Lou's Chocolatey Christmas Fruit Cake with Figs and Dates

Name: Lou's Chocolatey Christmas Fruit Cake with Figs and Dates
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Cuisine: British, European
Ingredients: 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 400g medjool dates, chopped into bitesize pieces, I used Waitrose Lovelife; 150g soft figs, chopped; 200g sultanas; 200g dried currants; 100ml Disaronno or other amaretto liqueur; 200g light muscovado sugar; 150g unsalted butter; 1 orange, large, juice and zest; 200g plain flour; 50g ground almonds; 2 Tbsp Bournville cocoa powder; 2 tsp ground ginger; 2 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp ground cardamom (you can ground cardamom by shelling the pods and crushing it. Don't stress if you don't have this.); 1 tsp ground cloves; 3 medium eggs; 180g Bournville dark chocolate, roughly chopped; 23 cm cake tin; pestle and mortar (if you don't have one, you can use a rolling pin and a small sandwich bag or some cling film; baking parchment; icing sugar to dust; 500g marzipan; A jar of apricot jam; 500g white fondant; fondant cutters as liked; cake smoother, optional; gold lustre spray; pastry brush

11 steps

Prep:1hCook:2h 30min

This year a friend forwarded me a recipe by Benjamina Ebuehi for a chocolate Christmas cake with dates, cranberry and brandy, and I thought it was a great idea. But I'm not a huge fan of brandy or cranberries, so I made my own version with lovely figs and festive amaretto! You can change it up as you like as well. I made three of these cakes this year, and I can't wait to share them with the loved ones I made them for. It's rich and chocolatey, and perfect for a festive cup of tea (or amaretto!) on Boxing Day. For presentation, I iced mine with a thin layer of marzipan and fondant icing, but it's just as good without. Merry Christmas!

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 13:06:35 GMT

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Ingredients

10 servings

1 tspbicarbonate of soda

400gmedjool dates

chopped into bitesize pieces, i used waitrose lovelife

150gsoft figs

chopped

200gsultanas

200gdried currants

100mldisaronno

or other amaretto liqueur

200glight muscovado sugar

150gunsalted butter

1orange

large, juice and zest

200gplain flour

50gground almonds

2 Tbspcocoa powder

2 tspground ginger

2 tspground cinnamon

1 tspground cardamom

you can ground cardamom by shelling the pods and crushing it don't stress if you don't have this

1 tspground cloves

3eggs

medium

180gdark chocolate

roughly chopped

Useful equipment

cake tin

23 cm

pestle and mortar

if you don't have one, you can use a rolling pin and a small sandwich bag or some cling film

baking parchment

If you're icing, you'll need

icing sugar

to dust

500gmarzipan

apricot jam

500gwhite fondant

Instructions

Preparing the cake batter

Step 1

Heat the oven to 130C fan (140C/300F/Gas 2). Grease and line a 23cm cake tin with a double layer of baking parchment, allowing an extra 5-10cm around the sides and above the top of the tin. This will protect the cake from "catching" around the edges if it rises above the level of the tin.

Parchment paper

OvenPreheat

Step 2

Chop the dates into bite size pieces, discarding the stones, and put them in a heatproof bowl. Sprinkle the bicarb over the top and pour in about 300ml of boiling water. Give it a stir and leave it for about 10 minutes or so to soften the dates, before straining through a sieve.

Step 3

Roughly chop the figs into small pieces and put them into a large saucepan with the sultanas, currants, butter, sugar, Disaronno (amaretto liqueur), orange juice and zest, and cook it on a medium heat (just bubbling) for about 10-15 minutes. Take it off the heat and stir in the chopped dates. The bicarb will make the mixture foam up, which is celebratory in itself! Leave everything to cool down (you'll probably need to leave it for about half an hour - you don't want to scramble the eggs!). It may help speed up the process (if you don't mind extra washing up) to transfer to a large cool bowl.

CooktopHeat

Knife

Step 4

While the fruit mixture is cooling, crush any spices that need grinding down. I couldn't get ground cloves or cardamom, but you can easily grind cardamom by popping them out of their shells (if you don't have a pestle and mortar, you can roughly crush everything down by putting it in a bag and bashing it with a rolling pin). Pass all the flour, almonds, cocoa and spices through a sieve (don't worry about larger 'bits' if they haven't crushed down - just add them in).

Step 5

Once the fruit mixture has cooled, beat the eggs and stir them in, before stirring in all the flour mixture and folding in the chopped chocolate. I left a few biggish chunks in mine for some chocolatey surprises!

Baking the cake

Step 6

Pour the mixture into the lined cake tin, smoothing it with a spatula or spoon to try and achieve a flattish top. Bake it in the preheated oven for about two hours (I checked and turned mine after the first hour), adding on another 10/15 minutes at a time (it shouldn't need more than about 2 hours 30 mins) until a skewer comes out clean. Remember there's chocolate now oozing in it though, which may make you think it's not done - so skewer it in a few places!

OvenHeat

Spatula

Step 7

When it's done, leave it to cool in the tin for a while, then brush the top (poke a few more holes in if you didn't do so when you were testing it) with a bit more amaretto, and turn it out to cool completely on a rack or plate.

Step 8

Once completely cool, wrap your cake tightly in baking parchment and a sealed layer of kitchen foil and store it in a cool cupboard until you're ready to ice (or eat!) it.

Parchment paper

If you're icing...

Step 9

Only ice the cake when it's completely cool. Warm some apricot jam (or similar as liked) in a saucepan on a low heat (then let it cool a bit), while you roll out your marzipan. Use a tape measure to measure your cake and work out roughly how big your circle needs to be - mine needed to be about 28-30cm in diameter. Use icing sugar to dust the surface and stop it from sticking. I don't like my icing too thick, so I rolled my marzipan to a thickness of about a £1 coin. NOTE: if you're using a cake board, it's a good idea to put a blob of jam on the board to help glue the cake in place - do this before you start to ice it!

Step 10

When you're ready, brush the jam all over the cake so that the marzipan has something to stick to. Roll the marzipan back on to your rolling pin and lift it over the cake, unrolling it so that it covers the cake. Use your hands to smooth it down across the top and the sides, and use a sharp knife to cut of any excess at the bottom of the cake. If you have a cake smoother, run it all around the top and sides of the cake. You'll still see some bumpy bits, but it will give you a really nice foundation for adding the fondant.

Rolling pin

Knife

Step 11

Some cake experts advise that it's a good idea to leave the marzipan for a day or two to harden up before adding fondant. Either way, now that the cake is covered, you shouldn't store it in an airtight container, as it may start to weep through the icing. When you're ready to add the fondant, roll it out in the same way you did the marzipan, brushing the marzipan with a little boiled (but cool) water before smoothing the icing over the top and sides, and trimming off the excess. Smooth it all over and decorate as liked! I did mine with some snowflakes and a good spray of festive gold lustre. Ho ho ho!

Rolling pin

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