An Exclusive Pop Food Recipe

• Cuisine: British/Indian
• Servings: For five
• Meal type: Snack
• Preparation time: 60 minute
• Baking time: 50 minute
• Total wait time: 180 minutes

Rich plum cakes bring back the memories of childhood, innocence, winter and Christmas. Originated in the sixteenth century England, the raisin cake travelled with the British colonial settlers. In India, it became a part of the Christmas celebration. In the US, it used to be served during the election periods. 

Though the name contains ‘plum’, they are hardly used as ingredients in these cakes anymore. A variety of dry fruits have replaced plums– though the name hasn’t changed. However, both in the West and the Orient, a large variety of fruit cakes are made in a way similar to making traditional plum cakes, and some of them are called plum cakes too. As a result, you get a wide variety of fruit cakes under the umbrella of plum cake. 

Another saying goes that the usage cinnamon and cloves in plum cakes became popular after the British learnt to use the spices in India. Here, we have the recipe of the Indian Rich Plum Cake. The Indian variety is a dark brown buttery cake that oozes the flavour of spiced rum and cinnamon. They are stuffed with raisins and dry-fruits soaked in orange juice cocktail. Oh yes, they taste heavenly. 

Rich Plum Cake: Ingredients

• Baking Flour-    200 grams
• White Butter-   200 grams
• Brown Sugar-   200 grams
• Egg-   3 nos
• Cocoa Powder-  3 tbsp 
• Cloves- 6
• Cinnamon-   2 sticks
• Nutmeg powder-   ½ tbsp
• Ginger powder-  1tbsp 
• Orange zest-  1tbsp 
• Orange juice-  1.5 lit
• RUM –   100 ml–
  – You would need aged RUM with dark amber colour made from sugar cane. Spiced, full bodied RUM can also be used to lend your cake a distinct flavour and richness. We’ve used Captain Morgan spiced RUM

   

• Raisins and dry fruits
  Cashew nuts, raisins, dates, pistachios, dried cranberries, apricots, tutti-frutti, cherries, almonds

Rich Plum Cake: Baking Method

Step 1:  Mix orange juice with RUM. Chop dry fruits (except for the almonds) and raisins into small bits. Pour them into the juice cocktail to soak for a minimum of 5 hour. Some bakers soak raisins and dry-fruits for days on end to allow fermentation of the fruit bits that enhances the richness of flavour. But you are just fine soaking the fruits and nuts for slightly more than 5 hours for home baking purpose. 

Step 2: Make the spice mix: Roast cloves, nutmeg powder and cinnamon on low flame and ground them together into a fine powder using a mixer

Step 3: Make the Butter batter now! Melt unsalted white butter at room temperature. Take a mixing bowl and beat the butter in it using a whisk if you have one. Add brown sugar and whip for 2 minutes. Next, add eggs one by one while whipping. Continue until you get a smooth, creamy texture of the batter. The whole beating process may take up to 25 minutes. 

Step 4: Make a fine powder of the almonds using a mixer. 

Step 5: Mix baking flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and almond powder thoroughly. Add the buttery batter you made in step 3, using a spatula. No whipping after this point. Gently stir and beat the mixture as you keep adding the batter into the flour mixture. 

Step 6: Make a semi solid dough continuing on step 5. 

(Meanwhile, gently strain the soaked raisins and nuts using a piece of clean cloth or a strainer. Don’t waste the strained juice cocktail– keep it aside. You will need it to ‘feed’ the cake after baking.

We would also advise to sprinkle some baking flour on the soaked raisins-and-nuts. Gently mix with hand so that a fine coat of flour is formed on the bits. This is to ensure the raisins and nuts spread evenly in the cake. Otherwise, you run a chance to find them towards the bottom surface of the cake after baking.)

To the semi solid dough, slowly add orange zest, ginger powder, spice powder and soaked raisins-and-nuts all the while beating it gently

Step 7: If you have an oven, preheat it to 90 degree Celsius. In the absence of an oven, heat a pressure cooker (don’t put the lid on) and pour 500 gm salt into it. Place a small stand or a small bowl on the salt. Take the lid off and preheat for 15 minutes. 

Step 8: Take a cake pan and apply white oil all over its inner surface using a brush. Cut two pieces of baking paper that fit the pan base and the interior surface. Place them in the pan. Baking paper makes it very easy to eject the cake after baking. 

Step 9:  Transfer the cake dough to the cake pan and tap the top surface to make an even top surface. Open the top cover of the pressure cooker and place the cake pan on the stand very carefully. Put the cover back on the pressure cooker and bake for 50 minutes. 

After 50 minutes, it’s time to check the doneness of the cake. Take a skewer and pierce it gently into the cake. Then pull it out slowly. If the skewer comes without raw dough stuck on it, then the cake is ready

Step 10: Wrap the whole cake with a tin foil and allow it to set for at least two hours

Step 11: Unwrap the cake. Poke a few deep holes into the cake using the skewer. Then add the strained juice cocktail into the holes. This is called feeding- the cocktail blends with the cake material and lends a much richer flavour. 

Wrap the cake again and allow the liquid blend properly with the cake. Wait for two more hours. 

Step 12: Cut the cake into slices and serve.