Churchill's fruit cake

This cake was one of Winston Churchill's favourites. It was baked by his longstanding cook, Georgina Landemare, who catered for him during the Second World War at Downing Street and then at his family home, Chartwell in Kent. This version of the fruit cake is inspired by Mrs Landemare's original recipe, which Churchill would have enjoyed.

20 minutes prep. time
1½-2 hours cooking time
Serves 12
Cakes, bakes & desserts, Vegetarian

A dark fruit cake is on a white cake stand, with a slice cut and placed on a plate in front, placed on a lacy tablecloth. There is colourful bunting in the backgroundfruit cake.jpg — Try a slice of Winston Churchill's favourite | © National Trust/Rebecca Janaway

280g dried mixed fruit
2 cups strong black tea
225g butter
170g dark brown sugar
5 eggs
285g self-raising flour
110g glacé cherries, halved
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tbsp black treacle (optional)

Suitable substitutes

If you don’t have any glacé cherries in your cupboard, use dried apricots or mixed nuts instead. Black treacle is used to add a rich darkness and flavour to the cake, but it is not essential. Without it, the cake will simply have a lighter finish – but still a delicious taste.

Step 1

Soak the dried fruit in the tea, preferably overnight, to allow most of the tea to be absorbed.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 150°C (fan 140°C/gas mark 2) and grease and line a 23cm springform cake tin.

Step 3

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale, scraping the sides of the bowl to incorporate all the mixture, and continue to cream together.

Step 4

Gradually beat the eggs into the mixture, adding a little flour to stop the mixture from splitting or curdling.

Step 5

Fold in the flour and add the mixed spice to the mixture.

Step 6

Add in the mixed fruit and glacé cherries and continue to fold together. If there is a little leftover tea from the mixed fruit, add it to the cake mixture along with the fruit. However, if there's a lot of tea left, drain the fruit before adding it. Continue to fold and stir, while adding the treacle.

Step 7

Once completely mixed together, scrape the mixture into the cake tin and leave to bake for 2 hours. To check that the cake is cooked, insert a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean the cake is cooked through.