Category: Recipe

New Year’s Eve Cake: Intensely Scrumptious Moist Black Fruit Cake Recipe

New Year’s Eve is coming up fast and we are still in the festive mood, so why not start the new year with a bang.  Continue the festivities with this succulent black fruit cake, bursting with flavors. Showcase your baking skills with this simple recipe and wow your friends and family at the dinner table.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup margarine (room temperature)
  • 1 Tablespoon shortening (optional)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 7 eggs (Don’t whisk) (room temperature)
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons mixed spice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 teaspoons rose water
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 3 teaspoons almond flavor
  • 2 tablespoons white rum
  • 1 tablespoon wine (preferably red wine)
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 2 tablespoons burnt sugar
  • 3 cups of pureed and finely minced fruits (cherries, raisins, and prunes ) presoaked in wine and rum.

Prepping Your Oven 

  • Place a pan of water on the bottom rack in the oven.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Preparing Your Baking Pan

  • Cut the grease paper/parchment paper in a circle to fit the bottom of the cake pan.
  • Cut strips of paper to line the sides as well if you wish to do so.
  • Grease the inside of the cake pan with butter and then line the sides and bottom with the parchment or wax paper.

Preparing the Cake Batter

  • Sift the dry ingredients and mix them together with a whisk then set that aside.
  • Mix the butter, the sugar, and the shortening together and until fluffy and creamy.
  • Add one or two eggs at a time to the creamed butter and sugar and then mix using a whisk or a mixer. (Do not over-mix). Continue adding the remaining eggs.
  • Add your liquid spices and mix (except for the burnt sugar, which will be added near to the end).
  • Add the dry ingredients (a little at a time) that you prepared and set aside earlier, then mix. Each time you add a little, you mix, then add some more and mix again until there is no more dry ingredients left.
  • Add your burnt sugar to give it that dark, rich color, then mix.
  • Add the fruits and mix.
  • Pour in the batter into the baking pan and place it in the oven above the pan of water that was placed on the bottom shelf. (The steam will keep your cake moist).
  • Bake for 1 hour or when bamboo skewer is inserted and come out dry.

After Baking Your Cake

  • Mix about 2 tablespoon of white rum and 1 tablespoon of red wine.
  • Use a pastry brush to apply the combination of rum and wine to the top of the cake while it’s still warm.
  • Let the cake cool thoroughly.

Making Your Cake Look Shine

To make your black fruit cake look shine, just use some of the liquid from your soaked fruits to apply to the top of the cake, using a pastry brush.

Storing Your Black Fruit Cake

  • Keep your fruit cake moist after baking it by wrapping it in plastic wrap for food then place it in a cool area.
  • Brush more rum on your cake and keep it wrapped. The rum is a great preservative for this type of cake. Some people keep their black fruit cake for a long time when this technique is used. When done the correct way, the cake will not dry out or spoil.

 

Festive Sorrel Fruit Cake Recipe Without Food Coloring

Hibiscus fruit cake
Sorrel/Hibiscus Fruit Cake

The sorrel drink is a traditional Caribbean punch, typically made with white rum and is commonly served on Christmas day or even New Year’s Day. This tangy punch is so delicious that people put a twist on it and came up with the well sought-after sorrel fruit cake. No doubt this cake is quite popular this Christmas. There are many different version of the sorrel/hibiscus cake. Here is my version of this moist, fluffy, eye-catching cake.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
  • 1/2 cup margarine (1stick)
  • 2 tablespoons shortening
  • 1 cup light brown or white sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon extract or ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon rosewater
  • 1 teaspoon almond flavor
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 3 teaspoons lime juice
  • grated rind from the lime (lime skin)
  • 1 1/2 cup pureed sorrel (Add more for a deeper color)
  • 1 cup combined pureed and partly chopped fruits (presoaked in rum and wine)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Mix the butter, margarine, shortening, and sugar until fluffy.
  2. Lightly whisk eggs in a separate bowl.
  3. Add the eggs a little at a time while mixing it into the butter, margarine, and sugar.
  4. Continue adding the remaining eggs and mix for about a minute or two.
  5. Add the pureed sorrel and fruits, and the other liquid spices, then mix. (You can also add some of the sorrel juice to give your cake a little more red color.)
  6. Sift all the dry ingredients in a different bowl (flour, baking powder, salt, and mixed spice).
  7. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time and mix it in the creamed sugar, butter, margarine, and shortening, using the cut and fold method.
  8. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour or when a toothpick is inserted and come out clean.

Baking Tips

The cut and fold method is done this way: Use a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients starting from the top center of the bowl, keep going to the right like you are making a circle. Bring the mixture with your spoon all the way around to the left of the bowl, then bring it up to the left and top center and down  the center of the mixture.

Pleasing Your Palate With Natural Homemade Soursop Juice

Ripe Soursop GraviolaMaking your own  natural homemade soursop juice is as easy as it gets. Soursop, also known as Graviola, has a rich and tasty flavor, but what’s most amazing about it, is the powerful natural compounds that can be found in it, which are known to be effective in treating many serious health conditions.

It’s time to prepare your delicious soursop juice, but first, you have to get organized. To make your organic soursop juice, gather all the ingredients below to get started.

Things You’ll Need

  • Soursop
  • Water
  • Strainer
  •  Container
  • Juice container
  • Spoon
  • Vanilla
  • Nutmeg

Start by washing the soursop fruit thoroughly. Use your fingers to remove the skin from the fruit. Break the soursop apart and place the pieces in a container. Pour water on it, and using clean hands, squeeze the pulps in the water to remove the juice.

Soursop Natural Homemade JuiceSqueeze the juice out of the pulp with your hands and place the pulps aside. Strain the liquid into a clean juice container. Add your sweetened condensed milk, nutmeg, vanilla and mix thoroughly. Place in the refrigerator to chill, then serve and enjoy.

If you don’t want to put milk in the soursop juice, you can use lime and sugar to mix it. It’s still refreshing and packed with many health benefits.

In addition to this healthy fruit, the soursop leaves are also useful for its medicinal purposes. Learn more about how the tea made from soursop leaves can help you naturally.