Rum cake

I know i am late in wishing you all! A very Happy New Year to all of you. Thank you for all the support you gave reading my posts last year and i hope there is more and more of cooking and blogging this year than the last :) Not only cooking and blogging, but i have seen some tremendous talented fellow bloggers, or should i say multi-talented fellow bloggers? Some paint, some write poems, some teach and some craft...So, i wish success to all of you in whatever you do. It feels great to see immense amount of "art" and "talent" everywhere around. Keep it going.

New Year's this time was cold, foggy and windy. Coping up with the season, i thought of indulging in some warm, moist, soft Rum cake. And i must say, this one was baked to perfection!!! It turned out so well that it was finished in almost a day (Yeah, it was just the two of us, but it was "holiday-eating" season :)) This time i forgot to pre-soak the fruits well in advance, as i already had my hands full with pet-sitting, you can see it here...

Some do soak almost a month in advance, the last year (2013 Christmas Cake ) i had soaked 15 days in advance but this year, i only soaked it for 3 days before making the cake and i guess, it wasn't bad either. A day in advance is good too, but the more the better. I have mentioned this before that me and hubby usually like normal cakes (ones without icing), so this one was served just as it is. But you can add any toppings/icing of your choice if you wish.

Recipe adapted from : Anshu-My Mom's recipes

Ingredients:

To soak :

1 cup of any mixed nuts/dry fruits of your choice - I soaked raisins, orange zest, cashews, dried dark strawberries and tutti fruiti.

1/4 cup Rum 

For the cake:

Rum - 1/4 cup

Maida - 1 2/3 cup

Baking powder - 3/4 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Cocoa powder - 1/3 cup

Sugar - 1 1/4 cup

Egg - 1

Butter - a little less than 3/4 cup

Soaked nuts/dry fruits

Recipe:

Soak the nuts/dry fruits in rum and keep in air tight container. If soaking for days, then stir and mix it well once a day.

Grease and dust a baking pan and keep aside.

Powder the sugar in mixer/grinder.

Sieve together Maida, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa powder.

Add the powdered sugar to it. Mix well with a spatula to make sure no lumps exist.

Boil 1 cup of water and add the rum to it. Also add the soaked nuts. Mix well. Let this come to room temperature before adding anything.

Melt butter in microwave and keep aside. Do not let the butter solidify again and make sure you don't add hot/warm butter to anything. Let it come to room temperature.

Beat egg in a bowl. Add butter and beat again.

Add this to the rum mixture. 

Now slowly add the dry Maida mixture to this and mix. Do not over-mix. Gently mix till everything mixes well together.

Pour this mixture in the baking pan and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree Celsius for about 40-45 minutes. Start checking after 40 minutes if the toothpick is coming out clean. If yes, remove from the oven and let it cool.

This cake comes out a perfect texture, colour and taste. Don't miss trying this one :) I have dusted a little powdered sugar on top (which is completely optional).

Happy Cooking! Happy Blogging! And Happy New Year once again :)