This recipe is based on my very popular Christmas Cake Tray Bake. For this, I wanted something not so seasonal, but still fruity and flavour-packed. I’m happy to say that this certainly fits that remit.

Makes: 16 – 20 pieces, depending how big or small you want them.

Time: 10 minutes the night before. On the day: 80 – 90 minutes + cooling.

Level: Quite easy

Equipment: A 30cm x 20cm / 12” x 8” tray bake tin with reasonably deep sides.

Ingredients

200g/7oz dried apricots, cut into small pieces
200g/7oz glace cherries, some halved, some quartered
400g/14oz other dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants, prunes etc.)
50g/1¾oz dried peel
A large orange – zest and juice
About 125ml/4½fl oz hot orange juice
175g/6oz butter, softened
175g/6oz soft light brown sugar or demerara
4 medium eggs
175g/6oz plain flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp of salt
1 – 2 Tbsp milk or orange juice (if needed)
A little apricot jam

Method

1. The night before baking, put all the dried fruit, peel and orange zest in a bowl and pour in the hot orange juice. Cover and leave, but stir occasionally.

2. On the day: preheat the oven to 160°C / Fan 140°C / 325°F / Gas 3. Grease the baking tray and line with baking parchment.

3. In a large bowl, and using an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in the eggs one-by-one with a tsp of flour each time to avoid the mixture splitting.

4. Fold in the flour, spices and salt. Mix in the macerated fruit. Stir in a little milk or orange juice if the mixture seems very dense. Mix gently just until no flour is showing. Avoid overmixing.

5. Spoon the mixture into the tin, level the top and give the tray a few bangs on your work surface to settle the mixture and release any trapped air.

6. Bake for 55 – 65 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool a little. Brush with warm apricot jam slightly diluted. Leave in the tin until fully cool and set.

7. Either cut into pieces while still in the tin or remove and cut.