Cognac Fruit cake: Delicious cake that worth the wait!

 I think fruit cake relate to December ^^, because it's a month of giving. 

 I posted 2-3 recipes of fruit cake on my blog before, but I know that there are many more recipe to be made and tasted. We have different taste, some people love fruit packed, some love nutty, for me I love both of them as long as they have enough liquor, haha. 
This time my cake is packed with fruit, nuts and liquor, sounds good right? I choose to use Cognac as a main liquor for my fruit cake, the reason is it's delicious and I love the smell of it. But if you love other kinds of liquor, or don't have Cognac, you can go for it (Rum, Whisky, Cherry or etc.). For the Macerated Dried Fruit Mix, I always use this recipe but you can use other recipes too.
Because this cake is packed with dried fruits and nuts, it will be crumby if you cut it too quickly, let it rest for at least 2 days before cutting, the cake will be firm enough to be sliced into thin pieces. 
I love to eat this cake in a thin slice with a cup of hot tea, well, if you want to try start making fruit mix today and you will have delicious fruit cake to enjoy by the end of this month ^^.

Cognac Fruit cake

Make 4 (17x6x7cm loaf)

1700g ............................. Macerated Dried Fruit Mix, (I use Cognac)
500g ............................... Chopped nuts (walnut or pecan is fine)
288g ............................... Eggs (about 5 and a half egg)
25g .................................. Trimoline (inverted sugar), or honey
2tsp ................................. Vanilla extract
2.5g .................................. Salt
288g ................................ Unsalted butter
115g .................................. Granulated sugar
1tsp .................................. Lemon zest
260g ................................ Cake flour
36g ................................... Almond powder
200ml .............................. Cognac, for soaking the cake 
.......................................... Apricot jam, for brushing  the cake
.......................................... Dried fruit for decorating

Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Line 4  17x6x7cm loaf pans with baking paper.
Sift the flour and almond powder together.

 Beat the butter until soft, add the sugar, trimoline and salt, beat until fluffy.
Add the egg, lemon zest and vanilla extract, beat to combine.

Put half of the flour mixture into the bowl, fold to combine.
Put the rest of the flour into the bowl with Macerated Dried Fruit Mix and chopped nuts, fold to combine.
Put the batter into the prepared pans.
Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to  180°C. 
Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until the toothpick insert into the center come out with few dry crumbs.
Remove from the oven, use a toothpick to pick the top of the cake and pour the Cognac over the cake, let the cake cool completely before removing from the pans.
Warm the apricot jam, brush the cake with apricot jam and decorate with dried fruits, cover with plastic wrap.
Let the cake rest for at least 2 days before eating.

* if you are planing to store the cake for several weeks, months or years, you need to soak the cake with more liquor.
Let the cake cool, brush the cake with more liquor (about 40ml per each cake), cover it with liquor soaked cheesecloth, cover the cake with another layer of plastic wrap, and finally cover it tightly with aluminium foil. Every 3 months, open the aluminium foil, and plastic wrap and sprinkle 40ml over the cheesecloth before resealing it with plastic wrap and aluminium foil. Keep in the cool place. 

Cognac Fruit cake: Delicious cake that worth the wait!