I make - Chocolate Fruit Cake

I love a (dried) fruit cake. Not overly studded like the traditional fruit cake but roughly equal parts of flour and dried fruits. I already wrote about my favorite fruit cake recipe. As I am having a craving for chocolate these days, I thought, why not chocolate fruit cake? Here it is.

Chocolate Fruit Cake

150 g dried fruits of your choice, soaked in your favorite liqueur (rum, amaretto or kirsch for instance) for at least 12 hours
110 g butter, room temperature
110 g brown sugar
Zest from one orange
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
100 g gluten-free flour
50 g ground almond
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (or dried fruits/chopped nuts)
Almond flakes to scatter on the top

Start the night before to soak the dried fruits. Thoroughly soaking the dried  fruits not only imparts more flavor but also keep the cake moist after it's baked. It's worth soaking the dried fruits at least for 12 hours or a few days.

Preheat the oven at 180C. Grease and line a loaf tin or a 20-cm square/round tin. 

Beat butter, brown sugar, orange zest and vanilla together until the butter is fluffy. Add in the first egg, beat well before adding the second one. 

Put the flour, ground almond, baking powder and salt in the butter bowl. Beat for a minute to combine. Drain the soaked dried fruits and stir into the flour-butter mixture, followed by chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and scatter the almond flakes on the top.

Bake at 180C for 30-32 minutes for a square/round tin. Up to 35 minutes with a loaf tin. Do a toothpick test at 28 minutes regardless the tin size and judge from there.