But not the Christmas cake. I know it is not fair to post a fruit cake recipe as a teaser around this season. But I made this cake a few days back and it was almost as good as a Christmas cake and since I didn’t get to bake a good Christmas cake this season, this one will have to do. I heard about this recipe at a potluck dinner a few days back and a quick Google search landed me here which was an exact match to what I was looking for.
I made some slight changes but overall stayed true to the recipe and it is definitely a winner, if you overlook the use of a can of condensed milk that is. Anyway, without further ado, let me present the recipe
1 1/4 cup of All purpose flour (you can also use wheat or cake flour)
1 tsp Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 can condensed milk
1 stick Butter
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup warm milk
5 dried figs
Ideally, soak dried figs overnight in warm milk (gives a richer taste than plain water). If you forget to soak, don’t fret and soak it in slightly hot milk for about an hour. Grind it to a fine paste along with the milk. Use only as much milk as required as the paste should not be too runny.
Mix this paste with condensed milk and keep it aside. This is your wet ingredient.
Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.
Sieve and mix the dry ingredients including nuts together, as you normally do while baking. Cream the butter after bringing it to room temperature and add the dry/wet ingredients alternatively in batches incorporating it all together.
Bake for about 30 mins; test to see if an inserted tooth pick comes clean and bake more, if need be.
Dear Shy, Merry Christmas and this is for you.
The figs add a nutty taste and go very well with walnut. Given that it uses a can of condensed milk, I was worried if it will be overtly sweet but it was not. You can of course, add different nuts and even candied fruits to it to make it richer.
Squirrels love persimmons... 
zephyr
December 27, 2011 at 3:28 PM
That looks so yummy! It is so easy too, but since I only have a microwave oven now, I will try it in that…sometime *looks at the world vaguely*
A-kay
December 28, 2011 at 10:30 AM
Yup it is very easy and you should try it. Don’t look so vaguely 🙂
UL
December 27, 2011 at 4:00 PM
yum yum- will have to try…i had an awesome xmas cake at a friends’ this xmas…hope your xmas was fun too… love love, UL
A-kay
December 28, 2011 at 10:31 AM
I have been looking for a good xmas cake without egg – I have great memories of eating the Kerala xmas cake and every christmas season crave for it 🙂
shy
December 28, 2011 at 9:30 AM
Thank you akay for the wishes.This looks yummy.I made your Nut fruit halwa with figs and dates. still in the fridge( well, I am eating bit by bit-doubt whether it wll last till the upcoming familt get together at my place on Friday, 30th).
Onething, I am experimenting these days is the ingradients to the cake. The lazy me actually take a basic cake mix and make it my own by adding what pleases me/available at that moment like mashed overriped bananas/ apple puree/grated carrots. should now add figs to the list, like in your recipe( I love the bite on fig seeds:).
So I baked kerala Christmas cake… started with basic cake mix.
let me see if I can get a pic
A-kay
December 28, 2011 at 10:33 AM
Yup – dried figs are awesome Shy. I eat them almost everyday in my breakfast, they are great in smoothies too. My friend makes a mean fruit spread with figs. I wonder why I searched the whole world for a Kerala Christmas cake recipe instead of just asking you – duh! So, can you please send me the recipe – am still trying to find a good one that I can bake without egg.
shy
December 28, 2011 at 11:51 AM
akay, asking me for recipe is of no use specially for baking where my eyeballing does not work. secondly, I am very bad in following a recipe. I use any recipe as a baseline.
I don’t think muc happens if you avoid egg from the recipe or use sour cream instead. anyways, i used this one as my baseline http://kitchenmishmash.blogspot.com/2007/12/fruit-cake-rich-christmas-tradition-of.html