Christmas Sink Cake
The Olive’s Kitchen recipe for Summer Fruit Cake is very versatile. You can modify the ingredients in many ways, keeping the key cake ingredients (dry and wet) to roughly the same proportions. The fruit, including the apple, can be varied according to what you have on hand.
The recipe came in handy before Christmas for Rhonda’s family’s Kris Kringle. After the presents we have dinner. Our contribution was dessert for all 26 attendees, ranging from septuagenarians to toddlers. We had to be able to transport it from Hampton (Melbourne) to the Mornington Peninsula and it needed to be easy to serve.
In the freezer we had some frozen fresh pineapple chunks. In the fridge we had two ripe mangos, some ripe peaches and some blackberries. In the pantry we had a jar of store bought fruit mince that had been given to us.
We thought we could make a Christmas-flavoured dessert cake. We seemed to throw in everything but the kitchen sink, hence the name, Christmas Sink Cake.
Our variations on the Summer Fruit Cake recipe were as follows:
- We doubled the volume of the ingredients.
- We cooked it in a deep ceramic dish.
- We used two thirds self-raising flour and one third hazelnut meal.
- The spices and other ingredients were used in the same proportion.
- Instead of apple in the cake batter we used pineapple chunks (thawed, about three cups) and chunks of mango (about three cups).
- On the top we used slices of peaches (about three cups) and blackberries (one punnet).
- We spread the jar of fruit mince (420 g) over the peaches and blackberries.
- We cooked the cake for just over two hours, keeping an eye on it so it did not burn, waiting for the centre to set. (Note: The spices give it a brown finish.)
With it at room temperature, we served it on the bench and guests used a large spoon to scoop out a serve. They then helped themselves to runny cream and ice cream. It had a Christmas pudding-cake taste and was deemed to be excellent!
Serves: 20 to 30.
Difficulty: Moderately difficult (3/5).
Contributions welcomed!
If you have any inspirational moments based on what’s in the fridge or on the shelves, we are happy to hear about them, including the ingredients, (good quality photos if you have any) and why it turned out so well.