[Sca-cooks] Re: Fruitcake

[Louise Smithson]

While we wait for Mordonna to post her recipe, does
anyone else have a
good fruitcake recipe?  Mirhaxa

I can share my mothers recipe for English Fruitcake.  

My mother has been cooking this fruitcake since around
1967, it was her own wedding cake in 1968 and most of
the rest of the family's
Wedding/christening/Xmas/Easter cakes ever since.  She
sent me the recipe about two years ago, but it was
almost medieval in its brevity.  So I called her up 
to get specific details from her, rather than a list
of ingredients.  Sorry if this is rather long I am
trying to condense thirty years experience in a single
recipe.  

The following recipe is for an 8" round cake, for a 6"
round use ¾ of the recipe for a 10" round use 1 and a
half.
All measurements are in ounce weight unless otherwise
indicated

Ingredients
Currants (zante)	10 oz
Sultanas (golden raisins)	10 oz
Raisins	7 oz
Glace cherries	5 oz
Slivered almonds (called sliced in US)	4 oz
Citrus peel *1	4 oz
Butter or margarine *2	10 oz
Soft brown sugar *3	10 oz
Large eggs	6
Almond essence	1 tsp
Plain flour *4	9 oz
Ground nutmeg	half teaspoon (abbreviated tsp)
Ground cinnamon	1 tsp
Ground ginger	half tsp
Mixed spice *5	1 tsp
Brandy 	about a cup
Apricot jam
Almond paste/marzipan
Fondant icing (the roll-able stuff)

Method

1)	Up to two days before.  Wash the dried fruit
(sultanas, currants, raisins) and allow to drain. 
When dry put it in a bowl and add about one quarter to
half cup brandy (you decide, she doesn't measure). 
And leave to soak overnight.
2)	Preheat oven to 150 °C, 300°F or 130°C if you have
a convection oven.  
3)	Add cherries, citrus peel and almonds to the dried
fruit mix (mum said she sometimes includes chopped
dried apricots, your choice)
4)	Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
5)	Add the eggs and beat to incorporate, they will
separate but "don't worry about it", add the almond
essence.
6)	Sift the flour and spices together and fold into
the batter
7)	Fold in the fruit mixture
8)	Pour into a greased and lined cake tin (parchment
or greaseproof paper) *6
9)	Bake in the center of the oven for about 3 hours,
or until a skewer pushed into the center of the cake
comes out clean *7.
10)	Allow to cool in the tin overnight.
11)	Leave the parchement paper on the cake.  Prick the
cake all over with a skewer and sprinkle over about
two or three tablespoons of brandy.  Wrap in tinfoil,
put in an airtight tin and let it sit in a cool, dark
place for a month or more *8.

To ice and decorate
1)	In a pan bring just to a boil, 2 to 4 tablespoons
of apricot jam and a tablespoon of water.  Strain it
through a sieve to get rid of lumps.
2)	Brush the cake all over with the apricot jam, this
serves to seal the cake and allow the almond paste to
stick. 
3)	Cover the cake with almond paste/marzipan.  Leave
uncovered for three days.  This allows the marzipan to
dry out so that the almond oils don't soak through the
icing. 
4)	Brush the marzipan with boiled water to allow the
sugar paste to stick.  Roll out sugar paste and cover
cake.
5)	Have fun coloring in sugar paste and cutting out
Santas, Xmas trees, whatever your fervent imagination
wishes and decorate the cake.  Enjoy. 

Notes
*1	In the UK and Canada this is sold as cut mixed
peel.  It is a mixture of candied orange, lemon and
citron peel.  Do not substitute "English mix" candied
fruits, it is not the same. 
*2	In most of my mothers recipes when she says butter
she uses margarine.  The cake is so strongly flavored
that the flavor of the butter does not come through
and margarine is cheaper.
*3	US equivalent would be light brown sugar.
*4	UK plain flour is lower in gluten than US
all-purpose flour.  Cake flour may be a more
appropriate substitute.
*5	Mixed spice is a ground mixture of cinnamon,
allspice, cloves, nutmeg and ginger.  It is similar
but not identical to pumpkin pie spice.  Add a pinch
each of ground cloves and allspice.  My mother did not
have accurate measurements for the spices her words
were "More cinnamon and mixed spice than ginger and
nutmeg, probably around a tsp of cinnamon".  So feel
free to alter the amounts/proportions of spice to suit
your taste.  
*6	Because of the slow baking it is necessary to
insulate the side of the pan to prevent scorching.  To
do this a double layer of newspaper is tied around the
pan with string, it should top the edge of the pan by
at least 2 inches.  The cake tin is then placed on a
tray on top of another two sheets of newspaper. 
*7	Fruit cakes can bake for variable times before they
are ready, even with the same oven and cook.  Mum said
some of hers bake for nearly four hours, others under
3.  It probably depends on how moist the fruit was,
humidity, oven, how generous you were with the brandy.
 So don't worry if it has been in the oven for over 3½
hours and it isn't done yet.  But best to start
checking around 2 and a half. 
*8	It matures as it sits, my mother said not to add
brandy more than this once because it has a tendency
to make the cake soggy so that it collapses when you
try to cut it.  She generally starts her xmas cakes in
October so they will be two months old when we cut
into them. Do not ice/decorate until about a week/two
weeks before serving. 

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/