Fabulous Holiday Fruitcake

* Exported from MasterCook Mac *

FABULOUS HOLIDAY FRUITCAKE

Recipe By : LF List:Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too;Purdy (S. Badian)
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cakes Christmas
Desserts Holiday

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
Fruit:
1 cup dried pears -- cut-up;6 oz. packed
1 cup dried peaches -- cut-up:6 oz. packed
1 cup dried apricots -- cut-up;6oz packed
1 cup dried prunes -- cut-up; 6 oz packed
1 cup pitted dates -- cut-up;6 oz packed
1 3/4 cups dried apples -- cut-up slices;6oz pk
1 cup seedless raisins -- 5 oz packed
1 cup golden raisins -- 5 oz packed
2 1/2 ounces dried currants -- 1/2c packed
1/2 cup candied yellow pineapple -- chopped (optional)
1 cup dark rum -- or brandy
CAKE:
solid shortening
butter flavored no stick cooking spray
1 large egg
3 whole egg whites
1 3/4 cups light brown sugar -- packed
1/2 cup canola oil -- or safflower oil
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup apple juice -- or orange juice
2 cups unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
or 1/2 tsp pure orange oil or extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour -- unsifted
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour -- unsifted
or use all all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup wheat germ
Dark rum or brandy for soaking cakes -- optional
2 recipes Vanilla Icing Glaze
pecan or walnut halves -- optional
or blanched whole almonds -- optional
VANILLA ICING GLAZE:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons apple juice -- up to 2 tbl
or strained orange juice, dark rum,
or brandy
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Fabulous Holiday Fruitcake
(from Susan Purdy's Have Your Cake and Eat it Too)

This recipe is your special reward for buying this book. You will
thank me, I promise. This is a fruitcake you can, and will, love.
You will make it, serve it, and eat it with pleasure. This fruit-
cake never has been or will be, recycled, used to fill a pothole,
used to pound nails, used as an anchor. The recipe, rather than
the fruitcake itself, will become a heirloom you will pass to your
child as I have to mind.

There are two secret ingredients here: the cake and the fruit. A
moist, lightly spiced applesauce cake with a fine, flavorful crumb
binds a cornucopia of naturally sweet (not candied) dried fruits.
Not a red or green one in the lot. Just natural, organic, dried
fruits from the natural food store or fine grocery cut up with
kitchen shears or chopped with a knife. Try apples, apricots, pears,
peaches, pineapple, prunes, dates, black and golden raisins, and
currants. Not creative enough? Add dried mango or papaya, or dried
cherries, cranberries, or blueberries. Candied pineapple is neither
medicinal nor chemical in taste; it is the one holdover that I
occasionally use. I have avoided nuts because they are so high in
fat, and with the great variety of ingredients, I don't miss them.
If you wish, you can use halved nuts to garnish the cake top along
with the Vanilla Icing Glaze.

A perfect Christmas gift cake, this makes one-stop shopping: You
get eight small loaves with this recipe.

Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients; fruitcake is
supposed to have a lot of stuff in it.

Yield:
Makes 14 cups of batter; 8 small loaves (5 1/2 x 3 x
2 1/8), 8 servings each or 4 average loaves (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4),
16 servings each.

Advance Preparation:
If you have the time, the fruit benefits from macerating for 24 hours
in rum or brandy; otherwise mix up the fruit before you make the cakes.
Cakes can be wrapped in cloths soaked in brandy or dark rum and stored
in tins for (theoretically) several months. I have only kept them
soaking up to 1 montth because I prefer to freeze the cakes after aging
them in spirit-soaked cloths for 1 week. At holiday time, I am usually
rushed, so I often forget the soaking and aging and just bake the cakes,
glaze them, wrap airtight in several layers of plastic wrap and a heavy
duty plastic zip-lock bag, and freeze. Then you can remove from the
freezer, add a ribbon and a recipe card (and if you are feeling ex-
pansive, a new loaf pan) and give as gifts. [Susan Purdy]

Special Equipment:
8 small loaf pans (5 1/2 x 3 x 2 1/8 inches; 2 1/4 cup capacity) or
4 average loaf pans (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches; 5 1/4 cup capacity);
wax paper or baking parchment; extra large bowl; muslin, cotton fabric
or cheesecloth (optional); metal or plastic boxes for storing cakes
(optional)

Temperature and Time
350 degrees F for 60 to 65 minutes for small loaves, 1 hour and
15 to 20 minutes for average loaves

1. Twenty-four hours before baking the cakes (or as early on the baking
day as possible), assemble all the fruit in a large bowl. Stir in the
dark rum or brandy, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside.

2. Position 2 racks to divide the oven in thirds, and preheat the oven
to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the pans with solid shortening. Cut
wax paper or parchment liners to fit inside, and press the papers
against the greased pan bottom and sides. Lightly coat the paper with
cooking spray.

3. In a large bowl, combine the egg and egg whites, brown sugar, oil,
honey, juice, applesauce, vanilla, and grated orange zest or orange
flavoring. Whisk, or beat with an electric mixer on low, to blend
well. Set a large strainer over the bowl and add both flours, the
baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Stir and sift the dry
ingredients onto the wet. Add the wheat germ. With the whisk, or the
mixer at low speed, mix until just blended. Do not overbeat.

4. Stir the spirit-soaked fruit into the batter and blend well. Divide
the batter among the prepared pans, filling them about three quarters
full. (The batter is very heavy, and while it does rise, it will not
overflow the pans.) Bake small loaves for about 60 to 65 minutes and
regular loaves for about 1 hour and 15 to 20 minutes, or until the
cakes are risen and golden brown on top, and a cake tester inserted
in the center comes out clean.

5. Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks for about 10 minutes.
Then tip them gently from the pans, peel off the paper, and set them
right side up on wire racks to cool completely.

6. When the cakes are completely cool, if you like, wrap them in rum-
or brandy-soaked cloths, place in a heavy-duty zip-lock bags or plastic
boxes, and set in a cool, dark location to age for about 1 month.
Renew the spirits when they dry out. (Do not attempt to substitute
fruit juice for spirits; only alcohol will preserve the cakes.)

7. To glaze the cakes, set them on racks over wax paper. Drizzle some
of the glaze on top of each cake, letting it run down the sides. If
you wish, place a few nuts in the glaze before it dries. Let sit
until the glaze is dried and set, about 30 minutes. When the glaze is
hard, you can wrap the cakes in plastic wrap and freeze them, or give
them as gifts, or slice and serve.


Vanilla Icing Glaze

1. Whisk together the sugar, liquid and the extract. Add a few more
drops of liquid if need to make a glaze soft enough to drip from
a spoon.


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Per serving: 7993 Calories; 128g Fat (14% calories from fat); 90g Protein;
1618g Carbohydrate; 181mg Cholesterol; 3345mg Sodium

NOTES : Try cooking the cakes at 325F instead as they were overcooked too
early at 350F.

DO pre-soak in rum! These cakes are very, very promising!! [Ellen]