The Fruitcake Topic

[andiesenji]

Melonpan tried the cocoa fruitcake and posted photos in the topic that was linked above.

I also posted a recipe for a mincemeat made with pork, another family recipe that can be incorporated into a cake. It is in a different thread, I will have to look for the reference. I thought I had put the recipe in recipegullet but it is not there.

Edited August 26, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[petite tête de chou]

Xmas cake recipe

In my youth it was improved by the additon of "special spice" (good quality hash).

Slice thinly if you do this.

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Now THAT would make my Christmas!

[sanrensho]

Melonpan tried the cocoa fruitcake and posted photos in the topic that was linked above.

Thanks for reposting the recipe. I really like the idea of a cocoa fruitcake. Something a little different from the usual fruitcake. Not that I have anything against fruitcake.

The cocoa fruitcake is definitely being added to my "to do" list.

[Syrah]

I have been using the same recipe for years. It is a boiled dark fruit cake. Basically you soak the fruit and nut mixture for 10 days. It has no glace cherries, but glace pineapple and apricot are included, as well as prunes, dates, sultanas, almonds, walnuts... Grand Marnier is the booze of choice. If this appeals, let me know and I will post it for you.

[Mette]

Also, can anyone tell me where I can order some good quality fruits, rather than buying the scarey red and green "fruit" at the grocery store?

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If there's any interest, I'll post the recipe for the fruit cake. We have it every christmas and had it as a wedding cake as well :-)

/Mette

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Yes! Expressing interest here.... it would be lovely if you could post the recipe.

pat w

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The recipe is now in recipeGullet click

I'm sure a bit of jackal10's 'special spice' would add a certain je-ne-se-quois (and the rich flavour of the cake would mask the nasty flavour), but as this is a family oriented site.......

Anyway, all this talk about fruit cake has led my Husband to start talking about getting the christmas pudding under way - looking forward to it already

Edited August 29, 2005 by Mette (log)

[helenjp]

Glace fruits: others may have had better experiences, but the one time I used glace fruits, the finished cake was just too sweet to eat, even though I cut the sugar quantity in half to compensate for the sweetness of the glace fruit.

If I were going to use them again, I think I might douse them in boiling water to get rid of some of the sugar, then soak them in alcohol or dry them out.

Candied orange and lemon peels - it's not hard to do it yourself, but I've taken to adding shredded fresh citrus peel. Tangerine/tangelo is especially nice.

[Syrah]

Glace fruits: others may have had better experiences, but the one time I used glace fruits, the finished cake was just too sweet to eat, even though I cut the sugar quantity in half to compensate for the sweetness of the glace fruit.

If I were going to use them again, I think I might douse them in boiling water to get rid of some of the sugar, then soak them in alcohol or dry them out.

Candied orange and lemon peels - it's not hard to do it yourself, but I've taken to adding shredded fresh citrus peel. Tangerine/tangelo is especially nice.

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I find the ones you can buy in the supermarket in packets are far more sticky sugary. I buy mine from the healthfood store, and I haven't noticed them being overly sugary at all.

[Kevin Weeks]

I am hoping to make a couple of kinds of fruit cake this yearfor the Christmas season, but I remember reading that you needed to make them about 6 months in advance in order to "cure" them by basting them with some sort of liquor every so often.

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Amccomb,

Every Thanksgiving my father would make Fruitcake (which no one particularly liked except him) and my mother would make Bourbon Cake (which everyone loved).

The Bourbon Cake matures at about six weeks and though it will keep longer (if you keep dousing it) it doesn't get significantly better.

Here's the Bourbon Cake recipe: http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com/2003/12/bourbon-cake.html

[Badiane]

My husband is a English confectioner and baker, has made several thousand fruitcakes in his lifetime...he has been leaning over my shoulder having a hairy coniption for the last five minutes until I promised to pass on this...

Never, ever ever pour booze over the cake. Soak the fruit in the booze of choice, preferably for a few days. Don't pour the booze over the cake, don't baste it. Just soak the fruit.

Why?

Because pouring booze on the cake makes it soggy and too hard to stick the marzipan to. It also tastes like raw liquor, and can be harsh and unpleasant. And THAT, he says, is why people don't like fruitcake

Me, I chop it in bits, soak it in booze and cover it with pouring custard. Tastes pretty good to me.

And Pat W....PM me and remind me for pfefferneuse recipes...I have about 40 of them...tell me what yours was like (big, small, hard, soft) and I will see if I have a match for you.

