Kerala Plum Cake Recipe | Christmas Cake Recipe – Rich, moist, totally decadent fruity & nutty Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe with the goodness of dry fruits & spices. This Plum Cake will leave you craving for more!
About Kerala Plum Cake Recipe:
Plum cake refers to the variety of cakes made with fruits and dry fruits. Although this cake does not contain plum, the fruit, as the name may suggest but plum actually refers to prunes or raisins. Plum cakes originally refers to the early type and style of fruit cake in England and is served widely across the globe, including India, around the holiday season and festival of Christmas.
A fruity and nutty cake recipe with the goodness of dried cherries, raisins and many more dried fruits. You may or may not add rum or brandy, as used in some regions. This cake is great as a dessert with a dollop of ice cream or works prefect with your evening tea too.
There are so many ways to make this cake. The most traditional method way is to soak the fruits for a month. Bake it a month before Christmas. Mature the cake by feeding it with rum once a week for three weeks. But, this fruit cake recipe doesn’t need you to soak the dry fruits in advance and it’s alcohol-free so you can make the cake instantly just before you need it.
To make the fruitcake, the first step involves chopping up the dried fruits. You can really mix up the ratio of fruits as you like. I’am a very big fan of this kind of fruit cake. I love the bitterness, the nuts, and the dense texture of that cake. But, I must say I absolutely hate raisins in general and add only very little. When you make it at home you are the creator, and little tweaks to the recipe will yield a moist cake to suit your taste.
Steps to follow
Kerala Plum Cake Recipe:
This Kerala Plum Cake Recipe requires you to caramelise sugar into a thick dark sugar syrup. The caramel is always a tricky part and a tad bit intimidating especially if you are making for the first time. But, it’s really not that hard, you just need to be careful while doing it. Sugar can change from a perfect amber colour to almost burnt in a matter of few seconds. Let’s get started!
Caramelise Sugar: Dark Sugar Syrup
- In a pan over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup sugar slowly.
- It will first melt and then turn into a dark brown goop. Reduce the heat further & keep stirring until it turns to a deep dark caramel colour.
- The sugar will start to bubble.
- Once it bubbles for few seconds, add 1/4 cup of water little by little and mix well until it dissolves. It will sizzle a bit at this stage. Don’t let it burn.
- Now it will further darken and you will get a smooth syrup. This will take around 10 mins. NOTE: Adding a tablespoon of water to the sugar at the beginning to melt it takes a little longer but reduces the risk of getting burnt. If you think the caramel has burnt then make it again or else you will get the burnt taste in the cake.
- Turn off heat and set it aside to cool while you proceed with the preparation of the fruit cake.
- Chop all the dry fruits and nuts.
- Add in 1 tablespoon plain flour to the chopped fruits & nuts.
- Give it all a nice mix and dredge completely to coat them. This is to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the batter while baking. Set aside.
Let’s make the Cake Batter:
- Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C.
- To a sieve, add in the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Sieve and mix until well combined.
- Beat the oil/butter, sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy – about 10 mins by hand or 3-4 minutes with an electric beater.
- Next, add in 3 eggs and beat until creamy.
- Then add a bit of the flour mixture and fold. Likewise, add remaining flour in batches and fold.
- Add the cooled caramel syrup, coated dry fruit mixture and gently fold in. Shake off the excess flour before folding the dry fruit mixture in the cake.
Time to bake the Plum Cake:
- Pour batter into a greased cake pan. Tap it & smoothen the top. I’m using a bundt pan, but you can use any pan to bake this cake.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes until the top turns a dark brown and a skewer when inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. I also made some muffins with the same batter.
- Start checking from 40 mins to see if the cake is done.
- The top will look like it’s overdone but don’t worry, make sure the inside is also completely cooked as it’s a dense cake.
- Place the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and then invert the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Dust with some icing sugar when the cake is completely cooled down, slice and serve.
My Tips: - Sifting the flour is very important for a lighter texture.
- You can use the spice mix powder of your choice.
- Coat the dry fruits with 1 tablespoon of flour and shake off the excess flour before folding in the cake. This ensures that the nuts does not sink to the bottom of the pan.
