Grand Marnier Fruit Cake

I went for a vacation in California during the school holidays to reward my children for studying hard for their national exams - two for PSLE and one for GCE 'O' levels. While I was there, I couldn't resist the opportunity to shop in Costco, a famous wholesale centre where they have in-house brands and sells other famous brands, in bulks.

What I looked for are the dried fruits and the nuts. They sell in big packets and it's relatively cheaper, and some, you can't get it locally. Therefore, with the dried fruits, I decided to bake fruit cakes as Christmas gifts for my friends and family. It so happens that my colleague told me about Wendy's white fruit cake, so I decided to use her recipe since I was already thinking of using Grand Marnier instead of the usual Myer Rum for my fruits. So here's my version of Grand Marnier Fruit Cake. I hope my family and friends like them. 

Recipe for Grand Marnier Fruit Cakes, adapted from Wendy.
(Makes approximately 5 small loaves)

Ingredients:
Dried fruits:
100g Dried White mulberries
100g Montmorency cherries
150g Dried Blueberries
100g Dried Cranberries
100g Golden raisins
150g Grand Marnier (+ some orange juice, optional)

Combine everything and let it soak for at least 2 days.

Cake:
375g Butter (I used salted)
200g Caster sugar
6 eggs
338g Plain flour
200g Toasted pecans, coarsely chopped (keep some whole pieces to decorate the top)
100g Grand Marnier

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 150C. 
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy.
3. Put in eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until no clumps are seen.
5. Fold soaked fruits and all the remaining liquid into the batter. Add pecans and mix well.

6. Pour batter into the pans, level and bake for 40-45mins.

7. Remove cake from oven. Pierce holes in them and brush them with Grand Marnier. Let it the cake air and when cake has totally cooled, keep them in air-tight container.

8. Drizzle more Grand Marnier for the next few days before consuming.
9. Wrap it up and present as a gift.

Merry Christmas & a Happy 2016 with lots of baking and feasting!