The Fruitcake



R

rox formerly rmg

Guest
Thanks to all for your suggestions about the booze and for anwering all my
other baking questions!

Here's my fruitcake recipe, which I may have found here and amended. Sorry
for the absence of credits if I did. It does NOT have a lot of candied fruit
in it, but it does contain a lot of fruit, butter, eggs, and booze.

CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE

2 cups mixed diced glacéed fruits (NOTE: Instead of glaceed fruit -
blech!! - I use diced dried pineappple and diced dried apricots.)

2 cups golden raisins
1 cup dark raisins
1 1/2 cups dried currants
1/2 cup halved glacéed red cherries plus additional for garnish
1/2 cup chopped glacéed angelica (available at specialty foods shops)
plus additional for garnish
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon dark rum
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5 large eggs
1 cup blanched almonds, toasted lightly, cooled, and ground fine in an
electric spiced grinder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup apricot jam


In a large bowl combine well the glacéed fruits, the raisins, the currants,
1/2
cup of the cherries, 1/2 cup of the angelica, and 3/4 cup of the rum and let
the fruits macerate, covered, overnight. Note: I used about 4x the alchohol,
adding gradually over a 3-day period. I used half Maker's Mark
and half rum. Keep fruit tightly covered in plastic. No need to refrigerate.

Line the bottom of a well-buttered 9 1/2-inch springform pan with a round of
wax paper and butter the paper. Into a small bowl sift together the flour,
the
baking powder, the salt, the nutmeg, and the ginger.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream together the butter and the brown
sugar
until the mixture is light and fluffy and beat in 4 of the eggs, 1 at a
time,
beating well after each addition.

Drain the fruit mixture in a sieve set over the batter and beat the juices
into
the batter. Pat the fruits dry between several thicknesses of paper towels
and
in a bowl toss them with 1/3 cup of the flour mixture.

Stir in the remaining flour mixture into the batter, one fourth at a time,
stir
in the fruit mixture, the ground almonds, and the walnuts, stirring until
the
mixture is just combined, and turn the batter out into the prepared pan.

Put 2 loaf pans, each filled with hot water, in a preheated 300°F. oven and
put
the springform pan between them. Bake the cake for 1 hour, brush the top
with
the remaining egg, beaten lightly, and bake the cake for 1 hour more. While
the
cake is baking, in a saucepan melt the apricot jam with the remaining 1
tablespoon rum over moderate heat, bring the mixture to a boil, and strain
it
through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on the solids.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes, remove the side of
the
pan, and invert the cake onto the rack. Remove the pan bottom and the wax
paper
very carefully, invert the cake onto another rack, and let it cool
completely.
Arrange the additional cherries and angelica decoratively on the cake, brush
the top of the cake with some of the apricot glaze, reserving the remaining
glaze for another use, and store the cake, wrapped in plastic wrap and foil.
The cake keeps, covered, for 6 months.

Gourmet
December 1991
 
On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 19:47:10 GMT, "rox formerly rmg"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Thanks to all for your suggestions about the booze and for anwering all my
> other baking questions!
>
> Here's my fruitcake recipe, which I may have found here and amended. Sorry
> for the absence of credits if I did. It does NOT have a lot of candied fruit
> in it, but it does contain a lot of fruit, butter, eggs, and booze.


Sounds very, very good, rox! I like the ground almond and apricot
glaze ideas. And great job eliminating the commercial fruitcake mix.

Well done!
Carol
--

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