BUTTERMILK FRUIT CAKE

It is good to be back after my break!! This is a very special large fruit cake that keeps well and is deliciously scrummy, although it is quite expensive to make, but trust me, it is worth it. You all know I love using buttermilk in recipes, plus apricots and dried cranberries are two of my favourite dried fruits. You can use whatever nuts you have left over in your cupboard. I chopped a mix of walnuts and whole blanched almonds.

It always amazes me that by just tweaking a few basic ingredients you get a different fruit cake.

Butter and line the base of a 9 inch spring form tin and pre heat your fan oven to 160C. 

7 oz softened butter

9 oz caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract 

3 large eggs

6 oz dried chopped apricots

6 oz dried cranberries

4 oz any chopped nuts 

13 oz plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

9 fl oz buttermilk [a 300ml tub]

Using the creaming method, beat the sugar, vanilla and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, along with a teaspoonful of the flour with each egg. Stir in the flour, then all the rest of the dry ingredients along with the buttermilk. Mix well, then tip into your prepared tin and bake for about 1¼ hours. Turn down to 140 after 45 mins.

Leave in the tin for a short while. Cool on a rack, then enjoy.  Wonderfully moist and fruity. It keeps well too.

Note: when I made this I found I only had 1 pkt of dried cranberries in my cupboard [100gr] so had to make up with extra apricots. Therefore you will see more orange than red in the pic! Hey ho.

If your taste does not run to dark fruit cakes, this a good alternative.