A Home-Reared Chef! Cook by Instinct, Recipe #20!
The gift that keeps re-gifting—The Heirloom Fruitcake!
Why fruitcake on the holidays? No one knows, and yet this is the time of year it is brought to life and made known. Even Martha Washington was known for her Great Cake.
Seriously, though, enough with the jokes; it is not a doorstop, brick or paperweight, and surely not as hard as a rock, or easier to cut with a chainsaw than a knife! The infamous fruitcake, passed from one sincere giver to a (sincere) and thankful receiver, to another, and then another; a gift that keeps re-gifting; now a national treasure—and certainly the gift that gets you wondering if the giver does actually like you. Perhaps they couldn’t think of anything else to give you. And perhaps this one promises to be delicious.
Confession time: I hated the (plastic) fruitcake as a child, but what kid doesn’t? Since, I have actually learned to really like the fruitcake, and I make them and eat them – once a year! Through my time spent in the kitchen and cooking I developed curiosities about foods, why some dishes are liked and popular, and why others are not liked, yet still popular (in their own way), such as the unloved fruitcake. For this reason, and for my new found love of fruitcake, I have searched and re-searched reading and testing recipes until I came up with a recipe that I, and my favorite cooking partner (and recipe accomplice) both, really, really like. So, conceivably, this is the fruitcake you might just like, and dare to give away as a gift this year!
The Heirloom Fruitcake
Ingredients:
8 cups (total) dried fruit, mixed (Medjool dates, cherries, cranberries, Mission figs, mango, papaya, pineapple, pears, apricots), chopped
3/4 cup Amaretto, warmed
3/4 cup Grand Marnier, warmed
2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped
2 cups butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
8 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
2 tablespoon baking powder
Directions:
1. Combine chopped fruit and warmed liquor in a bowl and let sit for about 2 hours (or overnight without heating the liquor).
2. Take out the middle rack from the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, cream butter and confectioner’s sugar.
4. Add beaten eggs yolks and blend mixture well.
5. Stir in fruit with its liquor and nuts.
6. In a very clean bowl, with very clean beaters, beat the eggs whites with cream of tartar to firm peaks, and set aside.
7. By hand, add flour 1 cup at a time, blending well after each addition.
8. Add baking spices and baking powder and blend well.
9. Gently fold into the batter, and fill 3 pans about 2/3 full.
Put the rack back in the oven and place the loaf pans centered. Bake cakes for about 2 hours or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Take cakes out of pans after 15 minutes, and cool on wire racks.
