Merry X'mas and a note on Kerala Fruit cake

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Wishing you the joy of family, the happiness of friends, and the love of Christmas!




I get a lot of doubts and questions about the Kerala Fruit/Plum cake every year and I thought I should note them down here for any future reference.






The color of the fruit cake is important too and the secret is the perfect caramel syrup. This is the picture of the prepared syrup to give you an idea about the color !




Merry Christmas to all the readers of Collaborative Curry !

For a perfect Fruit cake:
While making the cake:

1.Keep butter and eggs on the counter top and let it reach room temperature before you begin.
2.If you forget to keep the eggs well in advance, put them in some hot water (not too hot,you don't want to end up with boiled eggs)
3.If you don't have enough time or you are in a cold country, just cut the butter into a few pieces, so that it will soften faster.
4.The color of caramelized sugar is the key to the color of the cake. If you don't caramelize well, you will not get the dark color.
5.If your candied orange peel is too big,just add them along with the granulated sugar in a blender and process it.
6.When you fold in the egg whites, there may be a small part of whites that is not whipped well at the bottom. Do not add that as such.Whip that part again before adding in to the batter.
7.Line the cake pan with a parchment paper or grease the pan really well.The soaked fruits and caramel syrup is notoriously sticky.
8.Toss the soaked fruits and nuts in a tablespoon of flour.Save at least 1/4th of the fruits for spreading on the top.
9.Level the top after you pour the batter and sprinkle the saved fruits on the top, in the cake pan.
10.Cool the cake in the pan for a few minutes and turn the cake on a wire rack and cool completely.
11.Once the cake is cooled, brush all over with some rum and cover the cake well using a parchment paper.Let it ripe for a few days, before you cut the cake.


Plan ahead:

1.Soak your dried fruits and nuts in rum, at least a few months before.Or you can do it now, for making the cakes next year.
2.See that the jar you use for soaking the fruits is free of any water and has a tight lid. You could leave it at room temperature and shake the jar at least once in a week.
3.Make the candied orange peel and store in an airtight container.
4.You could make the caramel syrup a few days early and store in an airtight container.