London Calling...for Fruitcake

I am an avowed Anglophile, which you can read more about here: London Calling on our sister site, The Mommydom Chronicles. I may have married an Italian, but I have maintained my cultural identity (somewhat) and it comes out in holiday baking. My go to easy peasy fruit cake recipe is actually from another web site Easy Fruit Cake, but worth sharing here!



Easy, Last Minute Christmas Fruit Cake by Jean


This cake has no added sugar or fat (suitable for a range of diets) but is still really sweet and rich. It should be stored in the fridge and eaten within one week.

8oz/250g/2 cups of cooking dates with the stones removed

10 fl.oz/300ml/1 and a quarter cups of water (you could substitute a quarter cup of brandy or sherry for a quarter cup of the water if you like)

6oz/175g/1 and a quarter cups of wholemeal flour

1 lb/450g/3 cups of mixed dried fruit of your choice - including lots of dried apricots works very well

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of mixed spice

4 tablespoons of orange juice

For decoration: You can either do a traditional marzipan and white icing topping or use rows of different nuts such as walnuts, pecans, brazils and almonds.

Heat the dates and water until the dates are soft. Remove from heat and mash with a fork. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Spoon into a greased 2lb/900g cake tin and level top. If using the nut topping place rows of different nuts on top of the cake prior to cooking. Bake at 170C/340F for about an hour and a half until cooked. Once cooled the nut topping can be glazed with a little syrup (melt some sugar into hot water) or you can ice traditionally