If you were asked to list off a who’s who of British cakes, fruit cake would definitely make the cut. It might not be considered as ‘sexy’ as some other options, but it remains a must-have on the tea table around the nation – especially for Christmas and celebrations.
There’s not much you can do to switch it up, you might think – but you’d be wrong. Burns the Bread – a bakery in Glastonbury, Somerset – has been turning heads since the late 80s with its take on fruit cake – the Torsy Moorsy cake.
The recipe (fruit cake with Somerset cider and Cheddar in the mix) was discovered in a niche in the fireplace when they were doing their renovations over four decades ago, and it remains a firm favourite with their customers.
Here’s how to make a version of it at home, using Great British Food Award-winning cider from Sandford Orchards.
Ingredients
- 700g mixed dried fruit soaked in 250ml warm cider overnight
- 200g butter, softened
- 2 tbsp treacle
- 200g light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 275g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- Pinch sea salt
- 100g Somerset Cheddar – mature or farmhouse
To finish
- 100g pecans
- 50g caster sugar
Method
1. Heat the oven to 160C and grease and line a deep 20cm round cake tin. Beat the butter with treacle, sugar, baking powder and spice until smooth. Then alternate between adding the eggs and flour, beating between each addition.
2. Fold in the dried fruit (including the liquid), and finally the cheese. Spoon into your tin and bake for 1.5 hours to 1.45 hours until a skewer comes out clean or with just a few sticky crumbs on.
3. Gently warm the sugar for the nuts with a little water in a pan until dissolved, then boil until amber coloured. Add the pecans, turn them carefully in the caramel mix and spoon across the cake.
4. Allow to cool, then serve up buttered with a cuppa.
