You must be wondering why a recipe for soaking dry fruits.. Well, let’s not underestimate the power of dry fruits in a Christmas Cake..:D

Soaked dry fruits is a key ingredient in a Christmas Cake. And these fruits need their own sweet time to soak up all that rum (Oh yeah! We are soaking it in rum..;)). The choice of dry fruits is personal. You can use a combination of different nuts and dry fruits and even dehydrated fruits. I just try to stick to the total weight of dry fruits and nuts I use. The quantity I have given here should suffice for two 8-inch cakes. So based on the quantity of cake you want to make, you can make changes to the quantity of fruits soaked.

And you can soak fruits and keep it for as long as you want. I have made Christmas Cake with fruits which have been soaked for more an year. Trust me – it tastes awesome!

And if you want a quick alternative to the Christmas Cake, do try out my Carrot Dates Cake!

Recipe

Ingredient List

• Raisins – 50 gms
• Black Raisins (Seedless) – 50 gms
• Candied Orange Peel – 25 gms
• Candied Ginger Peel – 25 gms
• Dried Fruits (Kiwi, Strawberry, Cranberry, Pineapple) – 50 gms
• Cashews – 100 gms
• Almonds – 100 gms
• Rum – Enough to soak the fruits (I added 1 cup of rum)

Step by Step Process

1. Chop the fruits into smaller pieces. I usually cut the raisins into 2-3 pcs each and the other fruits in a similar size.
2. Transfer all the fruits into a bowl.
3. Add the rum to the fruits and mix it well. Transfer this to a glass or a steel bowl and cover it properly. Avoid using plastic or aluminium vessel for storing these soaked fruits.
4. You can either leave it at room temperature or refrigerate it. But do give it a mix every couple of days. And when you see that all the rum has been soaked up by the fruits, you can feed it some more.
5. In case you want to make a non-alcoholic version, then you do not need so much of time to soak the fruits. You can chop all the dry fruits and soak it in apple or orange juice for a day or two and then use it for the cake.