Edited September 12, 2005 by Badiane (log)

[Pat W]

My husband is a English confectioner and baker, has made several thousand fruitcakes in his lifetime...he has been leaning over my shoulder having a hairy coniption for the last five minutes until I promised to pass on this...

Never, ever ever pour booze over the cake.  Soak the fruit in the booze of choice, preferably for a few days.  Don't pour the booze over the cake, don't baste it.  Just soak the fruit. 

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OK, I have to press the point just a little... Does this also include wrapping the cake in brandy moistened (or maybe soaked) cheese cloth? ...which technically would be neither pouring nor basting?

Just looking for a loophole here.

pat w.

P.S. Just sent my first PM, hope I did it right.

Edited September 13, 2005 by Pat W (log)

[jackal10]

With all respect I pour booze on my cake, and I like it.

Never had problems with sogginess or getting the marzipan to stick. - its not that much booze, and it soaks in well.

I do brush the cake with apricot glaze before putting on the marzipan.

Of course, it has to be good booze. If you wouldn't drink it don't put it on the cake/

[Kevin Weeks]

Because pouring booze on the cake makes it soggy and too hard to stick the marzipan to.  It also tastes like raw liquor, and can be harsh and unpleasant.  And THAT, he says, is why people don't like fruitcake 

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I've never had marzipan on a fruitcake and I can say with certainty that it was the fruit in the fruitcake that no one liked.

As far as booze, if you add so much it gets soggy then you're going to have a soggy cake. Seems pretty irrefutable. If you add less booze it doesn't get soggy because the booze evaporates as time goes by leaving behind the flavor behind.

[Char]

I've never had marzipan on a fruitcake and I can say with certainty that it was the fruit in the fruitcake that no one liked.

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Oh, you're missing out. In Trinidad, fruitcakes are used both as wedding cakes and Christmas cakes. The cakes aren't very sweet, almost bitter, but the bitterness balances the sweetness of the coating (of marzipan) and decoration (royal icing). If you find fruitcakes too sweet and one dimensional, try this technique.

As for the liquor, I use Meyer's rum. I think part of the reason people don't like cakes with alcohol is because the alcohol has a high proof. For cakes such as these, I prefer to use lower proof liquours (like Meyer's rum as opposed to Bacardi 151 rum) or liqueurs.

But most importantly (as jackal said), if I won't drink it, I don't put on the cake. If you want to cheapen the cost of the cake, use less fruit. Don't use cheap liquour.

[andiesenji]

Regarding the cocoa fruit cake recipe I posted earlier. It also freezes well and keeps for at least 10 months.

This past weekend I found one in the freezer that I made last November - it got pushed to the back of one of the baskets and was masquerading as something else.

For some reason I didn't rotate the stuff in that basket on my regular schedule and missed the cake.

I let it thaw in the refrigerator and this evening took over to my neighbors who had invited me for dinner.

It was still good.

[JeanneCake]

I've made - for the first time - a fruitcake for an upcoming wedding. I used the client's recipe, which called for splashing the fruit (currents, dried cherries and mixed raisins in this particular recipe) with brandy, let it stand overnight and adding it to the cake batter. I did a little checking into recipes and noticed that some call for marinating the fruit for a long time before baking (3-5 days), and those recipes need to ripen for about a week before eating; others with less marinating time need weeks or months to ripen.

So now I'm curious....What is happening during the ripening process? What if you don't wait as long as you should before you cut into the cake - is the cake too dry? too "hot" with alcohol? Too wet and hard to cut? What is it about the longer soak in alcohol that makes some of these recipes ready after a week and others not?

[PassionateChefsDie]

So now I'm curious....What is happening during the ripening process?  What if you don't wait as long as you should before you cut into the cake - is the cake too dry? too "hot" with alcohol?  Too wet and hard to cut? What is it about the longer soak in alcohol that makes some of these recipes ready after a week and others not?

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I thought you marinated the whole cake which makes more sense to me as the alcohol would preserve the cake but once the alcohol is cooked out would it have any effect at all?

I have an xmas pudding thats is matured for several months raw thats then cooked! As for the reasoning behind this I can only guess its to almagamate the flavours or to reduce the alcohol content and soften the fruit.

Going on softening the fruit I can only guess that this is the reasoning for marinading the fruit. As for effect is there any difference between fruit thats been steeped for 2 days and fruit thats been steeped for 4 days! Sounds like an experiment a whole cake marinaded, fruit for several days and finally fruit for longer still.

