PREP TIME 15 mins | COOK TIME 60 mins | TOTAL TIME 1 hour 15 mins | SERVES 10
Ohh this cake. It’s famous now!
I developed this as an easy, festive baked good, something that you can make quickly and without any stress, and then carve up into slices. Something freezable, shareable and giftable.
I like mincemeat, and am always looking for more ways to use up the remainder of the jar I buy to make mince tarts. I love glacé cherries too. Put the two together in a simple tea loaf batter, add a glaze and voila! easy festive sweet. This loaf-shaped cake is so tender and moist and packed with festive flavours that just one bite will get you carolling. It is single-handedly converting mincemeat haters into lovers!
I had no idea that a) tons of people think there is meat in mincemeat and so b) most people steer clear of mincemeat. Gang, there’s no meat in mincemeat anymore. Five hundred years ago, yes, there was some minced meat in there. Today, there are raisins and other dried fruits, candied citrus peel, spices and sugar. Proper mincemeat contains suet, which is delicious, non-meaty-tasting beef fat, but there are also lots of vegetarian mincemeats on grocery shelves. Use whichever one you prefer for this.
Mincemeat & Cherry Tea Cake
INGREDIENTS
2 ¼ cups (340g) all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
⅓ cup (75g) canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 cup milk
1 cup (280 g) prepared mincemeat
½ cup (105 g) glacé cherries, coarsely chopped
Glaze:
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan well with baking spray (or grease and flour it well).
Whisk flour with baking powder, allspice and salt in a small bowl. Reserve.
Whisk sugar and canola oil together in a large bowl. Whisk in egg and almond extract. Add flour mixture and milk alternately, stirring gently until almost incorporated. Fold in mincemeat and cherries. Scrape into prepared pan. Bake 60 to 70 min or until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack 10 min.
Whisk milk and icing sugar together in a small bowl until smooth. After 10 min, remove cake from pan and place right-side-up on a rack over a baking sheet. Drizzle with glaze. Let cool completely before slicing.
Click below for a printable version of this recipe.