How to Bake Fruit Dripping Cake
Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: overnight
Cooking time: over 2 hours
Ingredients needed to make Fruit Dripping Cake:
For the cake:
- 8 oz mixed dried fruits
- 8 oz whole meal flour
- 4 eggs, slightly beaten
- 3 ½ oz clarified beef dripping
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 8 fl oz water
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 5 oz soft brown sugar
- Butter, for greasing
For the Seville orange marmalade:
- 1 lb 4 oz Seville oranges, halved and pulp scooped out
- 2 lb 6 oz granulated sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 pint 4 fl oz water
Cooking instructions for Fruit Dripping Cake:
- To prepare the cake, pour the beef dripping into a pan and stir in the mixed fruits as well as sugar.
- Pour in water and bring the mixture to a boil over moderate heat, while stirring regularly.
- Turn off the heat and set aside overnight to soak.
- Next day, warm up your oven to 365 degrees F.
- Grease a small loaf tin with small knob of butter and line with a sheet of parchment paper; set aside.
- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the bicarbonate of soda, ground spices and baking powder until well combined.
- Pour in the fruit mixture, along with the soaking liquid and stir them all together until mixed thoroughly.
- Crack the eggs into it, one at a time, and beat them into the mixture after each addition, until fully incorporated.
- Tip it into the prepared pan and smooth out its surface with a spatula.
- Bake in the oven for 1 ¼ hours or until the cake is baked through and its surface turns golden brown.
- Take it out of the oven and set aside for half an hour to cool.
- Flip it over onto a wire rack and continue to cool it to room temperature.
- To make the marmalade, toss the orange pulp into a food processor and pulse it into a smooth puree.
- Strain it through a fine sieve to smooth it out further and pour it into a pan.
- Slice the orange rind into thin juliennes, after getting rid of any pith, and set aside.
- Pour the water as well as lemon juice into the pan with orange juice and throw in the orange peel strips.
- Cook the mixture over medium heat until it starts boiling and bring it down to a simmer.
- Continue to simmer for an hour or until the peel softens and the sauce thickens considerably.
- Stir in sugar until it is completely dissolved and bring it back to a boil.
- Continue to boil for 10 minutes, while skimming off any froth that may accumulate on the surface, at intervals.
- Cook until the mixture reaches a jelly-like consistency when cooled and remove from heat; set aside to cool completely.
- Carve out thick slices from the cake and spread a large dollop of orange marmalade onto each slice.
- Serve and have fun.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
