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Chocolate Fruit Cake

Made with ingredients including dark chocolate and cocoa powder, this is an indulgent alternative to the traditional Christmas fruit cake.

Dec 09, 2019, updated Dec 09, 2019

The recipe comes from new cookbook New York Christmas Baking, by Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup, which offers a taste of the Big Apple through festive sweet treats interspersed with photos of New York at Christmas time.

Chocolate Fruit Cake

Ingredients

Makes one 23cm cake

100g each dried apricots, dates, figs, prunes and raisins
140g dried cherries
1 vanilla bean
100 ml bourbon or rum
100 ml hot water
160g plain flour
2 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
120g each pistachios, pecans and almonds, finely chopped
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), coarsely chopped
75g dried cranberries, chopped
100g butter, at room temperature
100g dark brown sugar
2 eggs

For the topping:
Blanched almonds
Mixed dried fruit to taste
2 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp apricot jam

Also:
Butter for the tin

Method

Coarsely chop the apricots, dates, figs and prunes and transfer the chopped fruit to a heatproof bowl together with the raisins and cherries. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add the vanilla bean to the dried fruit and set the seeds aside. Warm the bourbon and add to the fruit together with the hot water. Marinate for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Drain the fruit, reserving the liquid. Discard the vanilla bean.

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Preheat the oven to 160C (320F). Butter a 23cm spring-form cake tin and line with baking paper.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Stir in the nuts, chocolate and cranberries. Beat the butter and sugar in another bowl until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir in the vanilla seeds. Use a wooden spoon to fold in first the soaked dried fruit and then the nut, fruit and flour mixture. Transfer the batter to the prepared tin, level the top and garnish with almonds.

Bake the cake for 60–75 minutes. Cover with baking paper after about half the baking time. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely. Coarsely chop the extra mixed dried fruit and sprinkle on top of the cake. Heat about 200 ml of the reserved soaking liquid over low heat and stir in the sugar and jam. Drizzle the cake with the glaze before serving.

Images and Text from New York Christmas Baking by Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup. Published by Murdoch Books, RRP $35.

 

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