Kerala Plum Cake/Indian Christmas Fruitcake
This is a type of fruitcake made at Christmas in India. This cake is moist, dark and rich with a hint of spiciness which comes from the special blend of spices used. Contrary to its name, this fruitcake does not contain plums. The name dates back to an early style of fruitcake in England. Raisins and currants were referred to as plums since around 1660. Kerala is a state in south India where a significant portion of the Christian population in India resides. This might be the reason why this moist and delicious fruitcake is named after the state. Enough with the history and geography lessons though. Let’s bake this lovely fruitcake which does not require any aging.
INGREDIENTS:
(1) 3 Cups Chopped Mixed Fruits and Nuts (See Note 1)
(2) 1-1/2 Cups Red Wine (See Note 2)
(3) 260 Grams All Purpose Flour (2 Cups)
(4) 200 Grams Granulated White Sugar (1 Cup)
(5) 226 Grams Unsalted Butter (1 Cup)
(6) 4 Large Eggs
(7) The Zest of 1 Orange
(8) 3/4 Cup Burnt Sugar Syrup/Browning (See Note 3)
(9) 2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
(10) 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
(11) 1-1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
(12) 1/8 Teaspoon Cloves
(13) 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
(14) 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
(15) 2 Pods Cardamon (Crush Seeds)
(16) 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
(17) 3 Tablespoons Chopped Glazed Cherries for Topping (Optional)
Cardamon Pods
NOTES:
(1) You can use any blend of mixed fruits and nuts of your choice. Plum need not be part of your fruit mix. I used raisins, apricots, dates, glazed cherries, candied citrus peel and cashews here. The nuts should make up about 1/2 cup of the mixture. Cashews are usually the nuts of choice.
(2) I used red wine here. You can use rum in place of red wine.
(3) This is also referred to as Browning. I have a recipe here on how to make your own burnt sugar syrup or browning at home.
PROCEDURE:
Pre-Soak:
Chop all your dried fruits and nuts. Place them in a jar/container along with the alcohol. Cover the jar/container tightly and leave the soaked fruits in a cool dark place (not fridge) for 2 to 4 weeks (1 month). Stir them about once a week. I left mine to soak for 1 month.
Mixing Batter:
(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
(2) Grease a 9 inch cake pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
(3) Drain the soaked fruits. Take 2 tablespoons out of the flour and mix with the fruits. This would prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake during baking. Save 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid.
NOTE: At the end of the 1 month soaking period, I was left with about 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid after the fruits were drained. The liquid was thick like a syrup and sweet from all the fruits. It would be a crime to throw this away. I will try to incorporate it into the next cake I make or add it to a pie recipe.
(4) Zest the orange.
(5) Crush the cardamon seeds. Mix the flour with the salt, cinnamon, ginger, clove, cardamon, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
(6) In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and creamy, about 5 minutes.
(7) Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.
(8) Add the vanilla extract, burnt sugar syrup, orange zest and 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid to the batter. Mix to combine.
(9) Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated.
(10) Finally add the soaked fruits to the batter and mix to combine.
(11) Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, top it with chopped glazed cherries (if desired) and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
(12) Allow the cake to cool in the pan before taking it out. This cake can be served immediately with a dusting of icing sugar on top of it. To make the tree pattern on the cake, get a print out of a Christmas tree, cut it out, place it on top of the cake, sift icing sugar over the cake and take out the paper cutout. Merry Christmas!
Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.
Hi Terry, Nice looking Indian christmas fruit cake. Please i have sent you bundles of msgs, please do check them out and reply. Thanks.
Hi Juliet. I reply all your messages. You should go check out the replies.
Hi Terry, please how long can this cake keep or better still how long can it be preserved.
thanks.
Hi. I truly can’t say as it was finished in a day 🙂 I would think it could keep about a week at room temperature and a lot longer in the fridge. If aged with alcohol like regular fruitcakes, it should be able to last months.
Thks so much Terry for this recipe,i had some mishaps while preparing it. I followed the recipe to the ‘t’but i got a very liquid batter, i later added more flour but even at that the cake was waoh,everyone that took a bite had something exciting to say about it. I am going to bake this cake again and get it right.
Thanks so much
Thanks for your feedback. The batter is not supposed to quite thin. Maybe you didn’t drain the alcohol properly from the soaked fruits.
Hello Terry, Just to be clear, is the batter meant to be quite thin as you typed above? From the pictures it appears as if the batter is leaning towards being thick as opposed to thin. Kindly clarify.
Thank you.
Hi. The batter is NOT supposed to be thin.
Oh Terry!! Thanks so much for this recipe, I Hv being thinking of wot to bake for my family this Xmas. Pls is there anything I can replace cardamom with? I haven’t seen it before in Nigeria or can I do without it? Tnx
You are welcome. Simply leave out the cardamon if you dont have access to it. Thanks.
Terry tanx so much. Pls the cardamon is strange to me. Like Jane asked can I do without it or replace with something else? I appreciate your efforts
Hi Chinyere. I’d suggest you just leave it out.
We done Trerry. Thank you God bless you real good
Thanks Ale.
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Hi Ale, you can choose to subscribe to the website by ticking the “notify me of new posts” button at the end of this page. Thanks.
Wow! This is very lovely. Thanks
Thanks.
It’s interesting, combining North European and South Indian flavours…I feel the gorgeous spices would really add some addictive warmth to the Christmas cake…and it looks so beautiful and artistic!
