Christmas fruitcake

Place the fruits into a large bowl. Pour over the hot tea. Finely grate the zest of the orange and add to the bowl along with the juice from the orange. Cover with cling film and leave for at least 4hrs and preferably overnight so the fruits soak up the juices.

Heat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Grease and line the base of a 1kg loaf tin. Add the Canderel, eggs, flour and almonds to the bowl of mixture and beat until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the tin, level the top with a spoon and then bake for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool on a rack.

Turn out onto a serving plate. You can serve the fruitcake simply as it is or you can or try heating a little marmalade and brushing over the cake. To decorate, arrange a selection of pecan and almond nuts, candied orange slices and glace cherries on top and brush all over with a little more marmalade glaze.

This recipes was created by Emma Lewis for Canderel, Ireland’s number one low calorie sweetener.