The Impatient Chef Makes Real Fruitcake for the Holidays.

The Impatient Chef Recipe: Dark Fruitcake.

Fruitcake has been a perennial Favorite around the Christmas holiday for a very long time.  One can imagine 10th century knights in Britain defending their castles from the invading Normans by lobbing these dense, oversized hockey pucks from the ramparts. One can imagine Marco Polo using one to weight down his pasta recipe as the guests gather in the Plaza, or even Queen Victoria bashing her Viceroy aside the noggin with one to teach him a lesson.  But to eat one?  Surely you jest.  The fruitcake has made the rounds, quite literally, as Christmas presents, being regifted year after year until some poor schmuck finally turns the thing over and sees the worn printing on the box "Best if enjoyed before 10/1/1963."

And yet, here we are.
There is fruitcake, and then there's FRUITCAKE!  We will make the latter.

The Real Deal

The recipe is called Dark Fruitcake because long ago, when elves and hobbits roamed the earth...  No, wait.  Wrong story.  The recipe is called Dark Fruitcake because it uses very little flour as a percentage of the mix, and it is soaked in brandy.  This leads to a darker, fruitier, moister, less brick-like cake.  So, set aside the preconceptions, and especially the candied cherries, and follow along.

This recipe comes from my wife's family from waaaaaaaay upstate New York, so far upstate that it's practically Canada.  We have modified it slightly to fit a more modern palate.

The Recipe

First decide how many cakes you want to bake, and start by gathering the ingredients.  You can use different fruits and nuts if you like.  Just retain the same weights.  This year we used dried dates, figs and plums, and omitted the pineapple and currants.  We also used less raisins and added some dried blueberries and cranberries instead.  Finally, we used mixed nuts instead of only almonds and pecans.

Ingredients: 

Ingredient	5 cakes	15 cakes	30 cakes
Seeded Raisins	1 cup	1 lb	2 lb
Seedless Raisins	1 cup	1 lb	2 lb
Currants	1 cup	1 lb	2 lb
Dates	3 oz	8 oz	1 lb
Dried Apricots	3 oz	8 oz	1 lb
Dried Cherries	14 oz	1 1/2 lb	3 lb
Dried Pineapple	14 oz	1 1/2 lb	3 lb
Pecans	1 cup	1 lb	2 lb
Almonds	1 cup	1 lb	2 lb
Flour for Dredging	1/3 cup	1 cup	2 cups
Sifted Flour for Mixing	1 1/3 cup	4 cups	8 cups
Baking Soda	1/2 tsp	1 tsp	2 tsp
Salt	1/4 tsp	1 tbsp	2 tbsp
Cinnimon	1 tsp	3 tsp	6 tsp
Allspice	1 tsp	3 tsp	6 tsp
Nutmeg	1/2 tsp	3/4 tsp	1 1/2 tsp
Butter	2/3 cup	1 lb	2 lb
Brown Sugar	2/3 cup	1 lb	2 lb
Eggs (separated)	4	12	24
Molasses	1/3 cup	1 cup	2 cups
Fruit Juice	3 tbsp	1/2 cup	1 cup
Brandy	3 tbsp	1/2 cup	1 cup
Strawberry jam or preserves	2/3 cup	1 pint	1 qt, or 2# jar
For Glaze
Brown Sugar	1/2 cup
Honey or maple syrup	1/3 cup
Water	1/3 cup
Lemon Juice	2 tbsp

1. Cut the larger fruits into smaller pieces, about the size of the dried cherries.  
2. Soak the dried fruits and nuts in brandy a week before baking, but reserve about 1/4 of the nuts for baking day.  I use gallon jugs.  Turn the jug(s) over, or stir them every day.  To stir, you will have to put them in a large bowl. 
3. On the baking day, first drain the fruit and nuts into a bowl, or large measuring cup.  It takes a lot of brandy to completely cover the fruit if you are making 15 or 30 cakes, so have a big container to catch the brandy.  Save the fruit-infused brandy, you will use it to soak the cakes while they age.  
4. In a large mixing bowl, add the dredging flour to the fruit and nuts.  Mix them well.
5. In another bowl, mix sifted flour with baking soda and spices.
6. In yet another bowl, cream sugar and butter.  I use a stand mixer.



Speed Helps 

7. Add egg yolks, and beat well.  Add molasses, fruit juice, brandy, and strawberries (or jam).  Blend thoroughly.  Fold in dry ingredients, 1/3 at a time.  

8. The larger size recipes can get quite large.  Be creative in how you solve the dilemma of getting a container large enough.  I used a plastic tub this year.  
9. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry.  Fold them into batter.  Don't fold too much, because the whites give you all the rise you're going to get.  
10. Turn the batter into pans which have been greased, and lined with parchment paper cut to fit smoothly.  Fill the pans about 3/4 full.  Chop the reserved nuts coarsely, sprinkle the tops with a small handful, and cover the cakes with parchment paper, to extend about 1” over the edge of the pan.  Tie tightly.  
11. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 1/2 hours for cakes weighing 5 pounds or less.  2 or 2 1/2 hours for over 5 pounds.  Use a toothpick to check for doneness.  If it comes out clean, the cake is done.  

    

    Baked and Cooling

12. While still warm, brush tops and bottoms with brown sugar glaze.  
13. Make Glaze.  Mix sugar, syrup, water and boil for 2 minutes.  Add lemon juice, and spread on the warm fruitcake. Set aside.  
14. Remove the cakes from the tins and the parchment paper, and wrap the them in cheese cloth.  Tear aluminum foil into pieces big enough to wrap entirely around the cake.  Place the cakes, one by one as you go, on a piece of the foil.  Use a ladle to lightly soak the cakes with the reserved fruity brandy, then wrap them with the foil, and seal them in air-tight containers.  
    
    

    

    On the Cheese Cloth

    

    On the Foil, and Adding the Reserved Fruity Brandy

    

    Wrapped in Foil

    

    All Stacked Up and ready for Storage

15. Put the cakes in a cool place to age.  Turn them once a week to get the juices to soak through.  Add more reserved brandy as necessary to keep them moist (although this is rarely necessary).  They should be aged for at least a month.  The tins may leak, so put something under them.  

Tip:  We use decorative tins in which to bake the cakes.  Starting in August, we keep an eye on the thrift stores for tins.  We inspect them thoroughly, and then wash and sterilize them before using them.  For the larger tins, when filling them, we place tomato paste cans wrapped in aluminum foil, and then greased, in the centers to help them bake faster.

There's a Hole in the Cake, Dear Liza.