As Nutty as a Fruit Cake

04 July 2011 - Alex's Pumpkin Fruit Cake

Back on the desserts again because I was too hungry to wait the time it took to cook something for dinner, instead I scoffed some leftovers and decided to try Alex's Pumpkin Fruit Cake.

It all seemed pretty straight forward so I turned up the music and got into it. I chose A Perfect Circle after rediscovering my love for them when rocking out one of their songs on Guitar Hero the day before.

Anyway, the cooking started and I cooked the pumpkin without any problems and made sure it had time to cool down.

For my birthday I got a super dooper mixer thing, so I used that to mix the butter and sugar. I'm pretty sure I'll NEVER get sick of getting to use the ruler on the side of the butter to cut the right amount, it's my favourite thing in the world! Small things ha?

For some reason, the lid got stuck on the mixer...like, really stuck! To the point where I couldn't stop laughing even though it was hurting my hand and i was jumping up and down trying to get the lid off! Eventually I did get it unstuck and was able to continue with the cooking process. I think I added more lemon than it said and I have no idea how much flour ended up in there! I was measuring the cup over the bowl and it overflowed so I just thought for the second cup I'd do a bit less... but it also overflowed so I can't tell how much ended up in there. Probably pretty close to two cups after I tipped some out.

I popped it in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes to make sure it wasn't going to burn the top. It wasn't quite brown enough on top so I left it in for another ten minutes and then I covered it in foil. It was probably in the oven for 55 minutes or so all up. I kept poking it with a skewer because that's the only way I know how to test it. Sian said you can tap the top of it to see if it sounds cooked so you don't have to poke it. Seemed reasonable, so over she came and whacked it on the top and said "does it sound right?" to which I of course answered "how would I know... does it?" She had no idea... brilliant method.

I found other jobs to do so I could keep listening to A Perfect Circle for the rest of the night and could continue singing all the parts of a round in one of their songs.

I of course brought the cake into work and after making my colleague cut it according to my strict directions (fruit cake has to be in rectangles not triangles!) everyone went nuts for it! I got lots of compliments and a number of people said it was so good that they went back for seconds. One (ex-chef) even asked me for the recipe! Well done me!

Tips: Cover it with foil after around 40 minutes.
Music: A Perfect Circle, Thirteenth Step