Everyday Fruit Cake

Ingredients

• 225g/8oz plain flour
• 1t baking powder
• 25g/1oz ground almonds
• 1/2t ground ginger
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 175g/6oz soft butter
• 175g/6oz golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2T milk
• 400g dried mixed fruit

 Method

1. Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan.
2. Grease a 20cm round loose bottomed cake tin (a springform tin is easiest ) and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper.
3. Measure the flour, baking powder, almonds, ginger and cinnamon into a bowl and stir to mix.
4. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until light and creamy.
5. Whisk one egg into the butter and sugar mixture until just mixed, then whisk in a heaped tablespoon of the flour until just mixed; repeat in the same way alternating the remaining two eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of flour.
6. Stir (or whisk) the rest of the flour in until just mixed, then add the milk.
7. Fold the fruit into the mixture, spoon into the tin and level the top.
8. Bake at 170C/150C fan for 30 minutes, then lower the oven temperature and bake for a further 90 minutes until risen, golden brown and firm on top.

Hints

Add 40g chopped hazelnuts and 100g chopped dates to the cake with the dried fruit. The dates add delicious sweetness, flavour and extra fibre; the nuts add texture and further nutrients. Cutting the dates with a pair of kitchen scissors can be easier than chopping them.
As an alternative, bake the cake in a square cake tin - that way it can be sliced into bars or squares, which not only look different but are easy to take out as part of a packed lunch or snack.