Mmmm... chocolate fruitcake

I had never eaten or baked a fruitcake in my life, but Nigella convinced me. I'm pleased to inform you that her promises were not empty ones.

On the first bite, my immediate impression was that it tasted sort of like a brownie with raisins in it. That might sound icky to chocolate purists, but to me it was better than a standard brownie. It had that same dense, decadent, concentrated fudginess, but without the unrelieved mono-sweetness. There's variation in texture from the occasional nugget of fruit and subtle hints of citrus, spice and liqueur. In other words, very yummy.

I am emphatically NOT a baker, either by skill or personality. However, this cake is very friendly to non-bakers. Instead of making a cake, think of it as making a stewed fruit sauce, adding some dry ingredients and bunging it in the oven.

It's a very forgiving recipe, as it doesn't have many "structural" elements. For my test run, I did an approximate half-recipe, which came out about 1½-inches high and somewhat torte-like. [Postscript: For Thanksgiving, I did a three-quarters recipe.]

Chocolate Fruitcake

(based on Nigella's, as published in "Feast"; her product, not mine, pictured above)

2 cups prunes (yields 1½ cups when chopped)

1½ cups raisins

1 cup dried currants

1½ sticks of butter
¾ cup dark brown sugar (Muscovado if you're really fancy)
¾ cup honey
¼ cup coffee liqueur (Kahlúa or Tia Maria)
juice and zest of 2-3 oranges
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg)
¼ cup cocoa
3 eggs
1 cup flour
¾ cup ground almonds
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 300° F. Carefully butter and line a round cake tin, preferably a spring-form, with parchment paper on the bottom and sides. (The full recipe, as you can see by the picture, yields a very tall cake so you will need a deep cake tin. If you only have shallower ones, split the batter into two tins or use a reduced recipe.)

In a saucepan, cook the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange zest and juice, spices and cocoa for 10 minutes. Take off heat and let cool for 20-30 minutes, until it's only slightly warm to the touch.

Add beaten eggs. (The stewed fruit must be cooled enough that it will not cook the eggs!) Sift the four dry ingredients together and add. Stir to combine. Pour into buttered and lined cake tin and bake for 1¾ to 2 hours, until the top is shiny and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from tin and cool.

Nigella decorated hers with gold balls and a mound of chocolate coffee beans. I served mine plain, with a dollop of lightly-whipped cream.

Substitutions: You can pretty much sub in any dried fruits for the ones she uses. If you don't have currants (I always do because I like them in couscous), try dried blueberries, cranberries or cherries. Think twice about subbing out the prunes - I was skeptical myself but they keep the cake really moist.

My half recipe: 1 cup prunes; ¾ cup raisins; ½ cup currants; ¾ stick of butter; ½ cups brown sugar; ⅓ cup honey; one of those tiny airplane-size bottles of Kahlúa; juice and zest of one orange; ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice; 2 tbsp cocoa; 2 eggs; ½ cup flour; ⅓ cup ground almonds; ¼ tsp each baking power and baking soda (check cake after 1 hour of baking)

My three-quarters recipe: 1½ cups prunes; 1 cup raisins; ¾ cup currants; 1 stick of butter; ½ cup brown sugar; ½ cup honey; two tiny bottles of Kahlúa; juice and zest of 2 oranges; ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice; 3 tbsp cocoa; 3 eggs; ¾ cup flour; ½ cup ground almonds; ⅜ tsp each of baking powder and baking soda (check cake after 1½ hours of baking)