Kerala Plum Cake

INGREDIENTS:

FOR SOAKING:

3 cups Mixed fruits

1.5 cups Rum / Brandy I used dark rum

FOR CARAMEL: (or just use 1/3 cup dark molasses)

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tbsp Water

1/4 cup Warm water

FOR CAKE:

2 cups Plain flour + 2 tbsp for dusting the soaked fruits

1 1/4 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Baking soda

1 cup + 2 tbsp Sugar

250 gms Unsalted Butter (1 cup + 2 tbsp) at room temp

4 Eggs @ room temp

2 tsp Vanilla essence

1 tbsp Jam I used apricot

1 1/2 cups mixed nuts (I used Cashews, Walnuts and Pecans)

1 pinch salt

FOR SPICE POWDER:

2 Cloves

2 Cardamom

A small piece Cinnamon

A small piece Nutmeg

Baking Pan:

I used 10" pan - baking time 50 minutes

If you use 9" pan - baking time will be more - 70 minutes.

INSTRUCTIONS

Soaking of Fruits

I used a combination of sultanas, seedless raisins, currants, dates, glazed green cherries, dry orange peel. I didn't chop the fruits & used it as such. You can use dried fruits of your choice. If you are using dates/apricots etc., chop it into small pieces & soak it. I soaked it for almost 1.5 months. Try to soak it for a minimum of 1 week, at least. Shake the jar of soaked fruits once in a while.

Caramel Preparation: (or just use 1/3 cup dark molasses)

Combine 1/2 cup sugar & 1 tbsp water in a sauce pan. Heat it & let the sugar melt. When the color of the melted sugar becomes dark brown, remove the pan from fire & add 1/4 cup warm water to this. You need to be very careful at this stage since the water tends to splash & can cause burns. Bring it back to the heat & boil for a few more mins, 3-4 mins. Remove from fire & let it cool completely. You can prepare the caramel in advance & refrigerate it. 

Spice Powder:

Grind all the spices with a pinch of sugar, to a fine powder & keep aside.

Cake Preparation:

Preheat the oven @ 180 C/ 355 F before baking.

Drain the soaked fruits & keep aside. Retain the drained liquor. 

Toss the drained fruits in 2 tbsp of flour. (This will prevent the fruits from sinking to the bottom of the cake). 

Sift the plain flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Beat the eggs & add the softened butter to it. Beat it till it forms a smooth paste. 

Add powdered sugar to this, gradually. Beat after each addition. 

When it becomes smooth add vanilla essence & cooled caramel & spice powder & beat again. 

Add the sifted flour in 2 batches. Beat after each addition. 

Add jam & combine.

Fold in the soaked fruits & 4 tbsp of retained liquor. 

Grease the baking dish (refer notes) & line with baking paper. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the pre heated oven for 40-45 mins or until the skewer inserted comes out clean. The baking time can vary depending on the oven & also the size of the tin used. 10" pan - baking time 50 minutes. 9" pan - baking time 70 minutes.

At about 30 minutes of baking, cover the cake loosely with buttered aluminum foil. This will prevent the cake from getting over browned on the top.

NOTES

You can also add 1 tbsp fresh orange zest along with the dry fruits. Also, you can brush the left over rum over the top of the cake for 2-3 days.

I made 2 cakes and used both 9 inch and 10 inch round pans. You can store the cake @ room temp, in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. However you can refrigerate it for a month in an air tight container. The 4tbsp of retained rum added in the end along with the fruits, can be reduced to suit your taste. You can add anything between 1-4 tbsp or skip. If there is no retained rum left, you can brush some fresh rum or bourbon over the top of the cake too.

Simili

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ragi flour

hot water as needed

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoon jaggery powdered

1/4 cup coconut grated

1/2 cup peanuts - roasted and deskinned

1/8 teaspoon dry ginger powder (optional)

2 teaspoon ghee

a pinch salt

Instructions:

Take ragi flour and a pinch of salt in a plate or bowl. Add hot water (approx 3 tablespoon) to the flour one spoon at a time and mix well with your hands.

If lumps are forming, break it well. Take some flour and press it in your hand. It has to holds its shape like a kozhukattai and if you crush it, it has to loosen up. 

Make puttu out of this ragi flour using puttu steamer (kola) or put a cotton cloth in a idli plate and transfer the flour to the idli plate.

Steam cook (like cooking idli) it around 15 min over a medium flame. After that, let it cool down a little bit and transfer the cooked flour to a plate and keep aside. The consistency of cooked flour/puttu has to be soft and smooth. If yours has many lumps, just put it in a mixer and grind it a bit to remove lumps.

Dry roast coconut till it becomes golden brown. While coconut is almost roasted, add cardamom along with coconut. Just roast it for few seconds and transfer these to separate plate. Let it cool down. 

Now take the roasted coconut, cardamom and roasted peanuts in a dry mixer, grind it into a coarse or fine powder depending upon your preference. Do not grind this too much.

Now add this ground powder to cooked ragi puttu. Add dry ginger powder (optional) and powdered jaggery. Mix it well with your hands for 3 to 5 min. Good mixing helps to melt the jaggery and binds the flour.

Now, add 2 tsp ghee and mix. Make equal sized balls from this mixture. Ragi simili balls are ready to enjoy!!

Notes

Grind coconut and peanuts into a coarse powder or smooth powder. It is totally up to you.

Adjust jaggery as per your taste.

Adding coconut will give this dish a fantastic flavor and taste. If you want to store this balls a few days, skip coconut.