But I honestly thought you matured the whole cake in alcohol, the longer time marinading may reduce the alcohol content but not significatly enough that you'd notice in the finished article I wouldn't of thought.

To go back to your statement too wet, this would be my guess as the length of time matured would effect the finally moisture content. I reckon the recipes aren't like for like and have varying amounts of liquid, failing that it could be simply that one cook prefers a wetter cake.

[Redsugar]

Maceration – the term applies specifically to fruits; whereas “marinade” pertains to usage with seafood & meats.

Fruitcakes have become the object of every form of bad culinary joke – predominantly because most North Americans, exposed increasingly to little more than insipid store-bought or mail-order products, do not know (or have forgotten) what great fruitcake tastes like. In the US South, aficianados of this confection are, by tradition, fiercely proud of their fruitcakes, and disputes can become heated when it comes to which ingredients are indipensable, exactly how a cake should be mixed, and the length time it must be aged. Because of their high alcohol & sugar content, “heirloom fruitcakes” that are moistened from time to time with additional spirits and kept in sealed containers can be preserved for many years.

Purists believe that the ideal fruitcake should be baked at least one year in advance of serving. It should be wrapped well, stored in an airtight container to mellow in the refrigerator – where it’s pampered with occasional dousings of bourbon, rum or sweet (such as blackberry!) wine. Nevertheless, to venture an answer as to "why" some are ready to be eaten quite soon, even a well-made fruitcake in its infancy has the abilitiy to produce instant gratification.

Using two standard loaf pans, one of my favorite fruitcakes to bake contains orange-juice-softened dried apples & apricots, sultanas, dates, and pecans. The cakes are doused with the spirits (brandy & orange liqueur) only afterwards. Success with these cakes have been essentially invariable.

My largest fruitcake (baked in a 10-inch tube pan & two loaf pans) contains a whopping six pounds of dried fruit which is not macerated before it’s added to the batter along with ¾ cup bourbon. After the cakes have been removed from their pans, glazed & decorated, I wrap them securely in muslin cloth, over-wrap with foil, then store for at least a month before cutting. Beyond that time, I sprinkle the cloth with bourbon about every 6 weeks.

However, (as you’ve indicated), the dried fruit can, indeed, be macerated prior to being spooned into the batter. A good example recipe is supplied in Malouf’s The Hudson River Valley Cookbook (Harvard Common Press, 1998), in which dried cherries, cranberries, and golden raisins are simmered in brandy for 5 minutes, then allowed to steep. (see pp.274f.) Likewise, a baker in my area macerates his fruitcake’s almonds, raisins, currants, and dates in brandy or cognac overnight at room temp. (The pineapple is cooked on the stovetop; then brandy, cherry juice, and preserves are added.)

The optimal benefit from macerating the fruits is that the steeping provides an infusion or melding of flavours which are then imparted to the baked cake. As your post is vague regarding actual measurements & proportions used in your fruitcake, please supplement with further details. Then you’ll see the suggestions flow in this topic thread!

In the meantime, interested readers search the Arizona Daily Star Web site for an article by Rebecca J. Boten, “Serious Fruitcake.” (Originally published on Dec. 22, 2004.) I downloaded a copy several months ago: I assure you that it’s well-worth accessing.

[joaquin]

A gift of great homemade fruitcake will be remembered forever by those who receive it. Since I live in California where great dried fruit is available at modest prices (www.oldriverfruits.com) I like to mix up the varieties---peaches, pluots, cherries, etc---and note them on the gift card. Mascerating overnight is usually enough to impart good flavor but if you want to go longer, I recommend adding 1/4 cup of alcohol every other day to keep the fruit at maximum moistness. Also when you bake remember that you can use various loaf pan sizes or even make fruitcake cookies to distribute among friends and neighbors.

[JeanneCake]

their recipe calls for 8 oz dried cherries, 14 oz currants, and 22 oz mixed raisins splashed with brandy (not enough to float the fruit, just enough to wet them) and held overnight. Then 12 oz butter, 12 oz brown sugar; creamed. Then add 6 beaten-to-mix eggs to the creamed butter/sugar, then add the dry ingredients which are: 12 oz a/p flour, 1 tsp baking powder, pinch salt, 1.5 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg. Add 3 oz ground almonds and the zest and juice of a lemon and put it in the oven at 325 for 3.5 hours. I adjusted the recipe to make a 12" round cake and two 10" cakes for their wedding (the 12" is going to be the bottom tier, the top tiers are styro, the other two are kitchen cakes).

