Boiled pineapple fruit cake

This is a cake that my mum used to make quite a bit. It is so easy, no creaming of butter and sugar. It probably doesn't even matter if you use the wrong type of flour. Sometimes I make this to take when we go camping or on road trips. It keeps well in a tin and goes well with a port in the evening after dinner. Or with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

You will need

I cup brown (or dark brown) sugar
440g can of unsweetened crushed pineapple
375g packet of mixed fruit (I like the brand with the real glace cherries)
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of mixed spice
100g butter
1 cup plain four
1 cup self-raising flour (some of the flour could be wholemeal, all wholemeal tends to be a bit hair shirt)
2 eggs

Place the sugar, pineapple, mixed fruit, bicarb, mixed spice and butter in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Allow to cool. Typically, I do this bit while making dinner and once the mixture has cooled, shove the saucepan in the fridge overnight. You could leave it out, but I'm a bit paranoid about such things and about the cat getting it.

When the mixture is cool and you are ready to make the cake, preheat the oven to 180C and line a 22C springform tin with baking paper and brush some oil around the sides.

I usually mix the cake in the saucepan. If the mixture has been in the fridge, the butter will have hardened. Don't worry about this, just give it a good stir. Add the eggs and stir thouroughly. Add the flour and stir until well mixed. Plop it into the prepared cake tin and smooth out a bit with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 1-1/2 hours, turning mid way. It smells lovely when nearly cooked. Test for doneness in the centre with a knife. I am inclined to not worry too much if the middle is a teensy bit under done. That means the cake will be lovely and moist. Better than letting it dry out. 

Cool in the tin and then transfer to a cake tin on the baking paper.