Mrs Mac's Cake (egg and dairy free/vegan and can be gluten free)

Fruit cake!

This is a family recipe that has been around a while and uses a traditional method of boiling the fruit to make them nice and moist.  My mum has been cooking it for ages and for some reason I always associate it with Easter.  Maybe its the fruit cake thing?

Anyway, as usual, with most family recipes, I've been trying different egg replacers to make it friendlier for our little person who is egg and dairy free.  I hate commercial egg replacers with a bit of a passion, and try everything else I can instead. This has been tried with half a banana in place of the one egg in the original recipe, but it did leave a bit of a banana flavour, which I wasn't keen on, so I tried apple sauce instead - bingo!

Then, because I'm lazy and I can't be bothered with the hassle of making apple sauce, I tried it with a jar of apple baby food - excellent!  And then I finally settled on grating an apple in with the fruit as they boil at the beginning, removing the need for the sauce at all! The boiling makes the fruit very moist and squishy and just delicious, and the apple just disappears into the mix.

You can make this GLUTEN free too, just substitute in gluten free flours (I like Dove's Farm) and add a 1/2 tsp xanthan gum to help it stick together - its a bit crumbly otherwise.

So here it is, my favourite fruit cake:

Mrs Mac's Cake

Ingredients

1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
100g Pure spread or butter if not dairy free
2 cups mixed fruit (I like a mix of dried apricots, dates, raisins, sultanas and glace cherries but it works with anything.)

1 eating apple such as a gala (or 1 egg)

1 cup plain flour
1 cup self raising flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cinnamon


Method

1. Measure out the water, spread, sugar and fruit in an easy read measuring cup.  Place them in a large pan. If using larger fruit like dates or apricots chop them up with the professional shears first.

2. Grate the apple into the pan with a coarse microplane grater. Like I said, I'm lazy so I don't even bother peeling it - extra fibre is good!

3. Heat until boiling.  Boil for five minutes stirring all the time with a mix n scraper.

4.  Leave to cool slightly. (If you are using the egg let this mix cool completely and then stir in the egg, remembering you don't need the apple earlier on)

5.  Meanwhile measure out the flours in a classic batter bowl and pre-heat the oven to 160°C.

6. Add the cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda to the mix in the pan using an adjustable measuring spoon, and stir well - the mix will fizz and bubble as in the photo below.

Bubbly fruit mix after adding the bicarbonate of soda

7.  Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and mix it all together.

8.  Pour into a stoneware loaf pan, or lined metal loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour.  Check it's done by pressing on the top of the loaf - if it bounces back nicely it is done. (I also listen to it!  If you can hear little crackles then chemical reactions are still happening and it may need a little longer!)

9.  Cool on a stackable cooling rack, and wait for it to be fairly cool before slicing - I know its difficult but if you cut into it too early it all crumbles and is a bit squooshy.  It keeps well for several days in an airtight container, and may even be better on day 2 and 3!  (If it lasts that long)