So I've been brushing a little brandy on them every few days; but I started to go through books (english cookbooks mostly) and found there's two basic categories of fruitcake (steamed pudds are another topic) - the ones with fruit soaked for days and the ones with the fruit soaked overnight. Since I am one of those who has not had fruitcake (good or bad... well wait - there was this awful thing my sister had got from a Harry and David gift basket but that cannot be the same thing as what I've made!!). I don't know what this is supposed to taste like or what the texture is supposed to be like. The wedding is next weekend, should I stop brushing with brandy soon or douse it right before I put on the marzipan and fondant?

Thanks for the help!

[PassionateChefsDie]

Since I am one of those who has not had fruitcake (good or bad... well wait - there was this awful thing my sister had got from a Harry and David gift basket but that cannot be the same thing as what I've made!!). I don't know what this is supposed to taste like or what the texture is supposed to be like.  The wedding is next weekend, should I stop brushing with brandy soon or douse it right before I put on the marzipan and fondant?

Thanks for the help!

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Being a big fan of Fruitcake its a difficult one to say but from your point about Alcohol "Burn" in the original posting I'd stop earlier for that reason unless you want the taste, thats going to be personal. As for good and bad and regarding texture its seems there's a multitude of ways, with the amount of eggs you've got I'd expect it to have less of a crumb and more of a bite.

If you just don't like fruitcake its a hard one I love all things like this, mince pies, xmas pudding etc I personally wouldn't like a recipe with that many eggs in.

6 eggs seems a lot for less than a 1Ib of dried goods, the fruit doesn't benefit from the eggs, not sure why the baking powder(There's barely any batter covering the fruit), from that recipe it looks like an old fashioned dense cake and will give a bounce more like xmas pudding. Less eggs will give a crumblier cake, maturing will also effect the crumb.

Hopefully RedSugar will way in before you need to know.

Over the years I've had fruitcake with a bounce when you bite into it, some that crumble as you try to eat them, some in between which is my preference! Rarely could you taste the alcohol burn, as for taste as long as it hasn't got a liquorice back note that was my only pet peeve. I'm just a marzipan freak I'd chase any of the wedding cake icing, marzipan or cake what ever part you didn't like.

Hope this helps

Stef

Edited to add

And the 3rd kind I'd probably argue the original not macerated at all, with a bit of stout in the batter! Then soaked for a month etc..

Edited October 11, 2005 by PassionateChefsDie (log)

[JamericanDiva]

their recipe calls for 8 oz dried cherries, 14 oz currants, and 22 oz mixed raisins splashed with brandy (not enough to float the fruit, just enough to wet them) and held overnight.  Then 12 oz butter, 12 oz brown sugar; creamed.  Then add 6 beaten-to-mix eggs to the creamed butter/sugar, then add the dry ingredients which are: 12 oz a/p flour, 1 tsp baking powder, pinch salt, 1.5 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg.  Add 3 oz ground almonds and the zest and juice of a lemon and put it in the oven at 325 for 3.5 hours.  I adjusted the recipe to make a 12" round cake and two 10" cakes for their wedding (the 12" is going to be the bottom tier, the top tiers are styro,  the other two are kitchen cakes).

So I've been brushing a little brandy on them every few days; but I started to go through books (english cookbooks mostly) and found there's two basic categories of fruitcake (steamed pudds are another topic) - the ones with fruit soaked for days and the ones with the fruit soaked overnight.  Since I am one of those who has not had fruitcake (good or bad... well wait - there was this awful thing my sister had got from a Harry and David gift basket but that cannot be the same thing as what I've made!!). I don't know what this is supposed to taste like or what the texture is supposed to be like.  The wedding is next weekend, should I stop brushing with brandy soon or douse it right before I put on the marzipan and fondant?

Thanks for the help!

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JeanneCake, where is the bride/groom from? Is this a West Indian style fruitcake? Usually when I make mine, I pour the liquor on it as soon as it comes out of the oven. I let it cool in the pan uncovered. Once completely cool, I cover the pan with foil and leave it for 3 days before I turn it out and cover it in fondant. I know the traditional English way calls for a layer of marzipan, but I don't use that. If I were you, I wouldn't wet the day of covering it with the marzipan and fondant... maybe the day before. This allows the liquor to be well absorbed and sorta mellow out. I guess it's all in the preference, but I like my blackcakes to have a smooth taste.

