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The Review - FOOD AND DRINK - Cooking with CLARE
Published: 19th August 2009

Fruit cake gets a seasonal flavour with whisky

Scottish whisky fruit cake
This would make a good alternative to Christmas cake and is best left for a few weeks to mature with a top-up of whisky each week.

Ingredients
175g currants
175g sultanas
110g glacé cherries (rinsed, dried, cut into halves)
75g mixed candied peel (finely chopped)
3tbs whisky
150g softened butter
150g soft brown sugar
3 eggs
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Milk (if necessary)
2 level tbsp ground almonds
Grated rind of 1 small orange
Grated rind of 1 small lemon
110g whole blanched almonds.

Method
The night before you are going to make the cake mix the fruit, peel and three tablespoons of whisky together and then cover and leave.
Grease and line an 18cm square/20cm round cake tin with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven 170C / 325F / gas 3.
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs slowly and then fold in sifted flour and baking powder.
The mixture needs to be a soft, dropping consistency, so if too dry, add a tablespoon of milk.
Carefully fold in the soaked fruits etc and the ground almonds.
Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and smooth out. Arrange whole blanched almonds on top.
Place the cake in the centre of the oven for 2-2½ hours.
Check with a skewer to see if the cake is cooked. It should come out clean from the middle.
Leave cake to cool in the tin for 30 minutes and then finish cooling on wire rack.
To feed the cake weekly, make small holes in top and bottom of cake with a skewer and spoon some of the whisky through the holes.
To store the cake, wrap in double greaseproof paper and store in foil or airtight container until needed.

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