Recipe for "fruit-cake-1"

NAME

     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 3-kg cake)

     500 g     candied citron (or candied fruit and peels)
     250 g     candied cherries
     150 g     dark raisins
     150 g     golden raisins
     200 g     Calmyra figs, cut into pieces
     170 g     pitted dates, cut into small slices
     170 g     pecan halves (or walnut halves if necessary)
     12 cl     brandy
     300 g     white flour
     10 ml     baking powder
     10 ml     salt
     15 ml     ground cinnamon
     5 ml      ground nutmeg
     5 ml      ground allspice
     5 ml      ground cloves
     4         eggs
     350 g     packed brown sugar
     25 cl     orange juice
     170 g     melted butter, cooled
     6 cl      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 150 deg.  C.   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 150 deg. C 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 25x
     10  cm 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 extract-
     ing 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 21/2
     cups of candied citron and 1 1/3 cups of the  candied  cher-
     ries.   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