Edited October 12, 2005 by JamericanDiva (log)

[JeanneCake]

The couple is from the Boston area, but have spent a lot of time in London and they said they had adapted the recipe from a National Trust cookbook - from what I've read, it doesn't seem like a West Indies style fruitcake, but more like a Dundee cake with the proportions of flour/eggs/fruit. The other tihing the directions called for was to wet the top to prevent a hard crust just before you put it in the oven.

[PassionateChefsDie]

The couple is from the Boston area, but have spent a lot of time in London and they said they had adapted the recipe from a National Trust cookbook - from what I've read, it doesn't seem like a West Indies style fruitcake, but more like a Dundee cake with the proportions of flour/eggs/fruit. The other tihing the directions called for was to wet the top to prevent a hard crust just before you put it in the oven.

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Dundee Cake normally has whole almonds and is more like a dark heavy sponge, it also has a lot of batter to fruit you could eat a cherry out of a slice and barely have any fruit with it(Normally a high ratio of sultanas as well). In the sense of fruitcake I'd not even desribe it as one its more of a afternoon tea cake not one heavily loaded with fruit for keeping. I would of defintely expected to see the normal ratio of baking powder i.e 3tsp to 8oz of flour as in a normal sponge its a lot lighter than any of the other fruitcakes. I'm pretty sure the true texture of Dundee Cake wouldn't even take a soaking of alcohol it would fall apart. This is also quite domed when it's been baked about 2 inches higher in the middle than the sides.

As you said its been adapted I reckon should you need to make another one with the wealth of knowledge you've been picking up the next one will be easier to adapt a recipe you've seen. As for the source they've used, anyone that uses cook books a lot knows some work some don't.

With out seeing the original recipe I wouldn't like to guess, from browsing this forum I already know there's major differences with our all purpose flour and yours I believe that to come up with something similar you need to mix your AP with Pastry.

I certainly wouldn't of adapted Dundee Cake for a fruitcake maybe a sponge cake for a Dundee Cake. As mentioned I'm not really a specialist I've done 18months pastry but do love fruitcake and that includes Dundee Cake if where calling it a fruitcake.

Edited for Diva

What no MARZIPAN !

Edited October 12, 2005 by PassionateChefsDie (log)

[lorinda]

I'm afraid I haven't got any answers as yet, but I have just embarked on some test baking in preparation for a friend's wedding cake next year. My recipe, like yours, calls for the fruit to be macerated overnight in alcohol (+ orange or apple juice). I left the fruit for a few days as I tried to find a suitable cake tin.

After baking, I cut the cake in half. One half is being matured and sprinkled with rum every week or so, for around 3 or 4 weeks I guess. The other half I tasted straight away. It was very nice and moist, so I can say that if you don't wait for the cake to be matured, does not mean it is too dry. Cutting it on the same day as baking was a little difficult - a tad soft and some of the fruit falls out. My guess is that letting it mature means it dries up a bit, and the cake holds together better on slicing.

I'm a bit curious whether the cake goes mouldy during maturation, as I'm not sprinkling that much alcohol as the raw boozy taste isn't universally palatable.

I noticed you said you are making the cake with one real tier, 2 styro tiers and 2 kitchen cakes. As I am inexperienced in wedding cakes, could you please tell me what the kitchen cakes are for? Are they sliced in advance, so that they can be served quicker? It's a great idea!

[JeanneCake]

Part of the reason for the kitchen cakes is that they wanted to replicate one of Margaret Braun's designs - with a sculpted edge to the cakes - and they were pretty insistent on fruitcake, which would be nearly impossible to carve in the way that she does. Plus, most of the fruitcakes I've seen aren't quite as tall as the typical layered cake, which would mean not much room for the side design. So, I got the styro cut with the wavy edges (Lenny at The Dummy Place is amazing!!), and the bottom tier is fruitcake but not with the sculpted edges.

I like to suggest kitchen cake to brides that are on a budget and have a guest list of 150+. It gives them the option to have a display cake for 100 (or 130) and then plain "kitchen cake" for the remaining guests. A kitchen cake is only seen by the staff in the kitchen so it doesn't need decoration - no fondant - just buttercream swirled on so I'm not spending time smoothing and fussing with the final coat of buttercream the way I do on the display cake. I charge less for the kitchen cake servings - for example, the display cake is $5/person and kitchen cake is $2/person. And when I arrive with kitchen cake for these large weddings, the staff loves it because it means they can have 50, 70 or even 100 servings plated before they begin cutting the wedding cake and that part of service goes a little bit faster for them.