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Chocolate fruitcake

By Sarah Cook

If anyone in your family isn’t keen on traditional fruitcake, this might be the compromise you’ve been looking for

Prep:35 mins
Cook:2 hrs

Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 683
fat 30g
saturates 14g
carbs 97g
sugars 79g
fibre 5g
protein 9g
salt 0.63g

Ingredients

200g butter
200g dark brown soft sugar
100g dark chocolate (we used 80%) broken into chunks
75ml brandy
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g raisins
250g currants
100g dried cranberries
100g dried sour cherries
100g mixed peel
200g self-raising flour
100g ground almonds
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp mixed spice
3 eggs, beaten with a fork

Method

Put the butter, sugar, chocolate, brandy, vanilla and dried fruits into a large saucepan. Heat gently, stirring occasionally until everything has melted together. Remove from the heat.
Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Line a deep cake tin, 20cm round or 18cm square, with a double layer of baking parchment. Wrap a few layers of newspaper around the outside and secure with string.
Mix the flour, almonds, cocoa and spice together. Stir the eggs into the slightly cooled chocolate mixture in the saucepan, followed by the flour mixture. Scrape into your prepared tin and bake for 1½ hrs- 1 hr 45 mins or until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool in the tin, then decorate (see 'Goes well with', right, for decoration ideas). Greaseproof-wrapped cake will keep for 2 months in an airtight container.

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