Saturday, April 18, 2009

FRUITCAKES: Special occasion or not, I love it anyway!

This cake seen to be special, for the fact that most of the time we make it for Christmas. But you know me, I don't care about the occasion, haha, as long as it's delicious.

Last month I got an e-mail from someone, who wanted a recipe for a fruitcake that is not too sweet. Fruitcake is very sweet from the dried fruits but this recipe uses a lot of nut too and I use less sugar than the original recipe. I use only 220g of sugar but if you want less sweet you can use only 200g of sugar.

For the dried fruits you can use 2½ pounds of your favorite dried fruits, anything that you like, but don't forget to cut them into the same size. And for the fruits I let it stand for 1 week before using it (last time I make Light Fruit Cake: Easy Festive Cake! I felt so lazy I didn't want to wait for any minute ^ ^).




FRUITCAKES
MAKES TWO 8-INCH CAKES


2½ cups (15 ounces)
Raisins
2½ cups (15 ounces)
Golden raisins
2 cups (9 ounces)
Dried currants
2 cups (11 ounces)
Dried sour cherries
2½ cups (9 ounces)
Dried cranberries
1 cup (5 ounces)
Dried apricots, cut into ¼ -inch dice
¾ cup
Honey
1 cup
Cognac, Armagnac, or other brandy
3 sticks (1½ cups)
Unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
2¼ cups
Bread flour, plus more for pans
1 tablespoon
Coarse salt
1½ teaspoons
Ground ginger
1½ teaspoons
Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon
Ground cloves
1½ cups (5 ounces)
Walnuts, coarsely chopped
1¼ cups
Sugar ( I use 220g)
7
Large eggs
1½ cups
Apricot jam

Assorted nuts and dried fruits, for garnish (optional)




In a large nonreactive container (glass, ceramic, or plastic), combine the dried fruits, honey, and Cognac; set aside to macerate at room temperature for at least 24 hours, or up to 2 weeks, covered with plastic wrap.


Preheat the oven to 275°F. Generously butter and flour two 8-by-3-inch round cake pans; tap out any excess flour, and set aside. Sift the flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves into a large bowl. Stir in the walnuts, and set aside.


In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition to incorporate, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Transfer to a large bowl. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour-nut mixture and the drained fruit mixture; stir to evenly distribute fruits and nuts.


Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 2 hours to 2 hours 15 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool completely. Invert cakes onto rack to re move from pans. Reinvert, top sides up.


To decorate cakes, combine the apricot jam with ½ cup water in a small saucepan; stir until melted and combined. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl.

While jam is still hot, brush it liberally over cakes. Garnish cakes with additional dried fruits and nuts, if using, and top with a final coat of hot jam.


FRUITCAKES: Special occasion or not, I love it!

14 comments:

  1. I too love fruit cake and can eat it anytime. I like this type of fruit cake compare to the one I get here in US which I find way too sweet. Looking forward to try out your recipe soon. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I tried this recipe yesterday, the taste is fabulous! But, while mixing the ingredients, I noticed that neither baking powder nor baking soda was listed. I went ahead and added 1 tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of baking soda after checking the fruitcake recipe on foodnetwork.com. Does fruit cake recipe needs either of those? or why not?

    I have tried out several other recipes of yours, there are all very delicious. Thanks for sharing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. About this fruit cake.
    You can see that the recipe contains a lot of fruit, and bread flour.
    The reason for not using baking flour is to make the cake dense and when cut the fruit will stay in place,
    Pook ^ ^

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi,

    I am very keen in trying this recipe. But
    Not sure if I can still wrap it up w liquor soaked cloth for 1 week before consumption? As this recipe uses bread flour thus just want to mk sure I dont waste my soaked mixed fruits. :) thanks alot in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, with this recipe you can soak the cake and keep it for 1 week before consumption, because it contains a lot of dried fruit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. U meant with the large amount of fruits I do not need to soak it too long. Or if I soak too long it will effect the taste of this cake?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi,
    You can soak it longer if you want to, the taste of the cake will be richer (with the alcohol ^^) but if you like it that way it's OK.

    ReplyDelete
  8. i see.Thanks for clearing my doubts.u have been a grt help!i love ur blog!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi there,

    Is there a Oz or Gram version of your fruit recipe? Cos I scared if I do my conversion it will not be accurate.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi,
    For turning oz into gram, each oz equal 28.35g ^^.
    For example 15oz. equal 425gram.

    ReplyDelete
  11. any substitue for the dried fruits liquer soaking?
    please advice :)

    thank you ..

    ReplyDelete
  12. You can use orange juice instead ^^.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Can I soak the dry fruits in home made wine instead of liquor

    ReplyDelete

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