Magical Fruitcake

Since I became enamoured with old-fashioned cooking (especially with cast iron), I've been trying many different classic cooking techniques. One of my most successful efforts was creating a Christmas Plum Pudding in the classic British tradition, with suet and classic pudding ingredients. However, not everyone has the time or the facilities to spend four hours steaming a holiday pudding. A modern-day fruitcake, made from traditional ingredients and baked in the oven, has a shorter preparation time than a steamed pudding. Not only is it delicious – it far outstrips those hideous blocks of "fruitcake" sold in stores. It's well worth the effort to make one…and if your family and friends are the kind who might run away just because "it's fruitcake" – then tell a little white lie and say it's a SPICE CAKE.
Studying other fruitcake recipes gave an interesting conclusion: many of those recipes put so much emphasis on the fruit, they do very little with the cake batter. This is a fruit cake – a cake with fruit, not just a bunch of fruit pieces held together with batter. That's why this recipe adds additional ingredients to the cake batter itself, including milk, honey, and rum. I've actually made this cake without the fruit, but with the spices; and it still turned out to be a very satisfying spice cake on its own.
(It's worth noting that December 27th is National Fruitcake Day!)
Pans needed: Large bowl (actually, a huge bowl) to mix batter. 2-quart 10-to-12 inch bundt cake pan.

Ingredients

Fruit Mix:
  • 2 cups dried fruit, chopped
  • The choice of fruit is up to you – you can use "traditional" fruits or exotic fruit mix. Use what appeals to you. If you want to omit the candied citrus entirely, increase this to 2 1/2 cups of dried fruit. Because this recipe uses freshly chopped apple, you may not want to include dried apples with the fruit mixture.
  • 2 cups raisins: raisins, golden raisins (sultanas), currants, prunes or dried plums. Any combination of these will work. You can omit the ones you don't like.
  • 1/2 cup candied citrus, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons candied or "crystalized" ginger, chopped (this is usually sold in the "natural foods" section of the supermarket, along with the dried fruits)
  • 1 small apple, peeled and chopped (about 1/2 cup chopped apple. This should be a baking apple, such as Granny Smith or Braeburn. Don't use red delicious apples, as they are too soft.)
  • 1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, and/or mixed nuts)
Cake Batter:
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup spiced rum (the alcohol boils out as the cake bakes in the oven)
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional, but it adds a touch of sweet spice!)
  • If you're not using crystalized or candied ginger (see above), add 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Zest of 1 orange or tangerine
Preparing a fruitcake is one of the easiest recipes in the world! Once you've gathered your ingredients together, here's all you need to do:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Chop up dried fruit and candied ginger. Peel and chop up apple, removing the core. Keep the chopped apple in a separate bowl. Mix 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice in with the chopped apple, to keep it fresh so the apple doesn't brown. Chop or crush nuts into pieces.
Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Mix it all together.
Add rum, milk, and honey. Mix it all together.
Add spices: cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, plus ground ginger if you're using it here. Mix all together…
Add filling: raisins, candied citrus, candied ginger (if you're using it here), dried fruit. Chop up apple and added it in. Zest one lemon and one orange. Add nuts. And mix it all together.
To keep your cake from having a floury residue on the outside after coming out of the pan, prepare a mixture of 2 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons solid vegetable shortening (such as Crisco), and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Mix together, and use this to grease the pan. Pour cake batter into bundt pan. (Note: This cake rises fantastic! You only need to fill the cake pan to 3/4 full at the most.)
Bake at 300 degrees F for 60 minutes, then test with a toothpick before removing the cake from the oven. If the toothpick is not dry, wait 10 minutes and test again. A deep pan, such as a bundt pan, will take longer to thoroughly bake, and may require as long as 90 minutes; while a more shallow pan, such as a standard layer cake pan, will finish faster and may be completely ready after 60 minutes.
Set the pan onto a trivet, and let the cake rest for 10 to 20 minutes before flipping the pan over to remove the cake.
Prepare a honey glaze (seen below). Alternately, serve slices of cake topped with butter, cream cheese, or a buttercream hard sauce.
Recipe: Buttercream Hard Sauce
Recipe: Candied Fruit Peel
Honey Glaze:
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) honey
Warm milk in saucepan, mix in sugar and ginger. Add honey to thicken the mixture and give it a tan-brown color. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake.

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