Mary Berry Mincemeat Loaf Cake (Air Fryer or Oven)
Mary Berry's Mincemeat Loaf Cake is incredibly easy to make and tastes incredible! Perfect for sharing and gifting during the holidays and suitable for baking in your air fryer or the oven. This light fruit cake takes just minutes to throw together – I know it will become a festive favorite
Mist two small loaf tins with cake release and line the sides with baking paper, letting it hang over the sides of the tin. I like to clip the paper to the pans, especially if baking in an air fryer.
Add the self-raising flour and sugar to a large mixing bowl. Top with the eggs, Stork or butter, and mincemeat.
Beat together using a hand mixer until the batter is well mixed, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
Use a cookie scoop to divide the batter between the cake pans. Level and top with the blanched almonds.
TO AIR FRY
Preheat the air fryer to 150°C (300°F) for 3 minutes. Add the cake pans to the air fryer basket and bake for 45 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the toothpick comes out with wet batter, add 5-7 minutes to the cooking time (See notes).
TO OVEN BAKE
Bake in a 160°C (320°F) preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the cake passes the toothpick test. (If you are using a Fan oven reduce the temperature by 15-20 degrees)
DECORATE AND SERVE
Lift the cakes out of the tins using the baking paper and onto a wire rack.
Heat the jam in a saucepan and stir. Brush with the warm apricot jam to glaze and decorate with halved glacé cherries. Leave to dry for 10 minutes then brush with another layer of jam.
Cool before slicing as the cakes can bit a bit crumbly if you rush to cut them while still warm.
Video
Notes
This is a great recipe for using up leftover mincemeat from making mince pies. If you don't have enough, you can supplement by adding dried fruit such as sultanas or raisins. If the fruit is really dry, you can soak it in hot tea or some brandy to plump it up before using.
You can bake this recipe in a 950g (2lbs) cake pan but it tends to brown too much and becomes a little dry as it needs to bake for even longer. I would advise you to use the smaller loaf pans.
STORING AND FREEZING The cake keeps really well for about a week at room temperature in an airtight container. You can also freeze it, well wrapped, for up to two months.
ADJUSTING COOKING TIME IN AIR FRYER I tested this recipe in my Instant Vortex and Cosori air fryers and I discovered that the Cosori tends to run about 5 degrees hotter, which means the cake browns a lot faster. If that is the case with your air fryer you can adjust by reducing the temperature slightly.