Clove and Cauldron

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Christmas plum cake

A close-up food photograph of a rich, dark traditional Christmas plum cake dusted with powdered sugar, with one slice cut and placed beside the cake on a weathered wooden table. To the right sits a elegant glass of red wine, with soft, bright morning light streaming in from a window in the light background.
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A close-up food photograph of a rich, dark traditional Christmas plum cake dusted with powdered sugar, with one slice cut and placed beside the cake on a weathered wooden table. To the right sits a elegant glass of red wine, with soft, bright morning light streaming in from a window in the light background.

Christmas plum cake

Rich, dark, and deeply aromatic, a traditional Christmas plum cake is packed with a generous medley of dried fruits and nuts soaked in rich rum or fruit juice. Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves meld into the buttery batter, creating a moist, indulgent cake that tastes like pure holiday magic.
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Prep Time 30 days
Cook Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Total Time 30 days 2 hours 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Indian
Servings 10 people

Equipment

  • 1 large box to soak the dry fruits
  • 1 large vessel to make the batter
  • 1 smaller vessel to mix the dry ingredients
  • 1 large spoon or spatula
  • measuring cups and spoons
  • 1 cake tin
  • 1 oven

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for making a 500 gms traditional plum cake

For soaking in brandy plus rum (half n half)

  • 50 gms golden raisins
  • 50 gms black raisins
  • 50 gms green raisins
  • 50 gms glazed cherries chopped
  • 50 gms tutti frutti

Dry Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups flour or maida
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1/2 tsp dry ginger powder
  • 1/4 tsp clove powder
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 50 gms sliced almonds
  • 50 gms chopped walnuts

Wet ingredients

  • 3 eggs lightly beaten
  • 100 gms salted butter
  • 3/4 cup dark muscovado sugar

Instructions
 

Soaking the dry fruits

  • Soak the dry fruits in half part brandy and half part rum atleast 3 weeks prior to baking the cake. You may use any brand of brandy and rum of your choice. Store the mixture in the fridge. Once every week, take it out of the fridge and give it a good stir.
  • If you do not want to use alcohol, you may substitute it with packaged orange juice. However, if using orange juice, soak the dry fruits only 1 day prior i.e. overnight. Store it in the fridge.
    • Make sure to use only packaged orange juice and not fresh juice.

Preparing the plum cake

  • Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, except the almonds and the walnuts and seive it into another bowl so that all ingredients are homogeniously mixed. Now mix in the almonds and walnuts and keep aside.
  • Take a large vessel and put it on the stove on low flame. Put the butter into it and let it melt slowly on low flame. Do not let it become too hot.
  • Now add in the muscovado sugar and stir until it melts and the mixture is well combined and glossy. You may add 2 tbsps of rum to it, to help it combine well. Take it off the stove and let it cool.
  • Once it is cool enough, add into it the beaten eggs. Ensure the butter and sugar mixture is cool enough for the eggs, or else the eggs will scramble. Mix well.
  • Now add in the soaked raisins after preserving some of the soaking liquid. Give it all a good mix .
  • Now add in the dry ingredients mix and combine well to make the batter, ensuring there are no dry flour pockets.
  • The batter should be dropping consistency, such that it slides off the spatula. Not too loose and not too thick either. If it is too dry, little by little add in the preserved soaking liquid and mix, until you achieve the proper consistency.

Baking the plum cake

  • Pre heat the oven for 10 mins at 150 degrees celcius.
  • While the oven is pre heating, grease and line the cake tin with baking paper. Grease the paper too.
  • Now pour or spoon in the batter into the cake tin and level it with a butter knife.
  • Lightly tap the tin on the counter top to release any trapped air.
  • Now put the cake tin in the oven in the middle rack and bake at 150 degrees celcius for 1 hr and 15 mins.
  • After about 1 hr, start checking the cake for doneness. Take it out of the oven and insert a knife or a skewer in the middle. If it comes out clean its done, or else continue baking for another 15 mins.

Feeding the cake

  • Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on the counter top.
  • While it still a little warm, skewer holes into the cake with a skewer or a fork and drizzle 1 to 2 tbsps of rum or brandy on top of the cake. Let the cake drink up all that goodness.
  • Once the cake is cool enough, wrap it in a cling wrap and let it rest in the fridge or in a cool storage cupboard for atleast a day, before you eat it. This will let all the flavours develop and come together nicely. The more you let it rest, the more it will mature. So try making your plum cake atleast a few days in advance. And if you have the time, you can feed the cake with rum alteast 2-3 times.
  • So there you have it. Your beautiful Christmas plum cake! So easy to make and so delicious to enjoy.
  • Hope you enjoy making your very first Christmas cake as much as you enjoy eating it with your family and friends ! Have a Merry Christmas !!
Keyword christmas, christmas cake, christmas plum cake, plum cake, traditional plum cake
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