Several months ago, a good friend approached me and asked if I could make her wedding cake. Her wedding was a few short months away.
She not only wanted a cake but she wanted a wedding cake on a budget!
I told her I would do my best. I went to work.
I definitely didn’t want to make her a plain cake. I knew she wouldn’t have minded a fruitcake for her wedding cake.
I went to work, working on and modifying the ingredients to my fruitcake, also done on a budget, so I could make her wedding day memorable.
Months later, I made and decorated her cakes, took them with me to her wedding… then waited.
I’m not sure what I really expected but I was pleasantly surprised and genuinely grateful to God that the bride and groom, their bridal party and guests absolutely enjoyed this fruit cake!
I made it a few more times before gaining the confidence to share this cake here. You will enjoy it as well.
As you might be aware, I tone down the ingredients of my cakes to reduce on unwanted calories yet maintaining the goodness and exquisiteness of the recipe.
The cake is so easy to make. As you will see, the instructions are quite simple and straight forward.
I am not decorating this particular one but I used my fondant recipe to decorate it for my friend’s wedding! You may want to check it out as well.
Incase you’d rather have buttercream frosting, find here my very simple buttercream frosting with readily available ingredients as well, to ice your cake.
You can have this cake as a tasty delight for your tea times, your guests and or your family to enhance your hospitality.
I make it a lot also as a birthday cake too. I’ve made it severally as a graduation cake for friends and for a number of other celebrations.
In this recipe, I have given instructions of how to bake it without an oven on your gas stove or cooker. This should in no way keep you from baking it in the oven. You can expect great results as well! Bake it at 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 Fahrenheit.
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 3/4 cup sugar (or a full cup if it’s for a wedding or celebration)
- 1 egg – beaten
- 3/4 cup salad oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1/2 teaspoon orange oil (or orange zest of one large orange)
- 3/4 cup juice (preferably store-bought mixed berry. Tastes great! If not available, squeeze juice of fresh oranges and use)
- ½ to 1 cup raisins soaked overnight or for about 8 hours in black/ strong tea drink- made from 2 cups water & 1 teaspoon tea leaves, sieved. I soak them in as soon as I get the tea off the fire and I’ve sieved it.
- 1 cup of the left-over strong tea juice once you’ve drained out the fruit
- 1 tablespoon marge/ fat to grease pans and a little flour to dust it
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Begin by sieving and combining all the dry ingredients in a bowl until well mixed.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Pour in the egg, the salad oil, the vanilla, the orange oil, and the juice. (Mixed berry or orange)
- Begin to combine the ingredients with your wooden spoon then beat, pouring in the tea juice liquid a little at a time. Beat to a smooth paste.
- Finally fold in the raisins, combining until they are evenly distributed throughout the butter.
- Select a pan that’s fairly heavy and one in which the butter will be slightly below half the pan to give the cake space to rise when baking.
- Grease the pan evenly on the inside, then use a little flour to dust it.
- Pour the butter into the pan; place the pan on a flat surface and swirl the pan around a little to level the butter out with a slight depression in the middle. Cover the pan with a clean lid.
- Switch on your gas stove/ cooker and place the butter onto the burner. Allow it on high heat for about 20 seconds just to heat up the pan.
- Next, turn the gas knob slowly as though you are switching off the burner and take it to the lowest flame; the kind that if you blew on it, the gas will go off. This is the kind that will bake your fruit cake without an oven. Or else, your cake will burn. It could take two or three trials sometimes because the flame can go off as you try. Don’t give up though, keep at it and get to that flame. The more I’ve done it, the easier I now get to this flame the first time. I sometimes miss it though!Â
- Please note that the lowest flame as designed by the manufacturer on most gas cookers or gas stoves is usually still too high to bake your fruit cake without burning it. Ensure you turn the knob as though you are switching off to get to this lowest flame I am describing! In some cookers, the smallest surface burner may suffice when taken to its lowest as the manufacturer designed but be sure to taste this flame to be sure it can bake your cake without burning it.
- Bake on this very low flame for anything between 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes depending on your gas cooker/ stove or flame.
- Alternatively, if you want the cake to bake faster, divide the butter into 2 and bake in 2 separate pans using the same principle i’ve explained above on two separate gas stove burners.
- Once it’s ready, (when your toothpick/ sharp knife/ tester comes out clear when you insert it into the cake) turn it onto your cooling rack or suitable plate. It’s ready!
- In case you want it to brown even further on top, immediately turn it over onto a clean lid. Then turn it again onto another clean lid to ensure the top part of the cake is back up again. Carefully turn the cake back into your pan so that this top part is inverted into the pan you used to bake the cake while still hot.
- Put it back onto the very low fire and bake for 10 minutes. These are enough minutes to brown the top of your cake to a golden brown.
- Turn it out onto your cooling rack or appropriate plate. Allow it to cool. Your cake is ready to enjoy… or frost and enjoy!