Eggless Fruit and Nut Cake -Christmas Cake

Jingle Bell Jingle Bell... Jingle on the way...hoooo its christmas time..I wish all my blogger friends a Merry Christmas. With Christmas everywhere in red and green, I planned to celebrate Christmas eve with this rich fruit and nut cake. This cake is very much rich filled with dry fruit in each and every bite. You can use any combination of dry fruits like dried apricots, dried figs, raisins, walnuts, almonds, dates, candied cherries, cranberries etc. These dry fruits together makes the real magic in this wonderful cake. This cake is very easy and also does not need any soaking of dry fruits.  I can say this is a must try recipe. Do try and enjoy with your friends and family.

 INGREDIENTS

• All purpose flour – 2 cups
• Baking powder – 1&1/2 tsp
• Baking soda – ¼ tsp +1 tsp
• Mixed dried fruits – 3 cups  ( I used dried apricots, dried figs, walnuts, almond s, golden raisins, cashew, candied cherries, candied pineapple and candied apple)
• Brown sugar – 1 cup
• Butter, softened – 1 cup
• Water – 1 cup
• Honey – 1 tbsp
• Yogurt – 2 tbsp
• Allspice powder – ¾ tsp
• Vanilla essence – 1 &1/2 tsp
• Mashed potato – 1 cup
• Blanced and peeled almonds for decoration
• Extra butter for brushing the cake tin

PREPARATION

• Grease the base and sides of a deep 8 inch round cake tin with the melted butter. Line the base with greaseproof paper.
• In a large bowl, seive the all purpose flour, baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda and combine well.
• In a saucepan, combine the dried fruits, sugar, butter, syrup and water and heat slowly on low heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
• Then increase the heat to medium and allow the mixture to come to a boil, reduce the heat and then simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.
• Remove the sauce pan from the heat, mix in the  1 tsp baking soda and allow to cool.
• Once the mixture has reached room temperature, mix in the yogurt, vanilla essence, allspice powder  and mashed potato and  mix well until the mixture is smooth.
• Now add the chopped dried nuts and mix well.
• Slowly add the flour and fold into the wet mixture and combine well.
• Spoon the cake batter into the greased tin and smooth the top with the help of a spatula.
• Decorate the cake by arranging the almonds at the top.
• Cover the cake tin  with aluminium foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 1/2  hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes clean.
• Once the cake is done, allow the cake to cool completely in the tin. When the cake has cooled, place the serving plate over it and turn it upside down. Carefully remove the paper, turn it over again with the help of a plate and serve.

 Here is the my cake slice..Its too yum..I am enjoying