FRUIT-CAKE-1(C)          USENET Cookbook          FRUIT-CAKE-1(C)

DARK FRUITCAKE

     FRUIT-CAKE-1 - An extravagant traditional fruitcake

     This is about as rich a fruitcake as you could possibly want
     to make. It started life as a Better Homes and Gardens
     recipe, but has been changed beyond all recognition.

INGREDIENTS (1 7-lb cake)
     16 oz     candied citron (or candied fruit and peels)
     8 oz      candied cherries
     1 cup     dark raisins
     1 cup     golden raisins
     1 1/3 cups
               Calmyra figs, cut into pieces
     1 1/3 cups
               pitted dates, cut into small slices
     1 1/2 cups
               pecan halves (or walnut halves if necessary)
     1/2 cup   brandy
     3 cups    white flour
     2 tsp     baking powder
     2 tsp     salt
     1 Tbsp    ground cinnamon
     1 tsp     ground nutmeg
     1 tsp     ground allspice
     1 tsp     ground cloves
     4         eggs
     1 3/4 cups
               packed brown sugar
     1 cup     orange juice
     3/4 cup   melted butter, cooled
     1/4 cup   light molasses (treacle)

PROCEDURE
          (1)  Mix fruits together in a bowl.  Pour brandy over
               fruits.  Turn fruit mixture over every 20 minutes.
               Soaking time is a matter of taste, but two hours
               is typical.

          (2)  Preheat oven to 300 deg. F.  Prepare tube pan:
               grease sides and bottom.  Line bottom and sides
               with greased brown paper.

          (3)  In a very large bowl, mix flour, spices, baking
               powder, and salt.  Stir until spices are evenly
               blended throughout.

          (4)  In a third bowl beat eggs until fluffy.  Add brown
               sugar, orange juice, molasses, and butter. Mix,
               making sure that all the sugar dissolves.

          (5)  Pour off any liquid from fruit mixture and add the
               fruit and the nuts to the dry ingredients. Mix
               until all fruit pieces are coated.  Then pour in
               the liquids and mix gently until you have an
               evenly-mixed batter.

          (6)  Pour batter into pan and bake at 300 deg. F for 1
               hour.  Cover pan with foil and bake for 1 hour
               more or until toothpick inserted in center comes
               out clean.  Cool for 30 minutes before removing
               from pan.  Peel off paper very carefully.

          (7)  Put cake in cake tin lined with foil.  For the
               next 3 to 4 weeks, sprinkle a little brandy over
               cake twice a week.  Keep cake covered and store
               the tin in the refrigerator.  If you prefer to
               omit the brandy, cover top of cake with very thin
               slices of apple instead.

NOTES
     This makes a HUGE cake.  If your tube pan isn't at least
     10x4 inches there is a fair chance that it will run over; in
     that case, use several loaf pans instead (fill loaf pans
     about half-way).  A pan with a removable center will make
     extracting the cake much easier.

     Except for mixing the liquids, an electric beater is useless
     for this recipe.

     In the USA, candied fruits typically come in packages of the
     indicated sizes.  If you have to measure by volume, use 2
     1/2 cups of candied citron and 1 1/3 cups of the candied
     cherries.  I prefer citron instead of the mixture because
     there's no bitterness from the rinds, although the cake
     isn't so colorful.  Calmyra figs are the light-colored figs
     most commonly seen in North America.

RATING
     Difficulty: moderate.  Time: 2 hours preparation (including
     soaking the fruit), 2 hours baking, several weeks mellowing.
     Precision: Measure batter ingredients carefully.  Fruit and
     nut quantities are somewhat flexible.

CONTRIBUTOR
     Charles Wingate
     University of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, Maryland, USA
     seismo!mimsy!mangoe   or   mangoe@mimsy.umd.edu
     Path: decwrl!recipes
     From: snix@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Seema Chandnani)
     Newsgroups: alt.gourmand
     Subject: RECIPE: Old-world fruitcake
     Message-ID: 
     Date: 23 Oct 87 05:14:03 GMT
     Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
     Distribution: alt
     Organization: U. Chicago Computation Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA
     Lines: 72
     Approved: reid@decwrl.dec.com

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