Bake this show-stopping cake for your Christmas dinner or party – its delicious topping of cinnamon butter cream, fresh figs, raspberries and pistachios will wow everyone.
Yield: 12 Servings
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 90 mins
Difficulty Level: 2/5
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped dried dates
- ½ cup red glace cherries, roughly chopped
- ⅓ cup sultanas
- ⅓ cup currants
- ½ cup brandy, plus 2 tbsps extra
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- ¾ tsp allspice
- 1 cup almond meal
- 185 g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed, roughly chopped
- 1 cup silvered almonds, toasted
- Quartered figs, raspberries, chopped pistachios, to serve
CINNAMON BUTTERCREAM
- 125 g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cups icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Steps
01. In a bowl, combine dates, cherries, sultanas, currants and brandy. Cover in plastic wrap. Set aside 1 hour.
02. Preheat oven to moderately slow, 160 C. Lightly grease and line a 20-cm round cake pan with baking paper.
03. Reserve 2 tbsps flour. Sift remaining flour and allspice into a bowl. Stir in almond meal.
04. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Fold in half of the flour mixture until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour.
05. Fold fruit mixture and reserved flour into mixture. Spoon into pan, smoothing top with the back of a spoon.
06. Bake 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Brush with extra brandy. Cool in pan.
07. CINNAMON BUTTERCREAM In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and vanilla until pale. Combine sifted icing sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. With motor running, gradually add icing sugar mixture until pale and fluffy.
08. Top cake with butter cream. Serve topped with fresh figs, raspberries and pistachios.
Photo: BauerSyndication.com.au