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ann_oliver
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MAUREEN
GILL'S
MARVELOUS
FRUITCAKE
This recipe is nuts, but when all your neighbours impress upon you how delicious and moist Maureen’s fruit cake is and press the recipe into your hands, it was impossible to resist giving it a go. It is a fruitcake recipe like none other, beautifully moist and not sweet.
Degree of difficulty : impossibly easy you don’t even need an electric mixer.
We used the fruit at hand [listed below] Maureen’s recipe simply lists 1kg mixed dry fruit and 1 packet of glacé cherries and doesn’t include the pistachios. Other than that we have weighed the two cups of self-raising flour for accuracy.
To be totally honest we hacked off chunks as soon as it came from the oven, slathered it with cream…died and went to heaven!
Subsequently slathered with butter and sliced English Vintage Aged Cheddar….an Oliver tradition that usually adds new seasons apricot jam. Yes an Oliver post Christmas treat along with leg ham with a salad of tomatoes, salad onions and apple cucumbers in white wine vinegar….go figure we still go mad for it!
Quality glacé fruit can be purchased from Bottega 1995, King William Road, Hyde Park and The Adelaide Nut, Adelaide Central Markets. Note glacé red cherries may be in short supply.
2 december 2023 – updated 10 december 2024
13 DECEMBER 2024 TIN SIZE ADDED
THE TOP THREE TINS, OFTEN USED FOR WEDDING CAKES WERE MADE BY MU UNCLE LEITH WHEN HE WAS AN APPRENTICE BOILER MAKER…THEY MUST BE AT LEAST EIGHT YEARS OLD.
SIFT HALF OF THE FLOUR OVER THE MARINATED FRUIT AND MIX IN. WHEN COMBINED MIX IN THE OTHER HALF OF THE FLOUR.
so easy
tin size 24 cm – 25 cm
by making a double batch and adding another kilo of fruit, without changing the flour and egg, I made 2 x 25 cm cakes, one round and one square and another square 16 cm square.
180g currants
450g dried cranberries
70g mixed chopped peel
300g dried dates, chopped into 3
600 ml carton Farmer’s Union iced coffee
approximately 25g unsalted butter, very soft
150g pistachios
[we always use pistachios from The Food Forest]
1 egg, room temperature
270g self-raising flour
this year 2024
I’ve skipped the nuts, made a double quantity and added
500g red glacé cherries
500g quality mixed chopped peel [not from a supermarket]
30g powdered vintage spice mix
day one
Weigh the fruit into a mixing bowl and toss over to mix the fruit evenly. Give the iced coffee a good shake, add it to the fruit and mix over. Cover and refrigerate, returning to stir the fruit over at least three times.
day two
Take the marinated fruit out of the fridge a couple of hours before you want to put the cake in the oven.
Bringing the fruit to room temperature cuts down cooking time and means there is less chance of the cake being dry on the edges.
pictured above to show how the variation of fruit used changes the look of the cake when sliced.
electric mixer not
required
pre heat oven to 150°C
Butter the tin and line the base and sides with baking paper. Add the pistachios and whisk the egg and mix everything together. Weigh the self-raising flour and sift it into the bowl and mix together. Scrape into the prepared tin, smooth out the top and put it in the oven.
Place the cake in the middle of the oven and set a timer for one hour. Test the centre of the cake with a skewer it will most likely require another 15 – 20 minutes.
Stand the cake on a rack [in the tin] and set a timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes gently turn the cake onto the rack and carefully remove the baking paper. Allow to cool completely, wrap in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight container. The cake cuts easily with a sharp knife.
cooks note
It hasn’t been tried but I am certain you could steam this wonderful cake and serve it as a plum pudding because it has the moistness of a good suet pudding without the suet.
tip
If you accidentally get the outside edge of a cake like this a little overcooked [a little on the dry side, not burnt] thoroughly wet a clean tea towel, wring it out and wrap the cake in it and set a timer for 15 minutes…..we love saves like that.
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