Christmas Plum Cake !! ( Alcohol free )

Ingredients

All purpose flour- 1 1/4 cup

Butter -1/2 cup (1 stick) (at room temperature)

Eggs- 3 If large then 2

Baking powder-1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 cup + 3 tsp

Raisins-1 cup (black raisin,white raisin and few candied cherry cut into pieces,tutti fruity )

Cashew nuts- 1/2 cup (broken into pieces)

Spice powder-(cloves -1-2 ,   cinnamon-1 small stick ,  dry ginger- a very small,tiny piece,cardamom -1,nutmeg- a small pinch make a powder of all this)

Vanilla essence-1 tsp

Boiling water-1/2 cup

Method

1.Caramelize sugar.Take an old pan .Heat it and put three tsps of sugar in the center of the pan.Reduce flame to medium low  .Do not touch the pan or stir the sugar.Keep a close eye and you will see that the sugar is melting when all the sugar has completely melted (not even one speck of white sugar o.k:)) pour the boiling water into it and switch off flame.Mix the sugar and water well bring it back to boil and put the nuts and raisins (not tutty fruity & cherries) in this.let it boil in this for 5 minutes or until they are tender .Let it cool down. Remove nuts and raisins from it and keep aside.

(While caramelizing sugar do not disturb it  because it will stick to the pan which is very difficult to remove ,if it is left undisturbed it will not stick !!

Pour only boiling water so it won't splutter .caramelized sugar is very hot and it can cause serious burns if you pour tap water.)

2.Keep 3 tbsp of flour aside and in the rest of the flour mix the baking powder and spice powder. Sift 2 - 3 times.

3.Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy then add eggs one by one and beat well.Add vanilla essence too.Now slowly fold in the flour mixture to it without mixing too much.Pour the caramelized sugar water to get the brownish color.

4.To the soaked raisins and nuts add the 3 tbsp flour we had kept aside and mix well and the tutty fruity  and cherry.This dusting is done to save the fruits and nuts from sinking to the bottom of the cake while baking.

5.Add it to the cake mixture and fold gently.Pour the batter into the greased baking pan and level the top.

6.Bake in a preheated oven at 350 ° F for about 45 to 55 minutes.Until the toothpick /skewer comes out clean.The cake top is dark brown in color .

Slice it only when completely cool ,don't take chance as it will crumble!

Enjoy with a cup of hot tea / coffee!! 

Happy Christmas !! :-)

Recipe courtesy : Meena kumar from Elephants and coconuttrees .