So, the other day, I got this sudden urge to make a proper glazed fruit cake. You know, the dense, fruity kind that feels kinda old-school but really hits the spot, especially when it gets a bit cooler outside. Haven’t made one in ages, felt like it was time to revisit it.
Getting Started – The Fruity Bit
First things first, the fruit. This is kinda the main event, right? I rummaged through the pantry. Found some raisins, sultanas, currants, mixed peel… the usual suspects. I like a lot of fruit in mine, makes it feel substantial.
- Checked I had enough glacé cherries – gotta have those bright red bits!
- Chopped up some dried apricots I had lying around too, for extra chewiness.
Tossed all that fruit into a big bowl. Now, the important part – soaking. Some folks use brandy or rum, which is great, but I just went with some orange juice this time. Poured enough just to cover the fruit, gave it a good stir, covered the bowl, and just left it on the counter overnight. Let all those flavors get friendly, you know? The smell was already pretty good.
Mixing It All Up
Next day, time for the actual cake batter. Got out the butter and sugar. Creamed them together until they were looking pale and fluffy. Took a bit of elbow grease, my mixer’s seen better days, but we got there. Then beat in the eggs, one by one. Sometimes it looks a bit curdled at this stage, but don’t panic, it usually comes together once the flour goes in.
Speaking of flour, I mixed that in gently, along with the usual spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice. I don’t measure spices too precisely, just kinda eyeball it till it smells right. Then, the moment of truth: folding in that big bowl of soaked fruit. The batter gets seriously thick and heavy now. Gave it a really good mix to make sure the fruit was spread out evenly. Don’t want one slice getting all the cherries!
Into the Oven It Goes
Prepared the cake tin next. Greased it really well and lined it with a couple layers of baking paper. This is important for fruit cakes, they bake low and slow, and you don’t want the edges burning before the middle is cooked. Learned that the hard way years ago!
Scooped the thick batter into the tin, smoothed the top best I could. Then into the preheated oven it went. Low temperature, forgot the exact number, maybe around 150C? It takes ages, seriously. Like, hours. The whole house started smelling amazing though, that warm, spicy, fruity smell. Best air freshener ever.
I checked it after a couple of hours with a skewer. Still gooey in the middle. Left it in longer. Checked again. Finally, the skewer came out clean. Phew. Took it out and left it in the tin for a bit before turning it onto a wire rack.
The Waiting Game and the Shiny Top
Now, the hard part: waiting for it to cool. Completely. Like, overnight again ideally. Fruit cakes need to settle. If you cut it warm, it’ll just crumble.
Once it was properly cool, time for the glaze. I kept it simple. Warmed up some apricot jam with a tiny splash of water in a saucepan until it was runny. Then I just brushed it all over the top and sides of the cake while it was still warm. Gives it that nice shiny look and seals it a bit. Nothing fancy, just a simple apricot glaze. Some people do fancy icing and marzipan, but I like the rustic glazed look.
And there it was. My glazed fruit cake. Looked pretty decent, nice and golden brown with the shiny glaze. Packed with fruit, just how I like it. Haven’t cut into it yet, gonna let it sit for another day or so maybe. The anticipation is part of the fun, right? But yeah, felt good to actually make it start to finish. A proper baking project.
