Fruitcake

[magid]

Ozarque's fruitcake recipe inspired me to make my first fruitcake. [Her annotations are in square brackets.] (My annotations are in parentheses.)

1. Boil 1 box dark raisins and 1 box golden raisins (1 lb each, I believe) with 1 c water and 1.5 c brown sugar. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring sometimes. Take off the heat and stir in 1.5 c butter (I used margarine; it's much more convenient to make pareve cake.). Cover and let cool completely. (This will take many hours; overnight or during a workday is more convenient.)
   
2. When the mixture is cool, stir in 4 beaten eggs, 1 c dark rum, 1 T cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, and a dash of orange extract (or 1 T orange juice).
   
3. Mix 6 c flour and 1 tsp baking soda together, then mix in the raisin mixture completely. (This makes a fairly stiff batter.)
   
4. Stir in 2 c nuts (I used all walnuts, because I didn't have any pecans around) and 1 c candied peel (I used candied organic peel I'd made a couple of weeks ago, a mix of oranges, lemons, limes, and tangelos.).
   
5. Bake in a greased Bundt pan or angelfood cake pan at 300 degrees for 2 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a rack to finish cooling. [Don't try baking this in those disposable aluminum foil pans.] (Ozarque's note got me to buy a silicone Bundt pan, and even with all the raisins, the cake came out of the pan cleanly. I must get more of this stuff!)
   Note: This recipe makes two cakes. (I made them sequentially, having only the one pan, and both cakes came out fine.)
   
6. Put some rum in a cup or small bowl, and baste the cake all over with the rum. [I do this with a pastry brush; you can also do it with your fingertips, but it takes a lot longer. I don't recommend using a turkey-baster unless you have a separate one that you will forever use only for basting your fruitcakes.] (I used none of these methods: a folded paper towel worked pretty well.)
   
7. Soak a big piece of cheesecloth in rum, and wrap the cake in the cloth, covering it completely; then wrap in aluminum foil. (I ended up more dousing most of the cheesecloth put on the cake in rum, and using the rest of the rum that didn't soak in to baste the cake (with the aforementioned paper towel).)
   
8. Put the wrapped cake in a roughly airtight container and set it in a cool dark place for at least two weeks. [I use a plastic "cake carrier" for this. An ordinary cardboard box will serve. If you have a piece of furniture in a cool place with a big enough drawer, that's also fine; just set the wrapped cake in the closed drawer.] (First I put them in the back hallway (which is cooler), then in a box in my bedroom (which gets less light and is still pretty cool).)
   
9. Every three or four days, take off the aluminum foil and moisten the cheesecloth with rum again; then re-wrap with the foil and put the cake back where you're storing it. (This is where I didn't keep up with it so well; I waited a bit longer between basting.)

It hadn't been a full two weeks, but I served fruitcake for dessert on Shabbat, and it was definitely a good thing, if a little dry in the middle (which is probably my fault, not having been diligent in rum applications).

I have a lot more candied peel, so I suspect I'll try this again. Next time, however, there will be a couple of changes.

• The nuts will be both walnuts and pecans (other nuts don't sounds like they'd have the right texture, though I'm open to other suggestions).
• More peel, and I'll try to break up the pieces sticking together more completely.
• I'll replace some of the raisins (one box?) with other dried fruit, such as blueberries, cranberries (ideally unsweetened ones; anyone know if these exist commercially?), diced dried apricots or peaches. Possibly dates, but probably not figs.
• And I'll likely put in either some diced crystallized ginger, or ginger powder, or both.

Comments

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

I think I got unsweetened dried cranberries at Trader Joe's once.
I was sure I'd never be able to find unsweetened grated coconut, and then I found some in the organic section at Shaw's, so you may be surprised. (Our local Shaw's just redid their whole set up to expand their natural/organic section. It's great.)

Mmm. Sounds good.

the fruitcake

[ozarque.livejournal.com]

All your comments seem fine to me; your end product is going to be more exotic than my version, but that's probably a good thing. (My "fruitcake audience" is more conservative than yours, I suspect.) Where the business about soaking the cheesecloth in rum is concerned, I always put that in the recipe because it's the way it ought to be done; in my own case, however, I'm too frugal to do it. What I actually do is wrap the fruitcake in the cheesecloth and then dampen the cheesecloth all over with rum -- sometimes from a tablespoon, sometimes with a pastry brush. I dampen it very generously the first time, and less generously thereafter. It works, and I'm pleased with the result, but I know the fruitcake would unquestionably be better if I could get past my Ozark conscience and really soak the cheesecloth in rum as directed.

Re: the fruitcake

[magid.livejournal.com]

I couldn't bring myself to soak the cheesecloth, either; I suspect I'll never be not-frugal enough to ever do that, unless I find some rum drinkers who'd like whatever's left, or a way to store the leftovers until the next basting.

I do feed a lot of adventurous eaters, so the variety of fruit would be fine. I have found myself trying not to say "fruitcake" before people have a chance to try it, because even many adventurous eaters have a blind spot about it, based on whatever had been foisted off on them previously.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Last time I looked at Trader Joe's, there were a variety of dried cranberries, some flavored to taste like other fruits, but all of them had sweetening added. I probably missed the few months they stocked them (they change what they carry with alarming frequency).

I should check the other supermarkets. I tend to assume that TJ's will have a better selection of dried fruits and nuts, and it's not always so.

Re: the fruitcake

[coorr.livejournal.com]

out of interst, what kind of rum do you use? light? dark? spiced?

Re: the fruitcake

[magid.livejournal.com]

I used Myers's original dark rum, based on the recipe suggesting dark rum, and the guy at the Wine and Cheese Cask suggesting this one to me when he heard I would be fruitcaking.

Light sounds wrong, somehow, but spiced might have possibilities...

Re: the fruitcake

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

In my experience, spiced ends up clashing with the flavor of the cake, and light is too light. Dark or gold rum are what I soak my fruitcakes in.

Also, YAY! And thank you for telling me!

Re: the fruitcake

[magid.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure what the spice in spiced is. I mean, if it were cinnamon, you'd think it would work, but anise or something would be Right Out. Good to have the Voice of Fruitcake Experience :-).

I don't think I even saw gold rum when I looked (but that probably means I overlooked it in trying to figure out what brand/bottle size for the dark rum).

I haven't made mine pretty like yours; frosting will have to wait for me (a) being less lazy and (b) more familiar with the rest of the process, so it feels less like a huge production. I still want to make a black cake someday, too.

First cake finished. Second cake currently destined for Shabbat dinner, though there will definitely be leftovers. I see why making many small ones might be a good idea...

Re: the fruitcake - maraschino cherries

[magid.livejournal.com]

I made maraschino cherries by submerging frozen (and therefore pitted :-) cherries in maraschino liqueur. If I fruitcake again soon, I'll put them in.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

So, are you committing fruitcake again this year? :D

[magid.livejournal.com]

Ooh, pretty icon!

I hadn't thought about it yet, actually. I suppose it depends on how inspired I get to make it. And I probably should get some silicone mini-bundt pans for it if I do. Of course, I still want to make a black cake someday; perhaps I should make fruitcake and mince dried fruit for black cake at the same time.

(And the pedant in me must point out that this first fruitcaking was this year, so I have until next December to have it still be an annual thing :-)