Christmas Cake without Oven

Christmas cake recipe

Christmas season is incomplete without the Christmas cake. Now i don't have to make it explicit do i? All these years, it was my moms duty to bake the cake every year. Now that I got married, Its time I took over.

To be very honest, this cake is not easy to make. It involves a lot of preparation. And to top it all, the dry fruits need to be soaked in rum / brandy. Brandy just keeps disappearing when my hubby is around.

The spice powder that we mix n this cake brings out a fabulous flavor. The aroma simply fills the apartment when you bake it. And possibly the nearby apartments too :)

This cake is served with home made wine.

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour - 2 cups
• Sugar - 1.5 cups
• Caramelised sugar - 1/2 cup
• Butter - 200gms
• Egg - 3 nos
• Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
• Baking powder - 1.5 tsp
• Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
• Nutmeg powder - 1/2 tsp
• Clove powder - 1/2 tsp
• Dry ginger powder - 1/4 tsp
• Cardamom powder - 2 nos
• Orange Zest - 1 tbsp
• Orange Juice - 2 tbsp
• Lemon Zest - 1 tsp
• Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Dry fruits to be soaked in Rum/white wine/brandy a week before:

• Cashew nut cut into small pieces - 1/2 cup
• Almonds cut into small pieces - 1/2 cup
• Raisins - 1/2 cup
• Walnut - 1/2 cup
• Dates - 1 cup
• Candies - 1/2 cup( i have not put it in this cake)

Method:

• Melt the butter to room temperature.
• Separate egg white and egg yellow. Beat them properly with the help of a hand mixer for about 5 minutes.
• In a vessel add the all purpose flour and baking soda. sieve the mixture 4 times.
• In a deep bowl add the melted butter along with 1 and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Mix them well.
• To the  above mixture add the egg white, fold them properly with the mixture. you can use the hand mixer for the same.
• Add the egg yellow, lemon zest, orange zest, lemon juice,orange juice,caramel,all the spice powders and mix them well with the help of the hand mixer.
• In a small bowl take about 1 tbsp All purpose flour that you have kept aside and mix the strained dry fruits soaked in the rum.
• Slowly add the all purpose flour powder and mix them throughly without forming any lumps.
• In the end add the dry fruits mixed with the all purpose flour.
• With the help of a hand mixer, beat the mixture for about 7 to 8 minutes.

Method to bake the cake without oven:

Take a heavy bottom vessel with a lid (pressure cooker without whistle), and put a thick layer of salt on it. This will ensure that the cake will not have any direct contact with the vessel. Heat the vessel on high flame for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile grease the cake tin with butter. Pour the cake batter into it till it covers one fourth of the cake tin.

Place the cake tin on top of the salt layer carefully and heat the vessel in low flame. Cover the vessel with the lid and cook for 35 - 40 minutes on low flame.

After 40 minutes, check if the cake is well cooked using a fork. (Insert the fork and check if the cake is properly cooked on the inside). Once cooked, take the cake out of the vessel and let it cool.

The cake is ready to be served. If you want to cut the cake please wait till it cools down.

I hope you enjoy cooking this cake. please write your comments and suggestions.

Njoyy..cookinggg!!!