Cranberry & Orange Fruit Cake

Hello Friends,
It doesn't feel at all like November with this mild weather, but the fact is that Christmas is just over 5 weeks away & I am busy both planning my festive baking & finishing off home-made gifts.

Last year, I baked a cake for my Dad as a Christmas gift. Neither he nor Mum bake, so I thought a nice fruit cake would be something he could enjoy in January & as I love baking, it seemed a good idea. He loved the cake. I mentioned to him last month that I might cast around for another recipe for a good cake to bake him for this Christmas, & he said, "Yes, or even that same one again". I can take a hint! It was apparently a 'really tasty' cake, almost turning him into a food critic for a brief moment as he explained how all the flavours of the key ingredients really 'came through' & it was both 'moist' but 'chewy', & actually seemed to 'get better' as it dwindled down to the last slice. 

This paragon of a cake (in Dad's eyes, at least!) was Spiced Cranberry & Orange Fruit Cake, a recipe I found a year or two ago in a magazine. 

I tried to find a link to this recipe, which was published in an old copy of Women's Weekly magazine, but their online archived version is different, so I'm sharing the recipe I used below:

Spiced Cranberry & Orange Cake

250g butter - needs to be soft
250g light muscovado sugar
4 eggs
300g plain flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
1kg dried mixed fruit
200g dried cranberries
zest of 2 oranges
4 tbsp Cointreau
(see note about decorating)
You'll also need a 20cm round cake tin, which you have lined with baking parchment (I double-line mine).

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 2.
Put the softened butter, sugar & eggs in a bowl. Sieve in the flour & cinnamon. Beat until smooth. Add the dried fruit, cranberries & orange zest & stir well to combine. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin & smooth the surface. Bake for around 3 hours or until cake passes the 'clean skewer' test. If it looks as though it's going to get too dark, pop a square of baking parchment over the top (Just twist the corners first - think 'knotted hanky' on balding seaside heads!) If you also surround your tin with newspaper, which I do, the top of your cake should be protected (see below). Leave the cake to cool slightly for about 15 mins, then carefully sprinkle the Cointreau over the top. Stand tin on a wire rack & leave it to get completely cold before turning out. Wrap it in a new sheet of baking parchment, then a tight layer of foil, where it will keep for 3 months.


Cakes which contain a lot of dried fruit can be prone to 'catching' on top. This can be avoided by tying a collar of 3 or 4 sheets of newspaper around the outside of the tin before it goes in the oven. The newspaper needs to stand at least 10cm above the top of the tin. Make sure you use cotton or oven-proof string so that it doesn't melt. (Remember Bridget Jones & the bright blue soup!)

If you haven't tried a newspaper collar before, this is how it should look, & yes, you can see I've used George Osborne on mine. The temptation of trussing up that particular individual with string before delivering a long slow roasting was just too much to resist.

This cake is suitable for a Christmas or celebration cake. If you wish to decorate it, just do the marzipan & icing thing as usual.

I just put some whole blanched almonds on mine, as it's intended to be eaten in January & people are often ready for less-rich foods by then. I know I certainly am, especially if it's been Piglet Central here at 'Hagstones'.

I know some people are put off baking fruit cakes because of the cost of the ingredients. They can be expensive, depending on the recipe. I kept costs down by using 'Like brands, only better' baking ingredients, which are generally excellent. I also substituted the Cointreau with an own-brand version & used oranges from our local market, which has excellent produce at good prices. Only the zest is required, so the oranges can still be eaten. Dried cranberries can be quite expensive. My tip for buying these is to look in the baking aisle with the dried fruit first, as I found these to be half the price of (probably identical) bags of dried cranberries in the 'healthy snacks' section. I wouldn't suggest using baking spread instead of butter because this cake mixture is noticeably very buttery-tasting (well, a girl's got to lick the bowl......) & I think it'd be a shame to lose this. I also bought whole almonds with skins on & blanched them myself rather than pay extra for someone else to have done this very simple task for me.
The only sad thing about this cake? I've never tried a piece! Am tempted, but it seems a bit cheeky to gift-wrap a home-baked cake with a slice missing. I do have some scruples where cake is concerned!

So there we are - Spiced Cranberry & Orange Fruit Cake. Smells fab in the oven, too. So festive. 

It sounds as though we may actually see a bit of snow over the weekend. I always prefer more seasonal temperatures myself, but if it does turn colder, I can guarantee we will be seeing a lot of this.

Albert Whiskers has well & truly done with being a stray street cat. It's home comforts all the way these days, & why not?
Have a good week, all,
C x