Soft and delicious Plum Cakes
Plum cake is a delicious cake variety which is rich in dry fruits. Raisins, dates and currants were the essential dry fruit varieties popularly used in the preparation of plum cakes.
Plum cakes are normally made on Christmas eve and different occasions like birthdays, new years eve, marriages etc. All purpose flour or Maida is used for making this cake. The dark brown colour of Plum cakes comes with the use of dark caramel. Caramel preparation is one of an important process which should be done with utmost care, as it can be burned quite easily and hence the preparation of dark caramel is a crucial process. The colour of the cake depends on dark caramel. Cashew nuts can also be used for an increased flavour. Small quantity of dark Rum is used in order to soak the dry fruits. If you don’t favour rum, it can be substituted with orange juice. Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, dry ginger and nutmeg are the essential spices varieties used in making delicious plum cakes. The use of butter and egg would increase the softness as well as the taste. Cake making is a time-consuming process and it would take about 75-80 minutes for making this cake. Once the cake is ready, the room will be filled with a unique aroma. Have a look at the ingredients used and the method of preparation of this soft and delicious Plum cake.
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Ingredients used for making Plum cake
- 2 cups of Maida or All purpose flour
- 1¼ cup of sugar
- 250gm of unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 4-5 eggs
- ½ teaspoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of dry ginger powder (Chukku podi)
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder (karuvapatta podi)
- 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of cloves powder
- 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder (elakka podi)
- 2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
For making caramel
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1/2 cup of sugar
For soaking
- 1 cup of raisins
- 1 cup of finely chopped Dates
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped Apricots (optional)
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped Prunes (optional)
- 1/2 cup of Kishmish
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped Cherries
- 1 cup of finely chopped nut varieties (cashew, walnuts, almonds and pista)
- 1 cup of high-quality dark Rum
- 2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
Excellent quality dry fruits, natural spices etc are available for sale on natureloc.com
Method of preparation of Plum cakes
- Wash the dry fruit in water and soak it in rum for 2 days. By this time, the fruits would have absorbed the rum.
- Preheat the oven to 180° C.
- Line the two baking pans with parchment paper, also butter the bottom and the sides of the pan, keep it aside.
- Heat the sugar in a pan. Keep the flame in low range.
- Slowly stir the sugar crystals. Once the crystals melt to form a dark brown coloured solution, take it off the flame and add the water.
- Heat it again in a low flame so that the sugar dissolves again. Keep it aside for cooling.
- Take the dry fruits in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of flour. Set it aside.
- Sieve the All purpose flour or Maida through a fine sieve. Mix it with baking powder, baking soda, salt, spice powders and keep it aside.
- Take the butter, some sugar and the vanilla essence in a bowl. Using an electric beater, beat it form a creamy solution.
- Add 2 eggs and beat it with the electric beater, also add the remaining 3 eggs and beat it again to attain a creamy solution.
- Add the half of flour mixture and half of dark caramel, mix it well.
- Again add the remaining flour and caramel, mix it again.
- Add the mixture of dry fruits and mix the contents.
- Transfer the contents to the prepared baking pans and bake it for 45 minutes.
- Take it out from the oven and keep aside for cooling.
- Now invert the pan to a serving plate and take out the parchment paper.
- Soft and delicious plum cakes are ready.
