If you are in need of a last minute festive fruit cake then you could do a lot worse than this one, which is not only entirely delicious, but makes use of many of the things you would have sitting around the kitchen over the Christmas period. It's also a fantastic recipe to make with children or those less confident, as the recipe is basically just throwing everything into a bowl and smushing it together with your hands!
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Baking time: 60 Minutes
350ml Milk
3 Large Eggs
375g Pandoro
125g Marzipan
500g Dried Fruits (ideally pre-soaked in brandy or amaretto)
2-3tbsp Demerara Sugar
Grab yourself a large mixing bowl, the largest you have and roll your sleeves up! Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 20cm loose bottomed, deep baking tin entirely with baking paper. Add the milk and eggs to your large mixing bowl, then beat together. Tear up the pandoro and squish it all into the eggy milk. Break off little pieces of marzipan and add to the mixture along with the dried fruits. Mix through until even combined (you can even do this with your hands as well!), then tip into your prepared tin and even to the edges.
Scatter the demerara sugar over the surface of the cake then bake in the centre of the oven for around 60 minutes, until golden brown on top and a metal skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. When you are happy the cake is baked remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. It's then ready for you to serve at your leisure. Merry Christmas!
