Name: Fruited Chocolate Christmas Cake
Yield: Serves about 16
Ingredients: coarsely grated rind of 2 lemons; 5 tablespoons (5 x 15 ml spoons) brandy or rum; 6 oz (175 g) raisins; 4 oz (125 g) soft pitted prunes, chopped roughly; 2 tablespoons (2 x 15 ml spoons) cocoa; 2 teaspoons (2 x 5 ml spoons) ground cinnamon; 4 oz (125 g) candied peel; 4 oz (125 g) unsalted butter plus extra for greasing; 4 large eggs (size 1-2), beaten; 4 oz (125 g) crystallized ginger, chopped roughly; 3 oz (75 g) ground almonds; 4 oz (125 g) walnuts, chopped roughly; 6 oz (175 g) dried pineapple pieces; 5 oz (150 g) self-raising flour; 6 oz (175 g) dark cooking chocolate; 5 oz (150 g) soft dark brown sugar

Preparation info

Serves about
16

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Cooking for Christmas

By Josceline Dimbleby

Published 1978

About

This is a real fruit cake but it is also a real chocolate cake. It is densely packed with dried pineapple, prunes, peel, raisins, crystallized ginger and walnuts: a mixture which combines irresistibly with the rich chocolate flavour. I make the cake two or three weeks before Christmas and then glaze if with apricot jam and ice it with lemony royal icing only two or three days before eating it, so that the icing is still slightly soft.