Fruitcake: you are doing it wrong.
Tags: Christmas Baking, Recipes For Cooking, Cooking, Fruitcake, Baking

Public Domain photo by TheMightyGrog — Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

What the hell is fruitcake, and why you should revisit this age old tradition yourself this Christmas?

“For months they have lain in wait, dim shapes lurking in the forgotten corners of houses and factories all over the country and now they are upon us, sodden with alcohol, their massive bodies bulging with strange green protuberances, attacking us in our homes, at our friends’ homes, at our offices — there is no escape, it is the hour of the fruitcake.”

— Deborah Papier

Fruitcake is a specific type of cake made with candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices. Fruitcake is also optionally soaked in spirits such a whiskey or rum and much is made of the potent alcohol content of these dense pemmican like christmas treats. Normally called “Christmas Cake”, in the United Kingdom, some versions may be covered with marzipan, iced and decorated with candied fruit or glazed. From England to Italy to the Middle East, to Mexico and South America there are various versions of a preserved Christmas cake festooned with some sort of preserved fruit, dried or candied.

Fruitcakes are typically served in celebration of weddings and Christmas or kept on hand for guests. The main attribute of a fruitcake is its longevity and ability to be always on hand if the need arose. In it’s own way, fruitcake is the ultimate fast food. It’s often been joked that after a atomic war, the only things left would be cockroaches and fruitcake.

Despite all the good things about fruitcake, this pastry has its own dark side.

Insert sinister laugh*

Public Domain image by Hopefully acceptable username — Own work, Public Domain,

Most contemporary recipes for fruitcake call for Glace Fruits. Glace fruits were at one time a status item and had made what was considered great looking cakes. Over time these types of glace fruits fell out of favor for more natural fruit. We see glace fruits, but they remain an enigma, an alien life form in the holiday pastries of our world.

Most of what we know of as Candied (or Glacee) fruit has existed since the 14th century. Whole of cut pieces of fruit are placed in heated sugar syrup, sometimes with preserving agents like culinary lime or baking soda are added. This process absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. This process not only creates a very colorful fruit product, but also allows the fruit to retain its quality for quite a long time.

In the grocery store, we see seasonally the fruits that are traditionally candied. These fruits are cherries (green and red), pineapple (also green and red somehow), and root ginger. The principaly traditional candied peels are orange and citron. These are the one of the only preserved fruits that are often used year round. (I often candy my own peel and use it year round.)

As much as candied fruit has had its day in the sun, it eventually caused fruitcake to become the butt of every joke at Christmas. Because of this, people began to lose favor with fruitcake, seeing it as alien and unnatural. This is a shame because fruitcake can be really great. To make sure you don’t bake a door stop that will be sent to the landfill, use the following steps.

How not to make a crap fruitcake:

Use fresh, organic (if possible) natural ingredients. If you can’t identify or tell someone what the hell an item is, don’t use it. Don’t know what citron is? Leave it out. Don’t know why the cherries are green? Throw them out! There are a plethora of dried fruit on the market, try out something new and see how you like it.

You are going to want to make sure your spices are fresh. I like to use this following rule of thumb. If the spices you own in your pantry were sitting in your cupboard for a year or more, throw them out. Invest in a whole new set of spices when winter baking comes, you won’t regret it. Nutmeg, ceylon cinnamon, mace, allspice, nutmeg, ginger in its various forms, are all “must haves” buy them from a reputable dealer and buy them in bulk.

You will want to soak the fruit you use at least overnight in fruit juice or liquors to soften them. You can drain and use the excess liquid in this recipe. This step, is essential to what keeps the fruitcake moist. Moist is important! Dry fruitcake goes to the landfill!

Important! You will want to coat the fruit and nuts with some flour so they won’t sink in batter. Shake off excess flour and use it in the recipe.The soaked fruit can be coated in flour, but you will want to wet the nuts that you use in this recipe before you use them. You can try juice, liquor or vanilla extract to provide the moisture for the flour to adhere to when rolled in the flour. This “fixes” the fruit and nuts in the fruitcake and keeps it all from sinking to the bottom.

You will want to coat the fruit and nuts with some flour so they won’t sink in batter. Shake off excess flour and use it in the recipe.The soaked fruit can be coated in flour, but you will want to wet the nuts that you use in this recipe before you use them. You can try juice, liquor or vanilla extract to provide the moisture for the flour to adhere to when rolled in the flour. This “fixes” the fruit and nuts in the fruitcake and keeps it all from sinking to the bottom. Be sure to generously grease and flour your pans and use greased parchment paper for liners. If you are using silicone pans skip this step. I use a round cheesecake pan (hoop) and make sure to grease and line it so that the fruitcake can stay covered until I use it, and I can take the pan sides right off after it cools.

I always place a silpat covered cookie sheet below the baking cake to catch any drips that might happen.

