Guinness fruit cake recipe

If you're a fan of sticky, rich fruit cakes, then this recipe for Guinness fruit cake will suit you. I made this for the last meeting of the Stamford Clandestine Cake Club - the theme was 'Boozy Bakes'. The recipe came from the CCC Cookbook although I adapted it slightly. This would make a good base for a Christmas cake I think - although I didn't make one this year, next year I might dust off this recipe.

300g mixed dried fruit - my mixture was sultanas, raisins, and dried cranberries
330ml Guinness or other stout
2 eggs, beaten
100g soft light brown sugar
100g dark muscovado sugar
270g self-raising flour
1tsp mixed spice

Marinate the dried fruit in the Guinness for a day if possible, or at least 3-4 hours to make the fruit plump and sticky.
Stir the beaten eggs into the fruit and Guinness mixture. Add the sugars, and then sieve in the flour and spice, and mix well. Be careful not to leave any big lumps of dark sugar.
Pour into a prepared loaf tin (900g).
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C (160C fan), for at least an hour, until a skewer comes out clean.

I think this would be really good served with a nice knob of butter spread over, a bit like a malt loaf. I might like to try it with icing on too. This is a rich and warming cake, with a lovely deep flavour from the Guinness.

I recently wrote about why we love Christmas cake over on the Clandestine Cake Club website - please have a read! Please comment below and tell me why you love Christmas cake, and what sort you've made this Christmas.