Kerala Plum Cake(Microwave)

Ingredients

Fruits to be soaked :

• Mixed fruits (raisins+almonds+dates)- 3 cups
• Rum – 1 and 1/2 cups

For Caramel:

• Sugar – ½ cup
• Water – 1 tbsp
• Warm water – ¼ cup

For Cake:

• All purpose flour (maida) – 1 and 1/4 cups
• Baking powder – 1¼ tsp
• Baking soda – ½ tsp
• Sugar – 1 cup+ 2 tbsp
• Unsalted Butter – 1 cup + 2 tbsp at room temp
• Eggs – 4 at room temp
• Vanilla essence – 2 tsp

For Spice Powder:

• Cloves – 2
• Cardamom – 2
• Cinnamon – a small piece
• Nutmeg – a small piece(optional)

Method

• Soaking of Fruits
  • I used  raisins,badam (almonds),cashews(chopped) and dry fruits like dates . You can use dried fruits of your choice. If you are using dates chop it into small pieces & soak it. Almonds should be soaked,skin peeled off and then finely chopped . I soaked all of them for 2 months..shake the jar of soaked items once in a while . Try to soak it for a minimum of 1 week, at least.
• Caramel Preparation:
  • Combine ½ cup sugar & 1 tbsp water in a sauce pan. Heat it & let the sugar melt. When the color of the melted sugar becomes dark brown, remove the pan from fire & add ¼ cup warm water to this.Be very careful at this stage since the water tends to splash & will  cause burns. Turn the heat on again & boil for a few more mins,2-3 mins. Remove from fire & let it cool . We can also prepare the caramel in advance and store it in refrigerator.
• Spice Powder:
  • Grind all the spices with a pinch of sugar, to a fine powder & keep aside.
• Cake Preparation:
  • Drain the soaked fruits & keep aside. Retain 4 tbsp from the drained rum. Put the drained fruits in 1-2 tbsp of flour. (This will prevent the fruits from sinking to the bottom of the cake)
  • Sieve  the  flour with baking powder & baking soda. Powder the sugar & keep aside. Separate the yolks & white of the eggs.
  • Beat egg whites till ribbon form. Keep aside. Beat the egg yolks & add the softened butter to it. Beat it till it forms a smooth paste. Add powdered sugar to this, in sections. Beat after each section addition. When it becomes smooth add vanilla essence & cooled caramel & spice powdered & beat again. Add the sieved flour in 2 batches. cut and fold after each addition.
  • Fold in the beaten egg whites and  combine in the  above batter .Fold in the soaked fruits & 4 tbsp of retained rum(optional).
  • Grease the baking dish with butter & line with baking paper.
  • keep the baking pan in microwave and cook on medium for 5 minutes…The baking time can vary depending on the microwave power & also the size of the pan used.
  • Keep checking in between and when u feel the cake springs back.,Insert a tooth pick and if it comes out clean the cake is cooked well ..Now allow the pan to be in microwave for around 10-15 minutes.when the time is elapsed take out the pan and allow to cool outside for 20-25 minutes

Notes:
I used Pyrex glass microwaveable dish
You can store the cake at  room temp;slice them in pieces and store  in an air tight container for up to 1 week.
At my home it will not last for 1 week..they will be over in 2-3 days itself..:)..

Click here for help on checking the conversion from cup to other measurements for various cake ingredients

 

Thanks
Anitha  Varghese