Fruity Christmas Loaf
(1)
13 hours 10 minutes
This loaf of Christmas cake/bread is packed with dried fruits like prunes, pears, figs, peel and sultanas in a spicy sweet dough.
sophie
1 person made this
Ingredients
Serves: 14
- 250g dried pears
- 250g prunes, pitted
- 175g dried figs
- 2 cups (500ml) water
- 2 cups (250g) plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup (60g) caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 3 drops lemon essence
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 2 pinches ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon kirsch (cherry brandy)
- 75g hazelnuts
- 75g cut mixed peel
- 100g sultanas
- 1 teaspoon instant mash potatoes
- 3 tablespoons cold water
Directions
Preparation:20min ›
Cook:50min ›
Extra time:12hours soaking ›
Ready in:13hours10min
- Place dried pears, prunes and figs in a saucepan, cover with water and leave to soak overnight.
- The next day, bring the soaked fruit to the boil in the same saucepan then boil for 2 minutes. Drain and reserve liquid. Cool then finely dice.
- Mix the baking powder with the flour then sieve onto the work surface. Make a hollow in the middle and place the sugar, vanilla essence, lemon essence, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, kirsch and 2 tablespoons of the fruit water into it.
- Mix with flour and sugar into a paste. Add diced fruit, hazelnuts, mixed peel and sultanas.
- Knead everything together until fruit is evenly distributed. If the dough is too sticky add more flour. Shape the dough into a loaf shape and lay onto a lined baking tray.
- Mix the instant mash with 3 tablespoons water then bring to the boil briefly. Brush over loaf.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and bake for about 50-60 minutes.
