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Cosy Comfort Food - Fruit Cake

There's nothing better than sitting down with a hot cuppa and a sweet treat.  I love cake, probably a little too much and I love always having something ready to go in my cake tin.  It's always nice to have something ready for that late afternoon slump or for when someone pops in for a chat.

I discovered the inspiration for this recipe last year, it was inspired by a Christmas Tray Bake recipe by the fabulous Mary Berry and I adapted it to my taste and store cupboard.


It's a little to no rise fruit cake which I cut in to bars for serving.  It's rich and golden and foes great with a cup of tea or coffee. You can use marzipan and icing like I do or keep it plain, its adaptable throughout the year and keeps well if you can stand to stop eating it.



Fruit Cake Tray Bake 


I stary with 175g of butter or margarine  whichever is your preference and 175g of light brown sugar. Creaming them together until light and fluffy before I add 4 eggs, 175g of plain flour, 450g dried fruit.  If you want the cake to have that Christmassy feel soak the fruit overnight in your favourite spirit, I use ameretto around 4 teaspoons just to infuse the almond flavour.  If you haven't time to soak your fruit and still want that spirit laced flavour you can add a teaspoon to the mix.

Once the mix is well combined I pour in to a cake tin - rectangular is best if you want to cut in to bars.  I then bake for around 60mins until light golden brown and a cake tester can be removed clean.



I allow the cake to cool fully, then I use a cake brush and give the cake a light layer of jam to help the marzipan to stick.  I roll out the marzipan to the right size and smooth over the top of the cake.  I then repeat with icing smoothing it across the cake before cutting in to bars.

I store the cake in an airtight tin.

Ingredients   

4 Teaspoons of a spirit of your choice 
4 Eggs
175g of Butter or Margarine 
175g of Light Brown Sugar 
450g of dried fruit - you can also add other dried fruits such as cherries and apricots taking the total weight up to approx 950g this will give you a heavier /denser fruit slice but will still work with the batter measurements 

For the Top 
Jam (Strawberry or Apricot) warmed 
500g marzipan (or almond paste) 
500g Ready to roll Icing


Preheat the over to 140fan (160c) 
Grease and line a tin approx 30 x 20cm with greaseproof paper 
Soak your fruit overnight if required. 
Cream the butter and sugar together 
Add eggs, flour, fruit and mix well 
Pour in to the prepared tin and level 
Bake for 60 mins until golden brown - insert a skewer to test 






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