Boiled Fruit Cake

Not a very nice name for it I know but it tastes better than it sounds. The word boiled to me makes me think of eggs, cabbage, bacon and bunnies and other unappetising traditionally boiled things. I'm not very good with fruit cakes normally, I always seem to burn the tops of them and get the nasty bitter burnt fruit problem I mentioned before. This one is quite well behaved though, I think due to the fruit being rehydrated before baking. They do seem to take an absolute age to make which doesn't appeal to my impatient nature.

Boiled Fruit Cake

350g Luxury Mixed dried friut
110g butter or margarine
110g brown sugar
150ml water
225g self raising flour
1tsp mixed spice
2 eggs

• Put the fruit, butter, sugar and water in a small pan and stir while bringing up to a simmer. Keep the heat low and stir frequently for 20 minutes.
• Remove from heat and leave to cool
• Sif the flour and spice and add to the fruit mixture. Add the eggs and stir to combine thoroughly.
• Pour mixture into a greased and lined loaf tin or 7"/18cm round cake tin and smooth the top.
• Bake at Gas Mark 3/170c for 30 minutes then reduce the heat to Gas Mark 2/150c and bake for a further 1-1 1/2 hours.
• Allow to cool for 15 mins before turning out onto a wire rack.

And this is what it looks like. Please excuse my well used chopping board, I have been to Ikea since and bought new red ones. Not that I need an excuse to go to Ikea mind. It's one of my favourite shops. I would be quite happy living in one of their room set-ups, there is a fantastic kitchen with bright fuchsia walls that I like to wander round and open and close the drawers.

My house is very crowded and messy and we are trying to move so maybe I will have a nice kitchen one day. Notice how all my pictures are just of the cakes and not the horrible beige units and mismatched worktop.