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You are here: Home / Recipes / Snacks / Afternoon Tea / Chocolate Ale Fruit Cake – Baking Mad and Eric Lanlard

11 March 2012 By Karen Burns-Booth 31 Comments

Chocolate Ale Fruit Cake – Baking Mad and Eric Lanlard

Yum

Chocolate Ale Fruit Cake

– Chocolate Ale Fruit Cake –

Baking Mad and Eric Lanlard

Eric Lanlard on C4 from 5th March

 

  • The new series of Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard is due to start on 5th March at 12:05pm on Channel 4 for every week day for 4 weeks.
  • The new series will appeal to bakers of every kind from the novice to the expert. Keen bakers will be able to see Eric Lanlard, the master of all things sweet and beautiful, at home in his kitchen conjuring up quick baking recipes alongside his signature glamorous desserts.  Each 30 minute episode, will also feature three members of the public who will come to his cookery school, Cake Boy, to demonstrate their baking skills and take part in a ‘Bake Off’.
  • Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard is a beautifully produced series that balances inspiration with information, engaging the viewer to try new things to add to their baking repertoire.
  • Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard is sponsored by Bakingmad.com, an inspirational online community of over 100,000 members sharing a wealth of information, recipes, hints, tips and advice.

Chocolate Ale Fruit Cake with Butter & Home-made Plum Jam

I am trying to win a BIG FAT EASTER CAKE baked by the man himself with this lush recipe! This is one of the recipes from the Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard series, and I was recently asked if I would like to enter into the fun of things, to bake something in order to enter this tasty event and also by way of highlighting the new Baking Mad series that started on television last Monday the 5th March; all of the details are above, and do try NOT to miss the series, as it’s great fun and very informative, plus I know some of the people who entered……..so, I will be glued to the screen, with buttercream………

Chocolate Ale Fruit Cake with Plum Jam..............LUSH!

I decided to make this cake from a very delicious list of recipe suggestions, and there are several reasons why – I had two bottles of spiced chocolate ale left from Christmas; this cake is a low-fat cake with no butter or fats added; it’s a classic tea loaf which I love; I LOVE dried fruit in cakes, as well as a wee bit of booze and, I had a jar of plum jam that was JUST screaming to be spread all over this luscious loaf!  The fruit is soaked in the ale over night which plumps them up so much that they were like liposuction lips!

Chocolate Ale Fruit CakeI

I was delighted with the results – the cake was moist, fragrantly spiced with a slight chocolatey flavour and was the perfect vehicle for fresh butter and jam……the cake gets better the longer you leave it too, not that we have many slices left! The recipe can be found on the Baking Mad site here: Chocolate Ale Fruit Cake. With thanks to Nancy at Baking Mad who sent me some flour and sugar to help out with the recipe, the rest of the ingredients were my own, to include: my own free-range chicken’s eggs, butter, mixed spice, spiced chocolate ale and dried mixed fruit. That’s all for today, I will be back with a new Slow Sunday post where the new blog hop will be up and running for March. Karen.

Chocolate Ale Fruit Cake

 

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Filed Under: Afternoon Tea, Cakes, Easy, Eggs, Family Meals, Jam, Vegetarian Tagged With: Baking, blog, Bread, British, Butter, Eggs, English, Lavender, Lovage, Preserves, Slow Sunday, Tea-time, Traditional

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lorna's Tearoom Delights says

    11 March 2012 at 10:05 am

    How on earth did you have chocolate ale leftover? This looks fabulous though. If you don’t drink the ale, this must be the next best thing to do with it.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      11 March 2012 at 2:18 pm

      It IS a mystery how I still had chocolate ale left from Christmas! It was bought for my Christmas puddings! The cake was, all gone now, amazing!

      Reply
  2. Daisy@Nevertoosweet says

    11 March 2012 at 2:00 pm

    You’ve got some amazing photos 🙂 it looks delicious!! I haven’t had a chocolate fruit cake before gotta try sometime! Thanks for sharing!!!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      11 March 2012 at 2:16 pm

      Thanks Daisy – the spiced chocolate ale made this cake!

      Reply
  3. Cathy at Wives with Knives says

    11 March 2012 at 2:40 pm

    Chocolate ale is new to me and it sounds like the perfect addition to this dense, dried fruit studded cake. This is my favorite kind of afternoon sweet with a cup of tea. Delicious photos, Karen.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      11 March 2012 at 6:10 pm

      Thanks Cathy, the chocolate ale was spiced and a special Christmas beer!

