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Traditional Irish Boiled Fruit Cake

Friday, March 14, 2025 2:01

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I wanted to crank out one more recipe for Saint Patrick’s Day. Traditional Irish Boiled Fruit Cake is a timeless classic! It’s a real keeper. Moist and stodgy, this ic a cake that will keep in the cake tin for quite a while.

This is a plain and a simple cake. Country fare. The type of cake that might be offered to you along with a nice hot cup of tea if you were to go visiting of an afternoon, along with copious amounts of butter for spreading.

It is nothing fancy.

I don’t really know how I came upon the recipe. It is handwritten on a piece of foolscap paper in my Big Blue Binder and is one which I have been making now for quite some time. I can remember making this when my children were small. We are lovers of anything with raisins in it in my family. Currants too.

You begin by boiling some dried fruit with sugar, syrup and butter in a saucepan for about five minutes, after which it is left to cool before proceeding.

The smell of the raisins cooling in the saucepan along with all that butter and syrup is quite intoxicating. I have a hard time not to sneak a spoonful . . . just to make sure it’s okay so you know. I don’t, but I am tempted.

A bit of ginger and spice, flour, an egg. Thats all you need employ. I baked mine in a glass baking dish this time, but it did get a bit dark around the edges, so I don’t really recommend using glass. Never mind, the edges are lovely cut off and dunked into hot cups of tea. Nothing goes to waste here.

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE TRADITIONAL IRISH BOILED FRUIT CAKE

Just some very basic baking ingredients. The Irish are able to do wonderful things with very simple and basic ingredients.

1/4 cup (60ml) golden syrup (See here to make your own)
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120ml) cold tea
1 cup (150g) sultana raisins
1 cup (150g) dried currants
1/2 cup (115g) butter
2 cups (227g) all-purpose plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice (see notes)
1 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 medium egg, beaten

If you don’t want to use golden syrup you could use dark or light corn syrup. If you can get it though, golden syrup is the way to go.

Just use any kind of tea. Make a strong cup and let it sit with the tea bag in it until it gets cold. Nicely steeped and strong.

If you don’t have sultana raisins and currants you could just use raisins. I wouldn’t use any other kind of fruit, however. To do so would mess with the integrity of it being an Irish recipe.

I used salted butter. That is all I keep in the house.

I used a large egg myself because all I have is large farm fresh eggs. There is not a lot of difference in a recipe such as this one between a medium and a Canadian large egg. In the U.K. North American large eggs are considered medium.

HOW TO MAKE TRADITIONAL IRISH BOILED FRUIT CAKE

This is very simple to make. Its dense and fruity and oh so delicious served buttered with a hot cup of tea. It does take a bit of time to make, but it is well worth it.

Place the golden syrup, sugar, cold tea, dried currants, sultana raisins, and butter into a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 325*F/160*C/ gas mark 3. Butter an 8-inch square cake pan/dish and line the bottom with baking paper. Butter the paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, ground ginger and a pinch of salt together.

Fold the dry ingredients into the cooled fruit mixture, then stir in the beaten egg.

Turn into the prepared baking pan/dish. Smooth over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until the cake tests done. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. If you think it is browning too quickly, cover the top loosely with a sheet of foil.

Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before lifting out to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

Serve sliced with or without softened butter for spreading. Store any leftovers in an airtight container. This keeps very well.

Make Your Own Mixed Spice:

You can easily make your own mixed spice: Combine 1 TBS ground cinnamon, 1 tsp each of ground coriander and nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1/4 tsp each of ground cloves and all spice. Mix well and store in an airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.

This is sticky and sweet, stodgy and dense. It is just loaded with fruit. Sliced into thick slices, buttered and served along with a nice hot cup of tea and you are in a little bit of Irish heaven.

Heat the kettle, pop on The Quiet Man, make yourself a hot cup of tea and cut yourself a piece of this. We all can dream, can’t we . . .

Are you looking for some delicious and traditional Irish Recipes to make for your family for Saint Patrick’s Day. You might also want to consider the following tasty options!

TRADITIONAL IRISH SODA BREAD - A simple classic bread in Irish households. This yeast free whole meal bread is perfect served with soups and stews, salads, etc. It’s also pretty delicious served sliced and spread with butter and jam, marmalade and honey.

TRADITIONAL BOXTY - These delicious potato bread/potato cakes are also known as Potato Farls. This is a very simple recipe and very authentic in its simplicity. Composed of only three ingredients. Potatoes, flour and salt. These are traditionally cooked on the stove top in a flat surfaced griddle pan. At one time they would have been baked on a grill pan over an open fire.

Yield: one 8-inch cake

Author: Marie Rayner

Traditional Irish Boiled Fruit Cake

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 1 H & 30 MTotal time: 2 Hour

This is a wonderfully tasty and simple fruited cake, meant to be enjoyed sliced and buttered, along side a hot cup of tea. Humble and delicious.

Ingredients

1/4 cup (60ml) golden syrup (See here to make your own)
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120ml) cold tea
1 cup (150g) sultana raisins
1 cup (150g) dried currants
1/2 cup (115g) butter
2 cups (227g) all-purpose plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice (see notes)
1 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 medium egg, beaten

Instructions

Place the golden syrup, sugar, cold tea, dried currants, sultana raisins, and butter into a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 325*F/160*C/ gas mark 3. Butter an 8-inch square cake pan/dish and line the bottom with baking paper. Butter the paper.
Sift the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, ground ginger and a pinch of salt together.
Fold the dry ingredients into the cooled fruit mixture, then stir in the beaten egg.
Turn into the prepared baking pan/dish. Smooth over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until the cake tests done. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. If you think it is browning too quickly, cover the top loosely with a sheet of foil.
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before lifting out to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
Serve sliced with or without softened butter for spreading. Store any leftovers in an airtight container. This keeps very well.

Notes

Make Your Own Mixed Spice:

Did you make this recipe?

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Debunking the myths of English Cookery, one recipe at a time.
The English Kitchen
http://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.com/

Source: https://www.theenglishkitchen.co/2025/03/traditional-irish-boiled-fruit-cake.html

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