This past Christmas I delved into the world of the fruitcake. I know, I know – what is an apparently sane woman doing baking fruitcakes? You see, I remember a time when they actually tasted good. My grandmother made a pretty tasty one, but the recipe I came across last year far surpasses hers.
Having an ornery streak, and inspired by La Cuisine’s fruitcake challenge (owner Nancy Pollard “has been conducting a one-woman crusade to revive the fruitcake”), I refused to accept that they all tasted as bad as they looked. I tried one recipe in the late Richard Sax’s wonderful tome, Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World
Ojakangas, like Sax, provides several fruitcake recipes, and I chose the one for Old English Fruitcake, which she refers to as “my very favorite fruitcake.” The recipe makes a whopping 12 one-pound loaves, so I tweaked it a bit. I cut all of the ingredients in half except for the liquids and the citrus zests. I also let the dried fruit soak in the rum and coffee for a full ten days before baking the cake, and chose the ones that my family likes.
After the cakes had cooled, I took a little nibble and thought that I’d made a mistake by not halving the zest and the orange juice – the orange flavor was very powerful. But fruitcakes are not meant to be eaten on the day that they are made, so I took another little nibble a couple days later, and the flavor change was dramatic. The orange flavor had melded with the rest of the cake, and provided a brightness that most modern fruitcakes lack. It was a big hit with my family, and I plan on making it again this year. In fact, Ojakangas recommends making it a year ahead! More after the break . . .
A note on candied fruits and citron. Basically, I can’t stand ’em. But I did find a source for tasty citron, and two sources for non-objectionable candied cherries (which means they just taste sweet, not bad). I wanted to use the cherries because red, Christmas, and fruitcake just go together in my head.
Finally, I found that making large loaves is not a good idea – the cake is so heavy that the weight of a large loaf can cause it to crumble, so this year I will be making one pound loaves, instead of the bread-sized loaves that I baked last year, and I’ll be using my homemade candied orange rinds. Happy baking!
Old English Fruitcake
Adapted from a recipe by Beatrice Ojakangas in The Great Holiday Baking Book3/4 pounds candied cherries
1 pound dried pineapple
1/2 pound other mixed fruit (I used apricots)
1/2 pound pitted whole dates
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 pound (4 cups) broken pecans, walnuts, or other nuts
1 cup dark rum (or brandy)
1/2 cup double strength espresso
1 1/2 Tablespoons grated orange zest
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar, or muscovado sugar
6 large eggs, separated
2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground fresh nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Rum or brandy, for wrapping and aging
cheeseclothMix the fruits, nuts, rum or brandy, and coffee in a very large container, and stir to combine. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for one week to 10 days.
Stir in the lemon and orange zest, and the lemon and orange juices.
Adjust the oven rack so that the upper rack is in the center of the oven, and the lower rack is at the first level above the heating element. Place a shallow pan of water onto the lower rack.Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Line six 5 x 3 inch, or two 9×5 inch loaf pans with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light. Add the egg yolks and beat until light and fluffy.
Sift the flour with the cinnamon, mace, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and salt in another large bowl. Add one cup of the flour mixture to the fruits and nuts and mix well. Add the rest of the flour to the creamed butter mixture, and mix until smooth, then add this to the fruit and nuts. Mix until well blended – I had to use my hands because the mixture was so heavy.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold into the fruitcake batter. Spoon batter evenly into the prepared pans.
Place the batter-filled pans on the upper rack, and bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours for the large cakes, or 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the smaller ones, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Add water to the shallow pan as needed.
Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pans. Peel off the parchment, and drizzle about 4 Tablespoons of rum or brandy on each large cake, or 2 to 3 on the small cakes.
Cut cheesecloth into large squares, and wrap each cake individually, then wrap again in foil, or place in a plastic bag. Age in a cool place for one month (preferably longer, and Ojakangas says up to one year). Check every two weeks, adding more brandy or rum to keep the cake from drying out.
1 user responded in this post
I love a good fruitcake, but to me a good fruitcake does not have glacéed cherries nor any citron (I hear the “purists” gasp). My favourite recipe is a variant of Alton Brown’s. It’s well received by every fruitcake hater I know.
j