Hot toddy fruitcake Recipe

Ingredients

• 200ml hot, strong black tea (use any type)
• 3 tbsp whisky
• 3 tbsp good-quality orange marmalade, thin or medium shred
• 700g mixed dried fruits
• 100g mixed peel
• 100g glace cherries (natural colour)
• 225g butter
• 225g golden caster sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 225g plain flour
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• finely grated zest 1 lemon
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 50ml hot black tea
• 1 tbsp whisky (or use orange juice if you prefer)

Instructions

1. Mix the hot tea, whisky and marmalade in a large bowl until the marmalade melts. Stir in all of the dried fruit, peel and cherries, then cover and leave to soak overnight.
2. Next day, heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3 and grease and double-line a 20cm round, deep cake tin with non-stick baking paper. Using electric beaters, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition, then fold in the flour and spices, followed by the lemon zest and soaked fruit. Add any liquid that hasn’t been absorbed by the fruit, too. Spoon into the prepared tin, level the top, then bake for 1½ hrs. Turn the oven down to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1 and bake for another 1½ hrs or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack in the tin.
3. While the cake is still warm, use the skewer to pepper the cake with holes, poking it all the way down. Dissolve the sugar in the tea, add the whisky or orange juice, then spoon over the surface. If you’re making the cake ahead of time, feed it with a fresh swig of hot toddy every week, but take care not to make the cake soggy. Can be kept for a month well-wrapped in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. If short on time, the cake can be made the same day that you decorate it.