Traditional fruit cake

I don't do much baking, but I felt we needed cheering up so I adapted a recipe from BBC Good Food. This is a "boiled" cake - you boil ingredients before baking. You don't boil the whole cake. I can't see how anyone would think that. Not me, for one.

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Timings: Prep = 15 min. Baking = 2 hours (includes cooling time)

Ingredients

125 g unsalted butter

175 g light brown soft sugar

500 g mixed dried fruit and peel

225 ml tea (or water)

225 g self-raising flour

1.5 teaspoons ginger (or mixed spice)

0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs (beaten)

You'll need a large saucepan, a large mixing bowl and a loaf tin.

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Melt the butter with the sugar and tea (or water) in a large saucepan. One this is melted, add the dried fruit and bring to a gentle boil. Stir and gently boil for about 10 minutes to dissolve the sugar and hydrate the fruit. Remove from heat and leave to cool to room temperature.

Butter, tea and fruit on the boil for ten minutes.

Once the fruit has cooled, set the oven to 140 °C (fan), gas 3.

Add the flour, spice, bicarb, and a pinch of salt to a large mixing bowl.

Pour in the cooled fruit mix and mix well using a spoon. Make sure there are no traces of dry flour. Add the eggs, mix well. Line a loaf tin. I use prepared liners (see picture) but you an be brave and use butter, make a liner using baking paper and origami skills, or use a silicone loaf tin.

Cake batter mix finished and ready to pour into the prepared loaf tin. The ready-made liners were from Sainsbury's, we've found them to be very useful for cakes and bread. And yes, I have used two liners, I didn't mean to.

By this time the oven should be at temperature, so pour the mix into the tin and shove it in the oven.

Bake for 45 minutes then check it's done. Poke a skewer into the top of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done, otherwise put back for another 5 minutes.

About 30 minutes into cooking time. Not quite done yet.

Leave to cool in the tin for ten minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. I was well pleased with the result, it went down well and quickly.

Serving suggestions: I'd enjoy it as is, but you might want to spread some butter on it or eat it with a chunk of strong cheddar or Lancashire cheese on the side.

Finished cake. Half of it was gone within an hour of coming out of the oven.

I used ginger as the spice, mixed spice was recommended in the recipe. Still, a fruit cake Mary Berry herself would be proud of. Paul Hollywood, less so.