Boiled Pineapple Fruit Cake

Not many of you may know this quirky fact about me, in fact there are many things I have not disclosed LOL!!!  This fact however was very pivotal my teenage years.  I grew up living on a golf course... yep a golf course.  My parents were caretakers by night, which meant we lived on the golf course and looked after the property outside of business hours.

The golf course itself was an 18 hole public golf course complete with a historic homestead, our house, a golf shop and a cafe.  My mam worked in the cafe which was perfect as she walked out the back gate and into her workplace.

One of the cakes that was baked at Sandringham Golf Course's cafe was a  Pineapple Boiled Fruit Cake and it was always a star in the cake cabinet. No fancy icing or decorations just fruit cake, moist, sweet and delicious and well enjoyed by many a golfer.

I decided to make recreate this cake... I did actually have the original recipe once but it has been misplaced somewhere in my travels so here is my take on what I can remember.

Boiled Pineapple Fruit Cake

Serves: 12 - 16

150 grams butter, coarsely cubed

1 cup brown sugar

440 grams can crushed pineapple

500 grams mixed dried fruit

100 grams candied cherries, chopped

2 tablespoons brandy

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup flour

1 cup self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius or 150 degrees Celsius fan forced.

Grease a 20 cm round cake tin and line the base with nonstick baking paper.

Place butter, sugar, pineapple and juice in a saucepan, then stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Stir in dried fruit and brandy and simmer gently for 3 minutes. Remove to a bowl to completely cool.

Stir in the eggs.

Then stir in the flours, baking soda and spices, sifted together.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the surface.

Bake for 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool cake in the tin before turning out.

(Click here for a printable version of this recipe)

Chocolate Fruit Cake

We made this cake at Christmas and while the decoration isn't as traditional as I would have done normally it definately stole the show sitting on my kitchen bench.

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We came accross this recipe watching an episode of Nigella Lawson's Christmas Special and from the minute she started preparing the ingredients Noel and I knew that it would be a hit in our house, especially with all the fruitcake loving relatives we have.

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This cake is so much easier than the normally pain-stakingly slow boiled fruit cake and the flavours just burst in your mouth beginning with the first mouthful. A very moist texture with a strong but subtle chocolate after taste.

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I couldn't save this recipe until the next festive season as it will be definately one I will be cooking throughout the year.

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Chocolate Fruitcake

Recipe from Nigella Lawson

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Serves: 12

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350g/12¼oz dried soft prunes, chopped

250g/8¾oz raisins

125g/4½oz currants

175g/6¼oz unsalted butter, softened

175g/6¼oz dark muscovado sugar or soft brown sugar

175ml/6¼fl oz honey

125ml/4½fl oz coffee liqueur (Tia Maria)

2 oranges, juice and zest only

1 tsp mixed spice

2 tbsp good quality cocoa

3 free-range eggs, beaten

150g/5¼oz plain flour

75g/2½oz ground almonds

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

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For decoration (optional)

25g/1oz dark chocolate-covered coffee beans or chocolate-covered sultanas

edible glitter gold mini balls

about 10 edible gold stars

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Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.

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Line the sides and bottom of a 20cm/8in, 9cm/3½in deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of baking paper. When lining the tin with the paper, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.

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Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange juice and zest, mixed spice and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for ten minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

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After 30 minutes, the mixture will have cooled a little. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate soda, and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until the ingredients have combined.

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Carefully pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer the cake tin to the oven and bake for 1¾-2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but will has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.

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Place the cake in it's tin on a cooling rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.

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To decorate, place the chocolate-covered coffee beans/sultanas in the centre of the cake and arrange the gold stars around the perimeter of the top of the cake. Then sprinkle some gold mini-balls over the whole of the cake. Sprinkle the edible glitter over the top of the cake.