Boiled Fruit Cake
Preparation 30 Minutes
Cook 90 Minutes
Serves APPROX. 10
Method
- Soak fruit overnight in sherry or brandy
- Place soaked fruit, water, butter, golden syrup and sugar in a saucepan. Slowly bring to the boil then remove from heat and add bicarbonate of soda mixed with one tablespoon boiling water. Cool for 15 minutes.
- Add lightly beaten eggs mixing thoroughly. Fold in sifted flours, spices and vanilla essence.
- Place in a 20cm round or square cake tin. Decorate with almonds. Bake at 160°C for 75 to 90 minutes. Cool in tin.
Thermo cooker method:
- Soak fruit overnight in sherry or brandy.
- Place soaked fruit, water, butter, golden syrup and sugar into TM bowl and heat 7 min/100°C/Reverse/speed 1.
- Add bicarb soda mixed with one tablespoon boiling water and gently stir through with the spatula – the mix will froth up but should not spill over.
- Cool for 15 minutes in TM bowl.
- Carefully add all remaining ingredients apart from the blanched almonds in the order listed and mix 10 sec/Reverse/speed 4.
- Scrape down sides of the bowl and mix 5 sec/Reverse/speed 4.
- Place in a lined 20cm round or square cake tin. Decorate with almonds. Bake at 160ºC for 1¼ to 1½ hours. Cool in tin.
Ingredients
500g Sunbeam Mixed Fruit
½ cup sherry or brandy
1 cup water
125g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 x eggs
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup plain flour
½ teaspoon mixed spice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
blanched almonds for decoration
Recipe Collection
Sunbeam Fathers Day Nut Mix
Preheat oven to 160°C
Line a large rimmed tray with baking paper so the maple syrup doesn’t get stuck to the pan.
Pour the Sunbeam natural almonds, raw cashews and pepitas onto the tray and set it aside.
In a small bowl, combine the maple syrup, melted butter, salt, rosemary, and cayenne. Stir till blended.
Pour the mixture over the nuts on the prepared baking sheet. Stir well, until all of the nuts are lightly coated. Then spread the mixture in a single layer across the tray.
Bake in oven, stirring after the first 10 minutes and then every 5 minutes thereafter, until almost no maple syrup remains on the parchment paper and the nuts are golden, approx 20 minutes.
Remove tray from the oven and stir the nuts one more time, spreading them into an even layer & let them cool. Once cool store in a airtight jar and gift to dad on Fathers Day!
Christmas Mud Cakes with Chocolate Ganache
- Preheat oven to 150ºC (130ºC fan-forced). Line 12 x ⅓ cup capacity muffin pans with paper cases.
- Place mixed fruit into a food processor with boiling water and blend to a fine paste. Transfer to a large saucepan with butter, chocolate, milk and brown sugar. Place over a medium heat and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until the butter and chocolate has melted.
- Transfer mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer (or you can transfer to a clean bowl and use a hand mixer) and whisk in the eggs. Add flour mixture, cocoa, mixed spice and a generous pinch of salt. Mix until the batter is thick and smooth.
- Pour batter into the prepared cases and smooth the surface. Bake for 25 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool.
- Heat cream until hot and pour over chocolate. Mix until smooth and desired consistency achieved. Spread over mud cakes.
Sultana & White Chocolate Shortbread
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy, approximately 2-3 minutes, add the sifted flour, when almost combined add the sultanas, choc chips & continue to beat with the flat beaters until a firm dough is obtained, be aware that it does take time to bring it together. If you knead by hand it will take approximately 4 minutes of kneading.
Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes or even overnight.
Remove the dough from the fridge, and if very firm, gently knead, place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll to ¼ inch thickness, cut out with your feastive cookie cutters, place on the prepared cookie sheets. Refrigerate the cookies while the oven is pre-heating, for about 15 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 160C. Line 1 or 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Bake the cookies for approximately 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, let sit 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
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.
Sunshine Pudding
Prepare a 2 litre pudding basin – grease well and double line base with baking paper circles.
- Combine raisins, sultanas, cherries and Cointreau in a bowl and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
- Place apricots, apricot nectar, orange juice and rind in a small saucepan and simmer covered for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool and puree.
- Cream butter and brown sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.
- Sift flours into a large bowl, add butter cake crumbs, macadamias, soaked fruit, pureed apricots and butter mixture and mix well to combine. Spoon mixture into the basin and smooth the top. Top with baking paper round.
- Take a 60cm long piece of baking paper and foil, layer and make a 3cm pleat in the middle of the sheets. Place onto pudding basin and secure with kitchen string.
- Place a wire rack onto the base of a large saucepan, a third filled with water and bring to the boil. Carefully place pudding onto rack, making sure the water comes about halfway up basin. Cover and simmer for 6 hours, topping up water when needed. Remove from saucepan and stand for 10 minutes before turning out.
- Serve with cream, custard or ice-cream if desired.
Candied nuts decoration:
- Place sugar and water in a medium, heavy-based saucepan and stir over low heat until sugar has completely dissolved. Stop stirring, increase heat and bring to boil. Reduce to medium heat and gently boil until the toffee begins to change colour. Do not stir toffee once it has boiled.
- Working quickly, drop macadamias one at a time into the toffee and toss with a fork to coat, remove and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Repeat with remaining macadamias.
- Decorate the top of the pudding and serve.
Chocolate Bark
Line a 25cm x 35cm with baking paper. Place chocolate into a medium heat proof bowl; stir over a medium saucepan of simmering water until smooth (don’t let water touch base of bowl). Stir in puffed rice and coconut.
Working quickly, spread chocolate mixture onto tray as thinly as possible; sprinkle with dried fruits, nuts, remaining coconut & rice puffs.
Refrigerate until set. Break bark into pieces to serve.
