Christmas cake (kids vlog edition!)

It's Stir Up Sunday and the little star bakers have made their first ever vlog! This is a Christmas cake recipe packed with figs, cranberries, pecans and soaked in hot buttered rum and maple syrup...

Ingredients

For the fruit

150ml apple juice
50g unsalted butter
2 tbsp maple syrup
5 tbsp dark rum
175g dried figs, chopped
130g dried cranberries
630g mixed dried fruit (the kind that includes mixed peel)

For the cake

225g unsalted butter, softened (plus extra for greasing)
225g light muscovado sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
225g plain flour (we used gluten free)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Zest of 1 small orange
85g pecans, toasted, then roughly chopped (or briefly blitzed in a food processor)

To feed the cake (each time)

2 tbsp dark rum
1 tbsp maple syrup

Method

1. The night before you are planning to bake your cake, get the dried fruit ready by soaking it in hot buttered rum. Begin by pouring the apple juice into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. 
2. Add the butter to the pan, let it melt, then take off the heat and add the maple syrup and rum. 
3. In a large bowl, mix the dried figs, cranberries and mixed fruit.
4. Pour over the hot buttered rum mix, and mix to coat all the fruit.
5. Cover tightly with cling film and leave overnight.
6. The next day, heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. 
7. Grease and line a 20cm round, deep cake tin with non-stick baking paper. 
8. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
9. Add the eggs and beat well. 
10. Sift in the flour and spices, and fold in using a large spoon. Beat well until smooth. 
11. Fold in the orange zest, nuts, and pour in the soaked fruit (and any rum mixture left in the bowl from soaking the fruit). Stir really well.
12. Spoon the batter into the tin and smooth with the back of a spoon.
13. Bake for 1 hr 30 mins, then reduce oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1 and bake for a further 1 hr 45 mins or until it has risen, is a dark golden colour and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 
14. Put the tin on a cooling rack and leave until warm.
15. To feed the cake the first time, use a cocktail stick to poke all over the top of the warm cake. Stir together the rum and maple syrup, then slowly spoon over the cake. 
16. Cool completely, then remove the baking parchment, wrap loosely in clean baking parchment and store in an airtight tin. 
17. Feed the cake every week to 10 days until you decorate it.

Based on a recipe from BBC Good Food