      Reply
  4. Dominic says

    11 March 2012 at 3:59 pm

    just looks so think and unctuous and soooo chocolatey I NEED this now… I love how deeply packed with fruit this cake is… definitely a winner in my book!… and don’t forget to tune in on Thursday for little old me!!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      11 March 2012 at 6:09 pm

      I have already set the scheduler for Thursday and will be watching your every move! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Elly says

    11 March 2012 at 4:32 pm

    I love low-fat tea loaves – they make me wonder what the butter and sugar in Christmas cakes is actually contributing! Have never tried one with jam though, sounds so good.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      11 March 2012 at 6:08 pm

      Yes I agree, the butter seems superfluous when you see and taste this cake; the jam was surprisingly good as well as a slice of cheese too.

      Reply
  6. A Trifle Rushed says

    11 March 2012 at 6:14 pm

    What a wonderful loaf, and without fat it’s really a health food! I watched one episode and thought it was a little disappointing, but I’m sure that’s down to the production company, Eric Lanard certainly knows his stuff and I’m sure one of his cakes would be fabulous. Good Luck, I do hope you win. Jude x

    Reply
    • Karen says

      12 March 2012 at 2:14 pm

      Thanks Jude! I am watching the series to see Dom, Nelly and Fleur!

      Reply
  7. Jacqueline says

    11 March 2012 at 6:18 pm

    That looks scrumptious Karen. I too love a fruit loaf and the thought of it with butter & your homemade plum jam, well that is sweet torture.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      12 March 2012 at 2:17 pm

      Thanks Jac! The jam really went with it so well!

      Reply
  8. What Kate Baked says

    11 March 2012 at 6:24 pm

    Chocolate and ale and fruit cake? Hellloooo my new favourite cake! This looks absolutely delicious Karen, as always!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      12 March 2012 at 2:18 pm

      LOL! Kate, that’s RIGHT – Helllooo, also a new favourite for me too!

      Reply
  9. Choclette says

    12 March 2012 at 7:20 am

    Ha ha – I’ve an idea how this one tastes 😉 Is there anyone else other than Dom I should know on the show Karen? Hadn’t realised we were up for winning a cake either – how slow am I!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      12 March 2012 at 8:59 am

      Thanks Choclette! Yes, you may know NellysCupCakes and HomeMadeByFleur, who are also on the series too…..

      Reply
  10. Fuss Free Helen says

    12 March 2012 at 9:53 am

    Goodness me Karen, considering how badly they messed you around you are a better person than I would be in giving them some publicity. How nice of you to rise above it to promote & support your friends.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      12 March 2012 at 1:51 pm

      Thanks Helen, yes, it was all to promote Dom and co. 🙂

      Reply
  11. Mary says

    12 March 2012 at 12:48 pm

    Chocolate, fruit and ale – WOW!! and a huge thank you for such a wonderful idea!
    mary x

    Reply
    • Karen says

      12 March 2012 at 1:58 pm

      Thanks Mary – this WAS a lovely cake, all gone now! Karen

      Reply
  12. Sylvie (A Pot of Tea) says

    12 March 2012 at 2:41 pm

    Looks like a great cake, even though I’m not a lover of fruit cakes.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      12 March 2012 at 11:00 pm

      Thanks Sylvie! The ale and chocolate added a different dimension to this cake….

      Reply
  13. Javelin Warrior says

    13 March 2012 at 7:38 pm

    I actually have Eric Lanlard’s Cake Boy book of baked goodies and I’ve been wanted to try recipes from it – somehow I always end up with these books and never get around to trying the recipes! I’ve never been a huge fan of fruit cake, but this does look incredibly moist…

    Reply
    • Karen says

      5 April 2012 at 4:14 pm

      The chocolate ale in this cake makes it VERY special! I am sure this is a fruit cake you would love!

      Reply
  14. Cakeboule says

    13 March 2012 at 8:08 pm

    Beautiful photos – see your camera is good! I have not tried any of his recipes but will now go and set it up on record although I have missed a few! Cake looks great.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      5 April 2012 at 4:18 pm

      Thanks so much! My camera is not bad, need to get my Canon EOS fixed though!

      Reply
  15. Solange says

    14 March 2012 at 11:27 am

    Well done you, I am going to tweet it 🙂

    Reply
    • Karen says

      5 April 2012 at 4:19 pm

      Merci Solange ! 🙂

      Reply
  16. Fiona Matters says

    4 March 2013 at 10:46 am

    I have been looking for something to do with the gluten free ale I got given at Christmas. I’m not a big drinker and this looks perfect! Shared on g+

    Reply

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Welcome! I'm Karen; it’s lovely to see you here. I was born in South Africa, but I've lived all over the world, latterly calling North Yorkshire my home where I lived for many years before moving to SW France, although I'm now living in the Lincolnshire Wolds, a designated area of outstanding natural beauty, in an old Victorian cottage. I am a freelance food and travel writer, as well as a food stylist, and recipe developer, with a passion for art, travel, books, photography, seasonal food and especially cheese and wine. Please do get in contact with me if you have any questions about my work or commissioning me. Read More…

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