Make Make a fruit cake

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Dense, rich fruitcakes and Christmas tarts are a highlight of the festive season. We’ve come up with four mouth-watering recipes to suit everyone’s tastes.

Spiced dark fruit cake
You will need to start this recipe the day before you want to bake it.

Serves 12

• 250g butter, softened
• 11/4 cups (275g) firmly packed brown sugar
• 5 eggs
• 11/2 cups (225g) plain flour
• 1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 2 tbs sweet sherry or port
• 2 x 200g pkts marzipan
• Icing sugar mixture, for dusting
• 1 eggwhite
• 2 x 500g pkts Orchard Ready Made White Icing

Fruit mixture

• 400g sultanas
• 200g raisins, halved
• 200g currants
• 100g glacé orange peel, finely chopped
• 100g glacé cherries, halved
• 200ml sweet sherry or port
• Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• For fruit mixture, combine all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and stand at room temperature overnight.
• Preheat oven to 150˚C. Grease a deep, 22cm round cake tin (see ‘Choose a cake size’). Using tin base as a guide, cut out 3 rounds from baking paper. Cut 2, 70cm-long pieces of baking paper. Place one on top of the other then fold almost in half lengthways, leaving a 2cm border. Cut slits on an angle at 1cm intervals along border. Line side of tin with long strip, border-side down, then place rounds into base of tin.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until just combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until just combined. Sift flours and spice over cake mixture then add fruit mixture, stir well to combine. Spoon batter into tin and bake for 3-31/4 hours. Brush top of cake with sherry. Cover tin with foil and set aside to cool.
• Using a serrated knife, trim top of cake level. Invert cake on to a board. Fill any holes with pieces of marzipan. Knead remaining marzipan to soften then roll out on an icing-sugar-dusted piece of baking paper until 2mm-thick. Brush cake with eggwhite. Roll marzipan around rolling pin then gently unroll over cake. Smooth and trim excess.
• Knead icing, roll out to 3-4mm thick. Brush marzipan with eggwhite then top with icing, rolling and trimming. From scraps, make leaf and berry shapes to decorate. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Recipes: Sophia Young Photography: Andrew Lehmann Styling: Amber Keller