minutes before taking it out of the pan. After taking it out of the pan, let it cool some more; then garnish with the nuts and enjoy 🙂
Notes
to make browning, heat up some brown sugar in a pot, stir constantly until it melts; then pour in a little warm water to make a syrup and set aside. To make caster sugar, simply run the regular white sugar through a dry mill

 

 

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