Fig & Candied Honey Christmas Cake

Recipe - Fig & Candied Honey Christmas Cake

750g mixed diced fruit
100g blanched whole almonds, rough chopped
200g dried fig, roughly chopped
100g glace cherry, rinsed and quartered
300g plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Zest 1 lemon
250g lightly salted butter
250g muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp Golden Bee Candied Honey
1 tbsp black treacle
4 large eggs
½ teaspoons bicarbonate soda
2 tbsp milk

Heat oven to 120c fan forced. Line the base and sides of a 20cm cake tin first with a double layer of brown paper, then with a double layer of baking paper. In a large bowl, mix the fruit, almonds, peel, figs and cherries. Turn well and add the flour, spices and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar thoroughly, then add the vanilla extract, honey and treacle. Still beating, incorporate the eggs, then stir in the fruit and flour mixture. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the milk and stir in thoroughly.

Turn the batter into the cake tin and make a dip in the middle using the back of a spoon. Bake for 3½ hrs, then insert a skewer – if it comes out clean, it’s ready. If there is any cake mix on the skewer, give it 10 mins more and test again. When it’s done, remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in its tin. The next day, remove from the tin, wrap in fresh greaseproof paper, then put it into an airtight tin or wrap tightly in foil.

Modified recipe from BBC good food.