Boiled Fruit Cake

Submitted by Seawood

Boiled Fruit Cake - a fast, easy standby for unexpected visitors,
and a perfect snack for just after your baby arrives!

It's tastier than it sounds, I promise! This is my mum's recipe and I have no idea where it comes from. It's my go-to cake when I'm expecting visitors in the next couple of hours, although it is even tastier if you can leave it overnight. It's great for taking on picnics, to meets and on holidays as it won't fall apart in transit. Also I swear it's all that kept me going for the first two weeks after my daughter arrived!

Line your loaf tin with greaseproof paper - you can be fairly lazy about it as you can see from the pic. Put your oven on at about 160oC - mine is fan-assisted so you may need it warmer, it's a bit trial and error, this one.

Then you need:
2oz Butter
2 cups dried fruit (I use raisins and apricots)
1 cup hot water
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp mixed spice
2 eggs

These are US cups, but don't worry too much if you don't have one to hand - it doesn't actually matter as it's the proportions that count; if you use a bigger mug/shoe/wheelbarrow just increase everything else as well (including your tin if necessary).

Add the butter, fruit and water to a pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Turn off and allow to cool whilst you mix the dried ingredients together. Beat the eggs, and when your fruit mix is cool enough such that it won't curdle the eggs, add this and the eggs slowly to the bowl bit by bit, mixing all the while. The final mixture will be quite runny. Stick it in the loaf tin and bake for about 1hr depending on your oven, maybe 1hr30. The trick is when it comes out, turn it out of the tin almost straight away, wrap it in the greaseproof paper and then in foil. Leave overnight so that all the steam is kept in to make it lovely and moist.