Thanks Neyon. It did taste great too 🙂
except for the cardamon and orange zest, this reminds me of Jamaican Black Cake – I have had the fruit stewing in rum since January, going to make it very soon. I like the idea of the extra spices…YUM….
Yes, they look similar but for the brown sugar and spice blend and aging. You should check out my Caribbean Black Fruitcake recipe here.
Thank you from Kerala. That is my blog. I will try this for sure. My aunts were great cooks as was my grandmother. My aunt’s sister had published several cook books too. I remember their baking and curing cakes. I have soaked some fruits and was too scared to try my hand. It is years since I did any significant cooking. Children grown and I old diabetic. But this I will try. Thanks.
Greetings. It is great hearing from you. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I am glad you are back to baking.
Nice wld give a try dis season. Thank u Terry..
You are welcome Elsie. Do try it out.
Hi,
I made it according to your recipe. Just out of the oven. Looks good except it is a little burnt at the top as my oven is too small, an OTG in fact. I covered the top with butter paper towards the latter half and turned the cake around 180 degree.
I used marmalade and pineapple jam instead of orange zest.
For the burnt sugar, I used only white sugar. The syrup was dark gold and the batter did not seem dark enough. So I served in a bit of cocoa. Will mail a photo.
Thanks a lot
Hi Susan. Thanks for the detailed feedback. Mine too has a slight burn around the edges. This I believe is brought about due to the high sugar content. Covering the top with parchment paper if it starts browning too much is always the right way to go. I love the twist of jam instead of zest. The jam might have however increased the sugar content. I have used white sugar to make burnt sugar syrup in the past. Though it still came out dark, I noticed the taste was not as intense. I just noticed the error in the recipe about the amount of fruits. You are right, it should be 3 cups. I have corrected it. Please send me a picture on my facebook page: Grated Nutmeg. Thanks.
I used 1 cup pre soaked fruit. That was too little. Perhaps soaking increases volume. At least 3 cups of soaked fruit would be nicer.
Thank you
Good job Bro, d salt is wat amazed me, cos I ve never baked wit salt… pls enlighten me on it.thanks
Salt improves the flavor of cakes. Simply follow quantities mentioned in recipes.
Hi Terry, thanks for the recipe, I’ve tried it twice and it’s wow. My question is how do I make a larger recipe? Do I just double or triple all the ingredients. Thanks for your awaited response.
You are welcome. Yes, that’s what you do.
Hi terry, nice one bro. Pls what can one replace wit cloves nd cardamon.. I cant get d two here.. thanks
Thanks. I will just leave them out or replace with more of other spices such as ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon
This looks good!
Can the nuts be left out completely and the same quantity in weight / measurement of raisins and dates (½ cup) be used in its place?
Yes.
Thank you!
I am planning on making the Kerala Plum Cake / Indian Christmas Fruitcake and will be soaking the fruits this evening.
Can the batter be divided into smaller cake pans or loaf pans without compromising the quality of the finished baked cake?
Looking forward to your reply.
Hi. Yes it can. Quality would not be affected. You might just need to bake for shorter time.
I didn’t see this reply when you sent it! Thank you very much. my fruits have now been soaking for just over 2 weeks and I will be baking two loaf cakes tomorrow. I will let you know how it all goes!
Hi Terry from Kerala.
In 2015 I had restarted baking fruit cake and used your recipe. It was a success.
This time, I used 300 grams each of flour, butter, sugar and eggs and about 1300 grams of soaked fruit and 2 tablespoons of marmalade. I added 2 teaspoons of instant coffee and about 2/3 cup caramel.
Added a tinge of spices mace, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves and a bit of vanilla as well
I pricked holes over the warm cake and drizzled wine over it.
Really yummy cake.
Some use almond essence though I personally do not like it.
Sound yummy. Thanks for sharing Susan.
I also added chopped nuts for the crunch.
Thats nice.
Hello Terry,
I have been soaking my fruits in rum since early December – not my original intention actually as your recipe suggests 1 month if I recall correctly… I would like to know how long one can keep the fruit soaking before baking without compromising the final result.
There doesn’t seem to be much rum to drain though… Do you think this is / will be a problem?
Hi Kankemwa, please see Susan’s response:
“I had kept left over soaked fruit for one whole year in the refrigerator and used it the next year. Had only a tablespoon or so of brandy left . ( rum is better). Cake was delicious. So keeping soaked fruit should not be a problem.”
Thank you (almost 1 whole year later…)! My fruits are still soaking! They have however spent most of the time since December 2016, in a dark and cool drawer in the kitchen. For the past month however, they have been in the refrigerator. I should think they are fine….?
Hi
I had kept left over soaked fruit for one whole year in the refrigerator and used it the next year. Had only a tablespoon or so of brandy left . ( rum is better). Cake was delicious. So keeping soaked fruit should not be a problem.
Terry’s cakes are a feast to the eyes as well as to the tastebuds.
Good to see a person pursue his passion and succeed.
All the best Terry!
Thanks Susan for your tip. I appreciate you.
Hi Terry. Thank you for this wonderful recipe, I can’t wait to try it. Please if I’m using raw cashew nuts here, do I simply toast them for a few minutes, or do I have to roast them first before toasting?
What will be the difference between toasting and roasting? Please google how to property treat cashew nuts to make them safe for consumption.
Hai,how to make it more soft, because my cake became little hard
Try aging it for about a month with brandy or rum.