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Jewelled fruit, nut & seed cake

By Good Food

If you’re not keen on icing and marzipan, bake a crown of toasted nuts, seeds and juicy cherries onto
your cake instead

Prep:30 mins
Cook:3 hrs

Serves 12
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 681
fat 29g
saturates 14g
carbs 101g
sugars 85g
fibre 3g
protein 8g
salt 0.61g

Ingredients

1 batch uncooked Hot toddy fruitcake mix (see link below)
20cm thin cake board (optional)
approx 65cm length wide ribbon
50g butter
50g golden syrup
2 tbsp large unsalted cashew nuts
3 tbsp whole blanched almonds
5 tbsp shelled pistachios
25g Brazil nuts
85ml glacé cherries
50g dried cranberries
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Tip

Special equipment
Most supermarkets stock basic cake-decorating ingredients (marzipan, icing, gold balls) in the baking aisle. Look in the kitchen section of department stores for specialist equipment, or try Squires Kitchen (0845 225 5671; squires-shop.com) or Jane Asher Party Cakes (020 7584 6177; jane-asher.co.uk).

Method

Make the Hot toddy cake (see link, right) in a loose-bottom tin, holding back about 2 tbsp of the mix for later. While it bakes, bake the fruit and nut topping. Melt the butter and golden syrup together, then toss with the nuts, dried fruit and seeds. Set aside; the butter mix will start to cool and thicken.
Take the cake out of the oven 30 mins before the end of cooking, then gently spread over the remaining cake mix with the back of a spoon. The cake will still be quite soft but will take the weight, don’t worry about it sinking. Scatter the fruit and nut mix over the top in an even layer. Bake for the remaining 30 mins until the cake is cooked and the nuts golden. Test for doneness by poking a skewer through the topping and into the cake. If it’s underdone, but the nuts are golden, just cover with foil and give it another 10 mins; then test again.
Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin, so that the nutty topping firms up. Loosen any obviously sticky edges, then push the cake out of the tin from the bottom. Transfer to a cake board or plate and fix the ribbon around the base before serving. Can be kept in an airtight tin for up to a week.