Get a jump on holiday cooking,
make a fruitcake
As difficult as it is to believe Christmas is less than a month away. A lot of people like to get a head start on their Christmas cooking and a good place to start is with cakes. Some holiday cakes must be made ahead of time to “age” and others may be made ahead of time and stored in the freezer, I always welcome anything that will give me a jump on the holiday and I feel so good knowing that I have it done and safely tucked away. It leaves me time for all those other last minute things.
The first cake, Traditional English Fruit Cake should be made ahead of time so that it can be wrapped in a brandy soaked cloth and allowed to age. Some recipes for this cake say that it can be made up to a year ahead but that would take a lot of watching. You shouldn’t let the brandy soaked cloth dry out. It would also be rather full of brandy and use a lot of brandy if you had to keep re-soaking the cloth for a year. The other nice thing about this cake is that it makes 11 or 12 cups of batter and gives you an option on what size pans to use. You can cook all the batter in a 10-inch tube pan or in 2 regular loaf pans plus two “tiny” loaf pans or it will make 36 to 40 muffin-size individual fruitcakes.
TRADITIONAL ENGLISH FRUIT CAKE
1 cup seedless raisins
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup currants
1 cup mixed candied fruits (about 7-ounces)
1 cup, firmly packed, pitted, chopped dried dates (about 7-ounces)
1-cup whole candied cherries (8-ounces)
1 and 1/2 cups broken walnut pieces (6-ounces)
3/4 cup dark rum, brandy, bourbon or cider
1 cup butter or margarine
2 and 1/3 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
4 eggs
1/2 cup honey
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
A day or two before you plan to bake your cake combine the raisins, currants, candied fruits, dates, cherries and walnuts in a large bowl. Toss with the rum, brandy, bourbon or cider. Cover the bowl with waxed paper and set aside.
To make the batter: cream the butter and brown sugar together until they are well blended and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in the honey and lemon rind.
In another bowl combine the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well. Stir these dry ingredient into the creamed mixture and mix well to blend. Stir in the fruit and nut mixture and mix well.
Your pan(s) should be lightly greased and you should cut liners of aluminum foil, waxed paper or baking parchment to fit the bottom and sides of the pans. Press the paper in place, making sure you don’t have any wrinkles in the paper. Grease the paper after you have it in place. If you are using muffin tins and paper liners do not grease the paper muffin liners.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s), filling them about two-thirds full. Mound the batter a bit in the center. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven. The tube pan will take about 2 hours, the large loaf pans about 1 hour and 25 minutes, the small loaf pans about 1 hour and 15 minutes and the muffin-size cakes will take 40 to 45 minutes. The cakes are done when they are well browned and starting to pull away from the pan sides. A cake tester inserted in the center should show no signs of raw batter but it may be sticky from the fruit. Be careful with the muffin-sized cakes, as they will dry out if overcooked. If your cake begins to brown too rapidly cover the top with aluminum foil. Set the cake on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. To remove from the pans top with a plate, invert on the plate, remove the pans and peel off the paper or foil liners. Invert the cake again and cool completely on a wire rack.
The cooled cakes should then be wrapped in a brandy soaked clean white cloth. Do no use fruit juice for this, as it is the alcohol in the wrapper that preserves the cake. After the cake is wrapped in the cloth wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap and seal well. Put the cake in a tin box or plastic box that has a tight lid. Store in a cool dry place. Check the cake regularly and brush more brandy on the cloth if it has dried out.
Before serving you can brush the cake with a simple Apricot Glaze and then top with fruits and nuts for decoration. To make the glaze simply heat 1 cup of apricot preserves over medium heat in a small saucepan until the preserves have melted. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more, being sure the preserves come to a boil. Cook until the preserves are thick enough to coat a spoon. Strain this hot mixture through a sieve. Cool slightly and then use a pastry brush to coat the cake with the lukewarm glaze. Chill the cake to set the glaze.
This next cake, Apricot Nut Fruitcake is popular with people who don’t like the candied fruit. This cake is stored in the refrigerator and not in a brandy soaked cloth. It is better if stored for 2 weeks but can be eaten right away.
APRICOT NUT FRUITCAKE
2 cups broken walnuts (8-ounces)
1 cup filberts, toasted, skinned, coarsely chopped (5-ounces)
1/2 cup Brazil nuts, coarsely chopped (3-ounces)
1/2-cup pecan halves (3-ounces)
1 cup seedless raisins
1 and 1/2 cups golden raisins
2 cups dried apricots, cut in small pieces (about 12 ounces)
3/4 cup dark rum
1/2 cup cider
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 and 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
1 and 1/2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
5 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup unpeeled grated apple
1 cup applesauce
At least 24 hours before you want to bake the cake combine all the dried fruits and nuts in a large bowl. Toss well with the rum and cider. Cover with plastic wrap and store in a cool place.
Sift both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together and set aside. Cream the butter and brown sugar together well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, about 1/4 at a time, beating well after each addition. It will be quite stiff. Stir in the grated apple and applesauce. Mix well and then stir in the fruit-nut-rum-cider mixture, adding all the liquid. Stir well with a heavy wooden spoon until well blended.
Prepare a 10-inch tube pan by greasing it and then lining the bottom and sides with paper liners, cut to fit and then grease the paper liners. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 and 1/2 to 1 and 3/4-hours or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out showing no signs of raw batter.
Cool the cake on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife blade around the cake sides and then top with a plate and invert. Remove the cake and peel off the paper. Invert again and cool completely, right side up, on a wire rack. Once cold the cake can be served or stored. To store, wrap the cold cake in plastic wrap and then in foil and refrigerate for a week or two. Before serving brush the cake with an Apricot Glaze as in the previous recipe.
