Mincemeat Loaf Cake

I was having a tidy-up in the pantry the other day, trying to make some room for the chutneys that I'll be making over the next few weeks and, given that I shall also be making my Christmas mincemeat soon, I thought I’d better use up the last jar of the 2010 vintage which was lurking on the top shelf. (Good Grief! I just mentioned the ‘C’ word and it’s still only August!!) As a bonus I also found half a bag of pecans that was looking for a good home.

Because I don’t bake very much I don’t have a lot of cake tins and I couldn’t find a single recipe on the net which fitted any of the tins I have. I ended up adjusting a generic ‘Fruit Cake’ recipe, baked it in a loaf tin, and hoped for the best!

It turned out quite well, as it happens. OK, as cakes go, it won’t win any beauty competitions, but I think the flavour of the well-matured mincemeat plus a handful of chopped pecans more than makes up for any deficiencies in the looks department!

125g soft unsalted butter

125g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

225g self-raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

300g mincemeat

50g chopped pecans

1 tsp of granulated sugar

Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour and baking powder into a large bowl and mix well with an electric mixer. Add the mincemeat and pecans then mix well with a wooden spoon so that you don’t break up the fruit and nuts too much. Turn the mixture into a 2lb loaf tin lined with baking parchment, sprinkle the top with a teaspoonful of sugar and bake at 160C for 1¼ - 1½ hours.

Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight tin.