Rayleen Brown's Bush Fruit Christmas Cake

• Serves 12

• Preparation time: 30 mins plus standing

• Cooking time: 3 hours

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sultanas
1/2 cup coarsely chopped raisins
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pitted dates
2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen quandong, de-seeded
1/2 cup chopped glazed apricots
1/4 cup quandong jam
3/4 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur
250 g butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts
1 tsp ground bush tomato
1 tsp ground pepperberry
1 tsp wattleseed, toasted and ground

Decoration:
1 cup apricot jam
1 1/2 cups water
500 g fresh or frozen quandong halves

Method

Combine fruit, jam and liqueur in a large bowl and mix well. Cover and stand overnight or for several days, stirring mixture occasionally.

Pre-heat oven to 140°C. Line the base and sides of a deep 20 cm round cake tin with baking paper, allowing 5 cm to extend above the tin.

Beat butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric beater, until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined between each egg. Add butter mix to fruit mixture and stir well. Stir in sifted flour and mixed spice, then macadamias, bush tomato, pepperberry and wattleseed.

Spread mixture evenly into cake tin. Bake for 3 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Decoration: place jam and water in a small saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer uncovered until reduced to half. Strain into a bowl, discarding pulp. Allow to cool. Thaw quandongs if frozen.

Quickly toss quandong halves in cooled glaze. Carefully place halves on top of cooled cake. This is a very sticky job, but take your time.

Notes