A Simple Everyday Fruit Cake

More than 20 years ago I bought one of these little fruit cakes at a church cake sale near where I lived in Sheffield. It was so delicious that I asked around to find out who had made it and when I tracked her down the lady was kind enough to give me the recipe. Hopefully she won’t me sharing it with you! I’ve tweaked the original recipe a little here and there, but it still tastes just as good.  I’ve made dozens of these cakes since then and it’s always popular. It’s just the right size to make if you have friends calling round for a cuppa and it will easily cut into eight slices.

You will need:

350g of dried fruit

50g of glacé cherries

150g softened butter

150g of soft brown sugar

130 mls of milk

225g of self raising flour

1 rounded teaspoon of mixed spice

2 large free range eggs

You will also need an 18cm/7″ diameter round cake tin, greased and lined with baking parchment 

Method:

• preheat the oven to 150°C
• place the first 5 ingredients into a saucepan, heat them slowly until the butter is melted, then simmer the mixture gently for 5 minutes, stirring it occasionally
• remove the pan from the heat and leave the mixture to cool
• sieve the flour and mixed spice into a bowl, add the eggs and the saucepan contents, then beat the mixture until everything is well blended
• pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin

• bake for 1¾hours, testing the cake with a skewer at  the end of this time to make sure it is cooked. Allow another few minutes if necessary
• leave the cake in the tin to cool for a while then turn it out and leave it to cool completely on a wire rack

This cake will keep well for a few days if kept in an airtight container or wrapped in greaseproof paper, although you may well find that it’s all eaten in one sitting!