Mrs Robins' Wholewheat Fruit Cake

Rich, dark, fruity, spicy and moist

A traditional boiled fruit cake made with wholewheat flour, dark brown sugar, mixed dried fruit, cherries, peel and warm mixed spice.

Servings 12

Prep 20 min

Cook 1 hr 30 min

Total 1 hr 50 min

Difficulty Easy

Niki's Notes

Out of all of my mother's recipes, this is by far my favourite and brings back so many memories. It's rich, dark, fruity and with enough mixed spice to give you a warm glow when Autumn arrives and nights draw in.
The hardest part for me is letting the mixture cool completely before adding the flour - not because I can't wait - but rather because that sweet, spicy liquid is probably the most delicious nectar known to mankind. I know I have to make more than the recipe says because some of it will disappear when I'm "tasting to see whether it's cool yet". If you're one for eating the remnants of a cake mixing bowl, then good luck resisting this!
While it's cooling, the liquid seeps into all the fruit, plumping them up so leaving them bursting with flavour after the cake is baked. It really is the most moist fruit cake in the world - and this is the only time where the word "moist" is appropriate.
The cake will keep well for days - and apparently tastes even better the day after baking it... not that it's ever lasted that long.
And as for Mrs Robins, well, our heroine was a wartime cook, a member of the Women’s Institute (WI), and a hostel manager during World War II.
I bet she kept calm and carried on with a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

Ingredients

Fruit Cake

113 g Butter or margarine

170 g Dark brown Barbados sugar

170 g Currants

170 g Sultanas

57 g Chopped peel chopped

28 g Chopped cherries chopped

227 ml Water

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda (level teaspoon)

1 tsp Mixed spice (heaped teaspoon)

2 egg Eggs beaten

113 g Plain wholewheat flour

113 g Self-raising wholewheat flour (If unavailable, use 8oz plain wholewheat flour in total and add 1/2 level teaspoon baking powder.)

1 pinch Salt

½ tsp Baking powder (Only needed if using 8oz plain wholewheat flour instead of self-raising wholewheat flour.) - optional

Method

Make the cake

Boil the fruit mixture Put the butter or margarine, sugar, currants, sultanas, peel, cherries, water, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice into a pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 1 minute.

Fruit mixture simmer: 1 min
180°C (356°F) hob

Cool the mixture Pour the hot fruit mixture into a large mixing bowl and leave it to cool before adding the eggs and flour.

Prepare the tin Line a 7 inch square tin or an 8 inch round tin with greased greaseproof paper.

Mix the batter Stir the beaten eggs, plain wholewheat flour, self-raising wholewheat flour and salt into the cooled fruit mixture. Mix thoroughly, then pour the batter into the prepared tin.

Bake the cake Bake in the centre of a preheated moderate oven at 180°C until the cake is cooked through. For a convection oven, use a cold start and place the tin on the first shelf.

Fruit cake: 75 min
180°C (356°F) oven

Recipe from https://thyme-with-niki.uk