Kerala Plum Cake / Christmas Special Caramel Fruit Cake/ X'mas Rum Cake




Kerala Plum Cake/Christmas Special Fruit Cake

Here is another take on the famous fruit cake from South India.
This will make a 8 inch size cake

Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup sugar
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1/3 cup sugar to make caramel
  • 1 cup dry fruits and nuts(raisins, cashew, dates, tutty fruity) etc
  • 2 tsp of caraway seeds (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves powder,ginger powder(at least two items)
  • 1/2 cup of Rum(Substitute with juice, keep the cake refrigerated)

Directions
       Soak the dry fruits in 2-3 tbsp of rum and keep this at room temperature overnight or this can be made many days ahead and keep refrigerated  Prepare caramel based on the steps belowPreheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and all the spices and keep aside. Mix butter and sugar till creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each   addition. Pour in the caramel syrup and vanilla extract and mix well. Add the flour spice mixture 
and mix until the flour is completely incorporated with the wet part. Strain the dried fruits and mix  with 1 tbsp of all purpose flour. Add this to the batter and mix again.  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes   until a tooth pick inserted into the center of he cake comes out clean plus about 5 minutes. Once cake is cooled, make small pores on cake with tooth pick and pour 1to 2 tbs Rum and  let it soak. Cover the cake with wax paper and keep it 4 to 5 days or more for a better taste and texture.








Preparing Caramel
   Spread 1/2 cup of sugar in a thick bottomed pan and heat it. Keep about 1/2 cup of hot water ready on the side. Control the heat when the sugar starts burning. Shake the pan a couple of times, do not stir.
Add about 1 tbsp of water at a time, when enough sugar turns in color. For this cake we prefer to go on a darker side, this will alter the taste of cake. For other recipes(say using as dip) go for a lighter color, to prevent the bitter taste. Stir the sugar and water together and add more water in steps to make the syrup. Adding too much water initially will make the sugar to a solid form and gets difficult to process further(add more water and keep heating until it dissolves). The syrup will thicken when it cools down, add water to lighten it. For cakes use the caramel only after cooling down.

Notes
  Since the cake is moistened with rum or juice, bake the cake for 5-8 minutes longer than usual, until the top is dark brown. We prefer to use Captain Morgan spiced run, any rum should do though.

Make sure to use wax paper on the sides and bottom of the pan, caramel make this cakes sticky.

Cake will look hard after baking, but wait for couple of days, and wow! it will be much softer and a yummy flavor. Now who will wait two days with cake!

Tutty fruity is generally the candied or dried fruits cut into small cubes. In Kerala is is prepared from green papaya by adding different colors. This is available in most stores in US during Christmas season. But it is usually soaked in lots of almond extract can add a very different taste.
Advance Christmas wishes to all!



Here is another version of the plum cake recipe
You will also like pineapple upside down cake, which has a very similar flavor profile
Another favorite is the Black forest cake
This recipe was completely derived from the Basic vanilla cake







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Comments

  1. Lovely rich cake.. Perfect for this festive season!

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  2. Plum cake is my fav...looks perfect n yum

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  3. awesome cake. I made this last year and it was truly decadent.

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  4. My fav fav...Beautiful aytunde...

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  5. My favorite cake i love to make them during Christmas.

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  6. A perfect cake for Christmas! Looks so rich and yumm.

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  7. Christmas is round the corner. Your delicious cake is making me even more crave for Christmas to come very soon.
    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  8. Looks so cute.. nice decoration for the cake :) yummy too :)

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  9. Awesome cake..looks so perfect and delicious.

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  10. looks Yummy Vrinda...Expect me at any time to have a bite

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  11. Very pretty and I am sure tasty too.

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  12. Sooo gorgeous and irresistible plum cake..

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  13. wow looks awesome and so perfect..wish i could have that piece..

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  14. hey that looks so yummyyyy....so tempting..and nice pic too..

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  15. my favorite cake... never tried at home.. bookmarked to try out...

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  16. such a cute presentation for such a beautiful cake..love this...looks really yumm

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  17. Cute christmas cake. Loved the snaps.

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  18. The christmas cake looks just perfect...reminds me of the cakes that we get in the bakeries and is such an integral part of the festival. Lovely pics

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  19. awsome plum cake for a gr8 christmas treat...

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  20. A very beautiful and festive fruity cake!

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  21. very beautiful cake. nice presentation:)

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  22. This is my fav too..looks so festive

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  23. Lovely cake with lovely presentation! :D

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  24. This looks wonderful. I made a Kerala fruit cake this last Christmas, but I love this recipe of yours! I'll have to try it even though it's not Christmas time.

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  25. hey ! looks good.. Would you recommend any substitutes for egg as I am looking to making this soon?

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  26. @ Kalyani ..u can try with Apple sauce or Ener -G egg replacer.

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  27. My neighbours used to bring this cake every year on Christmas and we used to love it. Please le me know if I want to substitute the rum with juice, which juice should I use ? Glad to follow your lovely blog.

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