Recipe courtesy of Gem
Ingredients
Servers: 12-14
Prep: 30 mins
Soak: Minimum 2 hours
Bake: 2 hours
Mulled Wine
· 1 bottle of red wine
· 100g light soft brown sugar
· 2 cinnamon sticks
· 4 star anise
· 10 cardamom pods
· 8 cloves
· ½ large orange, sliced
Soaked fruit
· 970g Gem Christmas Cake Fruit Mix
· 450ml warm mulled wine
Cake
· 175g butter
· 175g Gem light soft brown sugar
· 4 large eggs
· 1 lemon zest
· ½ orange zest
· 175g plain flour
· ½ tsp baking powder
· 1 tsp ground cardamom
· 1 tsp ground clove
Decorate
· 4 tbsp Apricot jam
· 400g of dried fruit & nuts (apricots, pecans, Brazil, almonds, red and green cherries)
Method
· To make the mulled wine, add all the ingredients to a saucepan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar.
· Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.
· Strain 450ml of the mulled wine over the Gem Christmas Cake fruit mix and allow it to soak for a minimum of 2 hours.
· Preheat your oven to 170°C (150°C fan).
· Grease and line the base and sides of an 8-inch round loose-bottomed cake tin with parchment.
· For the cake, beat the soft butter and sugar together in a bowl until well blended.
· Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
· Mix in the citrus zest.
· Sift in the flour, baking powder, and spices, and fold to combine.
· Strain the soaked fruit, add it to the cake batter, and mix well.
· Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 2 hours, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
· Leave the cake to sit in the tin for 10 minutes before removing it and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
· To serve, gently heat the jam with a little water and brush over the top of the cake to glaze.
· Arrange the dried fruits and nuts on top and glaze them as well.
· Wrap the cake with a festive ribbon if desired, and serve.
