• Fast Soaked Fruit:
• Place dried fruit and juice/brandy in a large microwavable container. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes on high or until hot.
• Stir to coat all fruit in liquid. Cover then set aside for 1 hour (to plump up/soak and cool).
• Cake:
• Preheat oven to 320°F for a regular oven or 285F if your oven has a fan.
• Grease and line a 9" round cake pan with baking paper (parchment paper.
• Using an electric beater, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute on speed 5).
• Add oil and molasses, and beat until combined.
• Add salt, spices, and baking powder - beat until incorporated.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated
• Stir in the flour.
• When the flour is mostly incorporated, stir in the fruit mix (including all the extra liquid in the bowl) and walnuts (if using).
• If you have a regular oven, bake the cake at 320F. Pour into cake pan, cover with foil, and bake for 2 hours 30 minutes, removing foil the last 20 minutes. The skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean with no batter on it.
• If your oven has a fan, bake at 285F covered with foil for 2 hours. Remove the foil and Check for doneness with a toothpick in the middle of the cake. If crumbs are on the toothpick bake another 10-20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Cool completely before serving.
• The cake is moist and so fully flavored, it can be eaten plain. But see below for decorating and serving ideas (traditionally served with pouring custard).
• Cutting: Either cut into thin wedges or cut the cake into thin strips (2cm / 0.75" or so), then cut those strips into serving-size pieces.

Christmas Cake Decorating options:

• Simple - pile top with fresh cherries or other fruit, and dust with icing sugar (powdered sugar). Wrap a ribbon around the cake for an extra touch!
• Serving - serve with custard for a traditional experience! Either homemade custard or store-bought pouring custard (jazz it up by mixing in vanilla seed paste!).
• Dried fruit - any fruit of choice can be used as long as it totals 855g / 30 oz and it's finely chopped. The fruit I've used is to my taste - I do not like my fruit cake too citrusy (hate biting into big chunks of orange peel!). I like having variety for flavor.
• Mixed peel is a store-bought mix of diced, dried, crystallized (ie sweet) orange and lemon peel. Sometimes it's already chopped, sometimes not. Chop it to size per recipe. It is not fresh peel. Fresh peel will be much stronger and more bitter - not sure how much to use.
• Pre-chopped mixed dried fruit - store bought mix of pre-chopped dried fruit is fine to use. Chopping your own will yield a more moist cake (pre-chopped dried fruit is not as moist) BUT having said that, this cake is so ultra moist, it has the give to use pre-chopped! Nuts.com is a great source for all the dried fruit
• Juice/brandy - this cake tastes just as good made with or without alcohol, it comes down to personal taste. I usually make it with.
• BRANDY - If you want to use brandy, use 1/3 cup brandy PLUS 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp juice.I used dark rum and mixed 1/2 cup with 1/2 cup apple juice.
• Juice - I like using apple juice for its neutral flavor. Pineapple and other not-so-strong flavored juices will be fine here. If you like citrus flavor, use orange juice - you can taste it a bit more than other juices.
• Dark brown sugar - makes the cake a rich dark brown color. Can sub with normal brown sugar - will make the cake lighter (also looks nice as fruit stands out!)
• Molasses / golden syrup - adds to the richness of flavor and color of cake. Either is fine -
• Custard - homemade pouring custard. If you use store-bought, pimping it up goes a long way to make it a bit special! Just stir in a bit of vanilla bean paste which will give it those lovely little black vanilla bean specks and improve the flavor. Crème Anglaise recipe included.
• PS The Difference between homemade and store-bought is richness. Homemade custard has a much more luxurious mouthfeel)
• Serving - cake is moist and so fully flavored it's wonderful eaten plain. But for an extra special touch, serve with custard - see note above.
• Storage - I've kept it for a month in an airtight container in the fridge and it was good as it was freshly made (at room temperature). Having researched online, looks like 2 to 3 months is the general consensus (for fridge) and a year in the freezer (for this sort of cake, with no alcohol.
• Serving size - if you cut small slices into rectangles (see custard pouring photo), remembering this is RICH and dense, then it will serve 15 - 20 people. You will be amazed how HEAVY this cake is!