Fruitcakes

Recipe

Fruitcakes

Serving Size: 36
Preparation Time: 4:00

Ingredients

2 lbs raisins dark
1 lb figs, dried
2 lbs apricots, dried
1 lb prunes pitted
2 lbs raisins golden
1 lb apples, dried
1 lb dates pitted dried
1 lb citron large dice
2 lbs cherries glace
1 lb walnuts pieces
2 lbs pecans pieces
1 lb almonds sliced
1 pint rum dark
1 pint brandy
1 qt bourbon
8 lb butter unsalted
8 lb sugar brown
1 gallon eggs
6 lb flour cake
1 lb flour bread
2 oz salt
3 lb flour bread

Preparation

Trim and dice the fruit. Mix them with the nuts and pour the liquor over all. Marinate several days, covered, in a non porous container, stirring occasionally. (I use the three gallon tubs that are used to package fondant icing and frozen fruit. Do not use metal, it will corrode and blacken.)
Make the batter: Cream the butter and sugar. It will be too wet to get light and fluffy until you begin to add the eggs. You will have to add the cake flour sooner than you would with a plain pound cake. Finish with about a pound of the bread flour.
Dredge the fruit and nuts with the remaining bread flour and fold the two mixtures together.
Bake in loaves or rounds in paper lined molds in a slow oven. (325 F) You may want to insulate the bottom of the pan by placing it on corrugated cardboard or an inverted sheet pan. The cakes usually take close to two hours. Do not rely on visual clues for doneness: use a tester or toothpick. Because they bake so long, any uneven heating of your oven is exaggerated, so you should rotate the pans after an hour or so.
Cover the cakes with the sheet pan as they cool to trap the fragrant moisture, which will be reabsorbed. Give them another sprinkle of liquor before setting them aside to age still in their molds, covered, in a cool dark place. Leave them for at least two weeks.
One day before glazing sprinkle them again. Unmold before giving a first thin coat of apricot glaze. Decorate the tops with additional fruit and nuts, if you like, and give them a heavier glaze. Wrap the cakes in plastic or cellophane and store them for as long as you like (I have done it for two years) before serving.

Hint: You can bake the cakes in gift tins. You can shape them into rings by placing a disposable paper hot cup filled with beans(for weight) in the paper lined tin before the batter goes in. However, you must remove the cake and line the tin with plastic wrap before the first dousing.

The fruits I have indicated are not mandatory. Include others and omit what you don't like.The proportion of nuts to fruits and batter to fruits and nuts should stay the same, though. For instance, I don't always include the glace cherries and I like to add dried pears. You might want to add mixed candied fruit or green and red cherries, both for the sake of tradition, and drop out the apricots.

If you are making this at home and want manageable units to work with, multiply the numbers by two and change the units to ounces. 1 lb of butter, 6 cups of eggs, 1Tbsp salt, 6 cups cake flour, 4 cups all purpose flour. You will have six cakes, a little under 1-1/2 lbs each before dousing and decorating.

NOTES: Amy is a prize winning baker and taught baking at my college. I can personally vouch for these being the best fruitcakes I have ever eaten.

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