[Birdie Wife]

This recipe is based on a traditional Irish cake that I've been making for several years and is a fabulous autumn/winter cake, lovely with cheese, and would make a lovely Christmas cake too if you wanted to up the fruit in the recipe. I made this variation at the weekend and thought it was pretty good too so I thought I'd share it with you 

Fig and Orange Porter Cake
makes 1 x 8” cake (you’ll need a deep tin though)

350g plain flour
175g butter or margarine
1 tsp mixed spice or cinnamon
175g light brown sugar
250g dried figs
100g currants
100g raisins
zest of 1 orange
50g glace cherries
50g flaked almonds
3 eggs
150ml porter or stout
˝ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 140degC.

In a large bowl, mix the flour and spice together and rub in the fat. Mix in the sugar, fruit and nuts. Warm the porter/stout and dissolve the bicarb into it. Mix into the beaten eggs, and pour the mixture into the flour/fruit mixture. Mix thoroughly, pour into your tin and level the top. Bake at 140degC for a hour, then turn the oven down to 120deg and bake for a further 2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin and store for a day in an airtight tin before cutting.