Maple Pecan Christmas Cake

Ingredients

Rum-soaked fruit:
160ml rum
170g unsalted butter
140g brown sugar
35ml maple syrup
150g Cinderella Cranberries
150g Cinderella Raisins
100g Cinderella Sultanas
100g Camel Dates, pitted and cut into small pieces
165ml orange juice
1½ Tbsp orange zest

Cake:
210g standard flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
50ml canola oil
3 large eggs (room temperature)
100g pecans (roughly chopped)

Orange Syrup:
25ml orange juice
20g castor sugar

Method

Rum Soak:

1. In a saucepan, combine the unsalted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, cranberries, raisins, sultanas, dates, orange juice, and orange zest. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, allowing it to gently bubble for a few minutes.
2. Transfer the mixture to a container to cool.
3. When the fruit mixture is at room temperature, pour rum over. Let the fruit soak in the rum. Set aside for a few hours or overnight.

Cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 140°C. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the bottom with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the canola oil and eggs.
4. Gently fold the cooled fruit mixture into the oil and egg mixture.
5. Add pecans and gently fold into the mixture.
6. Gradually add the dry ingredients, folding until just combined.
7. Pour the batter into the cake pan.
8. Bake for 1hr 15min – 1hr 25min. The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
9. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30min before transferring to a wire rack.

Orange Syrup:

1. Heat the orange juice and castor sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves.
2. Brush the orange syrup over the top and sides of the cake while the cake is still warm.

Storage:

1. Wrap the cake securely in two layers of foil and place it in an airtight container.
2. Store it in a cool, dry place for at least 48 hours before serving.

Recipe by Cecilia Tian @ultimateomnoms

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