happy birthday dad! (pumpkin fruit cake recipe)

It's been a while! Well after all my jetsetting (two separate trips to Europe and China), I finally have a new recipe for you... My dad wanted a pumpkin fruit cake for his birthday so that's what I made. This recipe I decided to make in a Bundt tin... I got distracted and ended up overcooking it; however it was still tasty and wasn't too dry because of all the fruit.

Pumpkin Fruit Cake

Ingredients (serves 10)

• Olive oil, for greasing
• 1 orange
• 1 lemon
• 500g (2 3/4 cups) mixed dried fruit (like sultanas, raisins, chopped dried dates and chopped dried apricots)
• 60g (1/2 cup) chopped pecan nuts
• 250mls (1 cup) fresh orange juice or unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 tbs apple juice concentrate
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 4 egg whites
• 260g (1 cup) mashed cooked pumpkin
• 260g (1 2/3 cups) wholemeal self-raising four
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 35g (1/3 cup) pecan nuts, extra, to decorate

Method

• 1. Preheat oven to 165 degrees C. Brush a 20 cm round cake pan with the olive oil to lightly grease. Peel rind from orange and lemon with a vegetable peeler. Remove white pith from rind and then chop rind finely. Reserve the fruit for another use. Combine citrus rind, mixed dried fruit, nut, fruit juice and juice concentrate in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir in bicarbonate of soda remove from heat and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
  2. Whisk egg whites in a large mixing bowl with clean electric beaters until soft peaks form. Add fruit mixture and pumpkin and fold in with a large metal spoon. Sift the self-raising flour and spice over the top and gently fold in until just combined. Spoon mixture into greased pan, smooth surface and decorate with extra pecans. Bake in preheated oven for 1 and a quarter hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover with foil if it browns too quickly. Stand in the pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.

Source: taste.com.au