Hampton Fruit Cupcake

from my old blog

I am definitely not a big fan of fruit cake but this recipe was shared by a very dear friend of mine more than ten years ago. 

Since then, I have been baking this cake annually for Christmas except for last year as I was busy painting the house. 

As it takes quite a few weeks for the rum to really immerse into the cake, I always do it on the 1st week of December so that this cake will be moist and nice by Christmas Eve. 

What you need 

Soak overnight in 50ml of rum: 

200g raisins 
200g currants 
150g mixed peel 
50g glaced cherries 

Melt: 

250g butter 
250g sugar
4 eggs 

Mixed in 4 eggs, one at a time when butter is slightly cool. 

Sift together 

350g sifted flour 
1 tsp baking powder 
a pinch of salt 

1/4 tsp each of ground cardamon, cinnamon, coriander, clove, nutmeg and ginger 

50g nuts 
grated skin of one lemon 
grated skin of one orange 

Method 

Add flour to butter mixture, a little at a time. 

Mix well. Add fruit mixture to the batter. 

Add in your favourite nuts and grated skin of lemon and orange. 

Bake for 1.5 hours at 150°C.