It’s that time of the year again 🌲☃️ Kerala Style Christmas Plum Cake is a dark, intensely flavorful cake that is made both with and without alcohol. The nuts and dry fruits are steeped in rum for weeks. The cake is full of nuts and dry-fruits that makes it a wholesome cake full of bite.
Kerala Style Christmas Plum Cake Recipe is a boozy, dark, intense cake that is made in advance for Christmas. The nuts and dry fruits are steeped in the liquor of choice, and the cake is additionally loaded with nuts making it a wholesome cake full of bite.
I have added a tinge of chocolate in this Plum cake which is completely optional, but it definitely enhances the recipe to a great level. My daughter is a chocoholic and son loves nuts and dry-fruits, so this cake is a superhit at my place everytime. This is a recipe I have been following for years every Christmas. Make sure to make it a day or two in advance, as it tastes better after the next day as the flavours deepen. It can also be had as a tea time treat or a tiffin box option.
I have used half and half of all purpose flour and whole-wheat flour. You can always make it with full all purpose flour or full whole-wheat flour. The texture will get denser as the amount of whole-wheat flour increases but there would be no change in the taste.
I have soaked the dryfruits in warm orange juice for 10 mins. If in in hurry you can soak them like this. But it’s always better to soak them overnight in the juice.
This is a cheat alcohol cake 😉 as I am not adding any rum to it. But I am adding Ossoro Rum essence for the rum flavour. It gives a very nice rum aroma to the cake, and comes in handy when you want to prepare a rum soaked fruit cake without any prior preparation. The link to buy it is below.
Rest assured, you definitely are not going to stop at making one loaf of this 😉 Serve it at your Christmas party this year, to receive all praises for your baking skills.
The video link of the recipe:
Ingredients
150g dry fruits
(I used Cranberries, Raisins, Black currents, Cherries, Prunes, Dates, Tutti Fruity, Strawberries, Apricots)
50g Nuts
(I used nuts only for garnishing)
120 ml Orange Juice (Juice of 2 medium Oranges)
Spices
½ tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp nutmeg powder
½ tsp cloves powder
½ tsp Cardamom powder
½ tsp Dry Ginger powder
You can skip any of the spices as per your choice. But cinnamon and ginger give the cake it’s authentic aroma, so better don’t skip that both.
Other ingredients
200g Sugar
½ cup or 120g Butter/Oil at room temperature
½ cup Thick curd / yoghurt
½ tsp Rum essence (optional)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
¾ Cup or 90 grams Maida
¾ Cup or 100 grams Atta
½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa
2 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Salt
2 tbsp Maida / Atta for coating the dry fruits
INSTRUCTIONS
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1. Chop and soak the fruits in Orange Juice overnight. If in hurry you can soak them in hot water/warm juice for half an hour. But it tastes best if soaked overnight.
2. Grease and flour the cake pans with butter. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.
3. Strain the soaked fruits. Save the juice to add it to the batter later. Coat the fruits and nuts with 2 tsp of flour. This will save them from sinking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Whip the butter, oil and sugar for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the curd, vanilla and rum essence, whip it well.
5. Sieve the flour, spice powders, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well with a fork.
6. Add in the dry ingredients mixture to the wet ingredients. Fold it well to combine.
7. Add the dryfruits and nuts (if adding). Add hot water or milk as needed to adjust the consistency. The batter should fall like ribbons when poured.
8. This recipe makes two 8×4 inch loaves. Transfer the batter to the cake tins. Fill till 3/4th height only.
9. Tap it on the counter a few times to remove air bubbles. Decorate it with nuts and more dryfruits as you like.
10. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour at 180 degree Celsius. If using a small pan, check after 30 minutes. The baking time depends on the size of the pan.
11. After 45 minutes, insert a tooth pick in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. If the tooth pick has a little batter sticking, bake for 10-15 minutes more and check again. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan until room temperature.
12. Run a knife on the sides of the pan to release the cake from the pan. Gently invert the pan and remove the cake from the pan and store it in an air tight container.
The flavor of the cake improves the next day. This cake is generally served warm. This Christmas season do try this plum cake with a tinge of chocolate. I am sure you will love it as much as I do.
Padmapriya'z Cuisine 
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