Monday, October 12, 2009

Fruitcake time!!!

FruitCake for people who DON'T like fruitcake!



I have never been a huge fan of fruit cake..but it is a tradition in my family..and so I took a very old family recipe and made it to suit me..hence the birth of.."Fruitcake for people who don't like Fruitcake!
Here is my recipe..I have kept one secret to myself..which is what I use for flavouring..but  as I don't use alcohol in my cake..you are welcome to "flavour" it as you wish.


Ingredients

2 Pounds of butter
4 cups liquid honey
18 farm fresh eggs
7 and 1/2 Cups flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
dash salt
4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground allspice

2 Cups halved candied cherries ( red and green)
2 Cups dried apricots
2 Cup Yellow sultana raisins
4 cups dark raisins
2 Cups dried black currants
2 Cups choped walnuts and/or Pecans
2 cups slivered almonds

1 Tbls of flavouring of your choice..ie; rum extract, vanilla.

Before begining.. put dried aprictos in a bowl and cover with boiling water from the kettle..let soak about 30 minutes. Drain and cut into slivers with Clean scissors and add to bowl of dried fruits.


Mix and sift dry ingredients and set aside.
In a VERY large bowl..beat the 2 pounds softened butter with 4 cups honey..when well mixed beat in eggs 3 at a time until well mixed.
Add Flavouring.
When well beaten..continue to mix while adding one cup of flour/spice/BP mixture at a time..beating well after each addition, until you have a well mixed batter.
Now comes the fun part..I hope your bowl is large..if not scrape batter into a canning pot..then dump in all the fruit and nuts!! Stir in a CLOCKWISE motion until well mixed..you may need some muscle power help with this stage..it IS IMPORTANT that everyone in the house takes a turn at stirring ( or trying to) the batter..as it adds good luck. Ladel into well greased pans...now here is the tricky part.

This is a very LARGE recipe..it will make 18 cakes the size of bricks...so..depending on the size of your pans ( I use brick sized aluminum pans from the dollar store) bake at 325 D F

for...
Small brick sized cakes bake for 30-40 minute or until golden and springy


IMPORTANT
IF you are making LARGER cakes..such as 9-10 in round or square or bigger..reduce heat to 275 DF and put a shallow pan of water in bottom of oven and bake until golden brown and when a tootpick inserted comes out clean and cakes are firm..the water is needed to keep cakes from drying out..and they need a lower heat and slower oven because of their content weight..this is VERY important.

Garnish
When cakes are cool..heat up some liquid honey in microwave until REALLY fluid...brush on cakes to glaze and add candied fruits and nuts ( I like slivered almonds) for decoration!!

Package and wrap as seasonal gifts for the holidays..Fruit cakes need time to "age" and should be baked a month in advance and can be easily frozen until ready to hand out!

CHEERS!!

No comments: