Plum cake

Ingredients 

Maida/ All purpose flour- 1 3/4 cup

Cocoa powder- 2tbsp

Vanilla essence- 1 tsp

Sugar- 1 cup

Cloves-4, Cardamom- 3, Cinnamon- 1 inch, Nutmeg- 1 pinch, Black pepper corns- 5

Salt- pinch

Baking soda- 1/2 tsp

Grape juice/ Orange juice- 1 cup

Butter- 1/2 cup

Eggs- 2

Dry fruits

               Here I have soaked  some tuti frutti (candied fruit cubes), broken pecan nuts, black raisins and dried peaches for 2 days in the refrigerator. You can also add dates, golden raisins. pistachios, walnuts, cashews as you like.

Method

• Preheat the oven to 375 F. Drain the dry fruits and set aside the grape juice.
• In a mixer, blend about 1/4 cup of sugar and the whole spices. I have used hand mixer.
• In a large bowl, beat together softened butter and all the sugar for about a minute to make it little creamy.
• Add the vanilla, eggs and beat for 30 seconds. 
• Once it is all incorporated well, sift and add the dry ingredients such as flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and beat for 1 minute.
• Add the dry fruits and mix using a spatula. Also add the juice used for soaking and combine well everything together.
• Transfer the cake batter into the baking pan. 
• I have used a 9" spring foam pan and baked for around 60 minutes at 375F. the cake is cooked when a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.