Prep time: 30 mins + 24 hours (to soak dried fruit overnight) Serves 8-10
Ingredients
170g pitted prunes
115g dried apple rings
115 dried apricots
50ml Brandy or tea
1 small apple, grated
zest and juice of 1 orange
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla essence
170g soft butter
85g xylitol
4 medium eggs
85g ground almonds
85g rice bran (or wholemeal flour)
1 tsp gluten-free baking powder
Method
The day before making the cake, chop the dried fruit and put in a bowl. Cover with Brandy/ tea and leave overnight, stirring occasionally.
Line a 20cm deep cake tin with a double layer of greaseproof paper. Set the oven to 150 ̊C fan/ 160 ̊C/ Gas Mark 2.
Cream the butter and xylitol, then stir in the chopped fruit, orange zest and grated apple. Add the vanilla and spices and beat the eggs in, one at a time. Don’t worry if it looks a bit curdled – it’ll be fine!
Stir in the ground almonds, rice bran and baking powder and mix thoroughly. Stir the juice from half the orange to start with, adding more if necessary to make a soft consistency.
Pour into the cake tin and level the top. Tie a double thickness of newspaper or old Manila envelopes around the outside with string. Bake for 90mins – 2 hours until a skewer comes
out of the middle clean. If the top is getting too dark, put a piece of foil over it.
As soon as the tin is cool enough to touch, put a piece of foil tightly over the top and leave until completely cold (this helps soften the top of the cake).