RECIPE | Chef Mynhardt Joubert's famous festive fruit cake

Makes: 1 large cake

Ingredients:

250ml (1 cup) water

310ml (1 ¼ cups) soft brown sugar

1kg fruitcake mix (dried fruit and nuts)

250g chopped dates

250g golden sultanas

250g roughly chopped cashew and macadamia nuts

7ml bicarbonate of soda

250g butter

100g whole red glace cherries

100g whole green glace cherries

5 eggs, beaten

20ml (4 tsp) vanilla extract

125ml (½ cup) KWV Brandy, plus extra

625ml (2 ½ cups) self-raising flour

5ml (1 tsp) salt

5ml (1 tsp) ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 120°C and butter the inside of a high 25cm cake tin. Line the tin with three layers of baking paper and rebutter the inside.
2. Slowly heat the first eight ingredients up to and including the butter to boiling point and let it simmer for five minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool.
3. Add the red and green cherries.
4. Combine the eggs, vanilla and brandy, and add it to the mixture.
5. Add the flour, salt and cinnamon and mix well.
6. Spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for two hours.
7. Let the cake cool in the pan and turn it out. Sprinkle a bit of brandy over the cake and place it in an airtight container.
8. Regularly sprinkle over some more brandy to keep the cake moist.

BUY A FRUIT CAKE FOR A GOOD CAUSE

For the fourth year chef Joubert, owner of 24 Stasie Street in Paarl in the Western Cape, is baking hundreds of Christmas cakes to raise money for a worthy cause.

Hoping to beat his record of 1,000 cakes, all the proceeds will go to Monte Christo Miqlat, a charity that distributes meals and puts together sustainable development programmes to support families in need in the Western Cape.

A limited number of the festive fruitcakes are baked and sold at R350 each (excluding courier). You can order directly from chef Joubert; e-mail cake@mynhardt.co.za or visit mynhardt.co.za