Coffee Liqueur & Chocolate Fruitcake

Inspired by the goddess herself Nigella Lawson - to give credit for the flavour idea, I will link to her original recipe here. Hers is a beautiful recipe that I would very much recommend.

But for my business, I needed a recipe adapted to be able to produce 24 cakes at a time, and they would need to keep as long as my other rich fruitcakes, as my customers would expect.

I used to sell about 1000 various fruitcakes per year in the food hall of Doncaster market.

This recipe evolved over a few years to make it perfect for a business seller - there is no need to keep unwrapping, feeding and re-wrapping - time is money!

The secret is to soak the fruit thoroughly and way ahead of time, so all the booze you need is already in there - then it permeates through the whole cake as it matures.

Mature it for a month. It should keep well for about 6 months.

Coffee Liqueur & Chocolate Fruitcake

Makes one loaf cake. 

Prep 30 mins, plus fruit soaking time.

Bake time 4.5 hours.

Ingredients:

 350g mixed dried fruit, with or without peel as you prefer

100g prunes, chopped

150g hazelnuts

3/4 of a tsp coffee essence

75ml coffee liqueur, such as Tia Maria or Kahlua. A lot of the big supermarkets do a much cheaper version.

1/2 of a tsp cinnamon

1/4 of a tsp ground nutmeg

130g butter, very soft

130g light brown soft sugar

130g room temp eggs, weighed in shells

100g plain flour

30g cocoa powder

A little melted dark chocolate, to serve

Method:

1. Mix the coffee essence into the liqueur.

2. Add 75g of the hazelnuts to the dried fruit in a glass or stoneware/ceramic bowl. Pour the liqueur over, add the ground spices. Stir well and cover with cling film.

Leave to stand for at least 24 hours, but the longer the better - I used to leave it 2 weeks. Stir occasionally. The fruit should feel damp and squishy.

3. Double line a 1lb loaf tin with baking parchment.

4. Preheat the oven to 100C.

5. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the softened butter and sugar.

6. Add the eggs, beat until smooth, then sift and gently stir in the flour and cocoa powder until just combined.

7. Give the fruit one last stir, drain off any excess liquid, then throw it into the cake mix. Don't kill your mixer - get a disposable glove on and mix it all together by hand.

8. Get it straight into the tin and smooth over the top. Scatter the remaining hazelnuts over the top. Bake for approx. 4.5 hours in the middle of the oven. The top should spring back when lightly pressed in the centre. If the cake starts to look darker than you would like, cover with foil.

9. Cool completely in the tin - this may take overnight, but don't wrap and store it until you are 100% certain that it's room temp in the centre. It will feel firm on top, but this will soften as it matures.

10. Wrap in a double layer of baking paper, then put into a large freezer bag or airtight tub. Store in a cool, dry place. When ready to present and serve, drizzle over a little melted dark chocolate.