Claire's Grandmothers Fruit Salad Loaf
Photography by Minka Firth.
This loaf brings back fond memories for Food Editor Claire Aldous... “School holidays were always special when spent with my Nana and Poppa. Being a farmer’s wife meant Nana always had the tins filled with delicious cakes and slices for the morning and afternoon ‘smokos’. This fruit salad loaf was a favourite as it was what Nana called “a great keeper”, staying moist right to the last slice."
INGREDIENTS
150 grams butter, softened
175 grams sugar
175 grams plain flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon mixed spice
3 eggs
zest and juice of one orange
8 plump dried apricots, thinly sliced
¼ cup well drained crushed pineapple
⅓ cup mashed ripe banana
¾ cup icing sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180oC.
Grease and line the base and sides of a 1.75 litre capacity loaf tin with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and the mixed spice.
Beat the eggs into the butter one at a time until well mixed. Add the dry ingredients, orange juice and zest, the apricots, pineapple and the banana and fold through using a large metal spoon. Tip into the tin and smooth the top.
Bake 40-50 minutes or until firm to the touch and the sides are pulling away from the baking paper. Cool a little before removing the tin.
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add enough lemon juice to make a smooth, pourable icing. Drizzle this over the cake allowing some of it to run down the sides. Sprinkle over the lemon zest while the icing is still wet.
The loaf will keep in an airtight container for 4 days. Makes 1 loaf
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