Fruitcake

This week I can assure you that I have the fridge full with more healthy and rich things in the world, vegetables, vegetables and especially a lot of fruit from my father’s orchard, we are in the middle of the season of pears, peaches and peas, plums, apples and the first mandarins with great flavor appear. A little bit of everything but without a doubt the best thing is that my dear father has prepared a box full of peas, some very tasty peaches with a hard and white meat that turns into red sangria as soon as it approaches the bone. I have given away more than half, but I still have many recipes to prepare, so prepare yourselves, this cake is the beginning, the weekend will be time for a delicious pie tatín de pavías and lots of jam , to have for the whole year.

Our friend Álvaro Cunqueiro already said : “Perhaps a good pavia in season, is the queen of our fruits . ” It is true that before this fruit was found much more easily, today the market and fruit shops are hardly seen, although in the Ribeira Sacra area there are many grafts that have been made in many fruit trees to obtain this fruit, one of the favorites of my family. Do not worry if you do not find them, for this recipe you can use peaches, the variety that you like the most.

This cake is a perfect accompaniment to a good breakfast or snack, although if you put it for dessert with a ball of your favorite ice cream, it will be delicious. If we have to compare it with other biscuits on the blog , this one has that gift that brings us summer perfumes full of fruit, more than those that bear nuts, very autumnal. It is lighter and why not, more beautiful, because it is full of color. The recipe has no complications and is very simple, the base is the sponge cake of a lifetime, the spongy yogurt that we drink as a child, healthy, with little fat, just enough and lots of fruit. You can change the fruits with the ones you like the most by following the basic instructions, and you will have your delicious sponge cake. I hope you like it.

Preparation of the fruits

1. We choose the fruits that we are going to use for the cake, we can use those that you like the most or as it is in my case, those that we have at home and especially that are seasonal . The recipe includes: apples, a tangerine, raisins, 2 dried apricots, an orange and some pavias that I brought from Ourense. My recommendation is apples, peaches and pear. We peel the fruit and break it into large pieces.
2. In a saucepan we add 2 tablespoons of butter, we introduce the fruit and when it starts to release its juice we add a tablespoon of brandy or the liquor that we like the most, a little orange liqueur will not even paint it. We remove from time to time and leave it to cook for 10 minutes over medium heat. It will be almost like a compote but not so done.
3. We remove and let it cool, reserve until we have the sponge cake dough.

Preparation of the fruit cake

1. We take the glass of yogurt as a measure to calculate the amount to use of the different ingredients.
2. Beat the eggs with the sugar until they blanch, and when they are well mixed we will add the yeast with the sifted flour if possible, the yogurt, the extra virgin olive oil and beat until there are no lumps.
3. In a source previously greased with butter and sprinkled with a little flour, add the mixture and introduce the fruits. It is better that the mold or source is deep because we better protect the dough. If the mold is very small, it can sink down the center, since it causes the cake to rise too quickly and then it ends up sinking.
4. We preheat the oven to 200º C for 10 minutes. We put in the oven at 180º C for half an hour (as I mentioned in some other recipe, everything depends on the oven, always look with a fork, prick the cake and when it is dry, remove it). We have to place the cake in the center of the oven, both in height and on the tray. It is important not to open the oven door under any circumstances while it is cooking, since we would lose heat and it would sink.
5. If your oven has a lot of power at the top, the surface can burn, this has an easy solution, we cover the top with aluminum foil the last 10 minutes of preparation.
6. We turn off the oven and leave the door a little open, so that it rests, thus we will ensure that there is not a very abrupt temperature change when taking it out and it will not drop suddenly. Remember that if the cake has risen irregularly, one of the most common causes is that the oven rack may be tilted or the dough has not been distributed equally in the mold, see if it is well leveled.
7. We only need the last step, do not be impatient. Unmold and let cool.

A fabulous bun to take with a good coffee and as you can see the yogurt cake is the basis for thousands of recipes. You just have to let your imagination run wild.