- This cake is in general a dense cake and I like it dense. But, if you really want a very light texture of the cake, Separate the egg yolks and whites: Beat the egg whites with 1 tablespoon of sugar until stiff peaks form, keep aside. Add only egg yolks to the batter instead of the whole egg. Follow the instructions. After adding the flour, fold in the egg whites gently until there is no visible white streaks. Now fold in the nuts.
- During the last 10 minutes, the cake tends to darken. If this bothers you, loosely cover the top of the pan with aluminum foil.
Kerala Plum Cake With Alcohol:
For Traditional cake with alcohol – Soak dry fruits & nuts in rum or brandy for a month. Drain it, roughly chop and fold it in the cake in the end. Use any dry fruits of your choice. Bake it a month before Christmas. Mature the cake by feeding it with rum once a week for three weeks.
For this who don’t mind more booze: Brush the cake with rum immediately after removing it from the oven. Poke tiny holes using a thin skewer or toothpick. Feed the cake by pouring a few teaspoons of rum every week. Wrap it up with parchment paper and cling film after feeding. You can do this for 2-3 weeks and skip the final week before Christmas. Cake with this amount of alcohol need not be refrigerated.
For those who don’t like any booze: You can substitute the rum with unsweetened orange juice. Soak the fruits in juice and keep it refrigerated until ready to use. Bake the cake as per the recipe.
For those who don’t eat eggs & don’t have an Oven: You might also want to check out Eggless Vanilla Cake & Eggless Chocolate Cake prepared in Pressure Cooker.
Storage: This cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 10 days and in the refrigerator for about a month. Covered tightly with a plastic wrap, this freezes well too.
Kerala Plum Cake Recipe - Christmas Fruit Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Plain Flour + 1 tbsp
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- A Pinch of Salt
- 1/2 tsp Ginger Powder
- 1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
- 1/4 tsp Clove Powder
- A pinch of Nutmeg Powder
- 1 1/4 Cup Mixed Dry Fruits Chopped (Dates, Cherries, orange Peels, Lemon Peels, etc)
- 1/ 2 Cup Sugar
- 2/3 Cup Oil or Butter at Room Temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 Eggs at Room Temperature
For Caramel Syrup:
- 1/2 Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Water
For Garnish:
- Powdered sugar for dusting Optional
Instructions
Making Caramel Syrup:
- In a pan over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup sugar slowly.
- It will first melt and then turn into a dark brown goop. Reduce the heat further & keep stirring until it turns to a deep dark caramel colour.
- The sugar will start to bubble. Once it bubbles for few seconds, add 1/4 cup of water and mix well until it dissolves. It will sizzle a bit at this stage. Don’t let it burn.
- Not it will further darken and you will get a smooth syrup. This will take around 10 mins.
- Turn off heat and set it aside to cool.
Cake Batter:
- Add in 1 tablespoon plain flour to the dry fruits & give it all a nice mix. Set aside.
- Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C.
- Sieve flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Mix until well combined.
- Beat the oil/butter, sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy – about 10 mins by hand or 3-4 minutes with an electric beater.
- Next, add in 3 eggs and beat until creamy.
- Then add flour little by little and fold gently.
- Add the cooled caramel syrup, flour coated dry fruit mixture and gently fold in.
Baking Cake:
- Pour batter into a greased cake pan. Tap it & smoothen the top.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top turns a dark brown and a skewer when inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Start checking from 40 mins to see if the cake is done.
- Cool down the cake completely & unmould.
- Dust with some icing sugar when the cake is completely cooled down, slice and serve.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Sifting the flour is very important for a lighter texture.
- You can use the spice mix powder of your choice.
- You can really mix up the ratio of dry fruits, peels & nuts as you like.
- Coat the dry fruits with 1 tablespoon of flour so that the nuts does not sink to the bottom of the pan.
- Adding a tablespoon of water to the sugar at the beginning to melt it takes a little longer but reduces the risk of getting burnt. If you think the caramel has burnt then make it again or else you will get the burnt taste in the cake.
- During the last 10 minutes, the cake tends to darken. If this bothers you, loosely cover the top of the pan with Aluminum foil.
CHECK OUT OTHER BAKING RECIPES FROM BLOG:
You might also want to check out Eggless Vanilla Cake & Eggless Chocolate Cake prepared in Pressure Cooker.
And many more to come!!…..Stay Tuned!!
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Cheers!!
Padma.