If you check and find that your fruitcake is browning too fast, place a sheet of foil the top of it to protect the cake and save it from burning.

Fruitcake is tricky. It’s so full of moist rehydrated fruit that it can be deceptive to know when it’s done. You can test for doneness by placing a metal/wooden skewer in center of cake. If it comes out clean, your cake is done. You want to conversely be careful not to over bake.

Before you remove the fruitcake from the pan, always make sure that the fruitcake is completely cool in the pan and remove when cold. I like to bake these in the evening and let them completely cool overnight.

While the cake is cooling, you can brush a liquor of choice over the hot cake. I like to use bourbon, but you can use dark rum or the liquor of your choice. Be careful, you pick something that is not a good combination you might ruin an otherwise good cake. Liquors to avoid would be something you don’t really drink much of, pick a liquor you really enjoy the flavor of. Some nice ones are whiskey, bourbon, rum or liquors like amaretto or frangelico. Avoid something cloying like Malibu or Baileys.

It’s said that fruitcakes taste better with age, and it’s true. This process is called “ripening.” This is an old process and one reason so many fruitcakes were made months before the holidays. Liquor based cakes may be stored several months in advance in a cool place prior to serving. Non-liquor soaked cakes may be kept in a cool place or in refrigerator for short term storage or a or freezer for long storage. Be sure that you ripen fruit cakes a few weeks before freezing.

To store a fruitcake for an extended period of time, wrap the fruitcake in liquor soaked tea-towel, and then wrap in either plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Store this in a cool dry place until used.

You can pick and choose the fruits you use. I have seen fruitcakes made with a single or just a few dried fruits that are choses specifically for effect. Fruitcakes made with just dried pineapple, golden raisins and macadamia nuts are delicious. Use just dried apricots and raisins if you like these. It’s your fruitcake, make what you think is best!

I want to stress, that with all the talk of alcohol in this recipe, you can totally do this without any alcohol at all. You just omit it and replace the liquid with a juice you like, that is also probably neutral. Apple Juice, apple cider, white grape juice, etc. Fruitcake is still wonderful without the alcohol.

Not Your Grandmother’s Fruitcake

Ingredients

Fruit for the Fruitcake

1 1/2 cups (213g) diced dried pineapple

1 cup (255g) raisins, golden only

1 cup (225g) dried currants

1 cup (128g) diced dried apricots

1 cup (223g) diced dates

1 cup (170g) dried bing cherries

1/2 cup dried diced kiwi fruit

1/3 cup (64g) diced crystallized ginger

3/4 cup (170g) brandy, dark rum or a fruit juice that you like. White grape juice is a good option here.

Batter

2 sticks butter (227g) softened

2 cups (425g) light brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

3 cups (361g) all purpose flour

1/4 cup (85g) Lyle’s golden syrup, corn syrup or honey

1/2 cup (113g) apple juice or black tea or the juice from the orange you zested. (Waste not want not!)

1/4 cup bourbon whiskey or dark rum. (This is optional)

1 tsp vanilla

zest of one orange

zest of one lemon

2 cups (227g) chopped, toasted pecans plus a handful for garnish.

Method

To do Ahead:

To prepare the fruit: Combine the fruit by color type with the liquid of your choice in a non-reactive bowl; cover and let rest overnight. You will want to pair darker fruit with the same, and lighter fruit with the same. Dried kiwis by themselves, and cherries the same. You can use different liquids of choice. I recommend an acidic liquid for the kiwi such as orange juice or lemon juice to keep it non cloying. (or of course rum or bourbon.)

Baking Day

Preheat the oven to 300°F. This recipe makes 2 standard 9" x 5" loaves. Grease the loaf pans and line with a strip of cut parchment paper to make it easy to remove. To make the batter: Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until well combined. Beat in the salt, spices, and baking powder. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly with whisk to evenly distribute and aerate the batter. Use a rubber spatula to make sure that all the batter is incorporated. Add the flour and the syrup to the batter, beating gently to combine completely. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bowl completely. Stir in the juice and liquor, then the fruit with any collected liquid, and then finally the nuts. Using a large spoon scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and stir until everything is well combined. You want to make sure everything is very well incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, spoon the batter into the prepared pans>Do not fill them more than 3/4 full. wpe off any extra batter around the rim. At this point you can place decorative nuts (whole pecans are a good choice) or dried fruit into the top of the batter in a design. Optional. Bake the cakes on the middle shelf of the oven for 2 hours. That being said, you want to make sure that the cakes are done. You can tell when the cakes are done when a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven. Let the fruitcake cool for 2–3 hours or overnight. Brush the warm cake with the optional rum or brandy. You can also coat the top of the cake with a simple syrup, or a flavored simple syrup (vanilla, rum-flavored, etc.). If you like just a hint of rum or brandy flavor, add 1 tablespoon of liquor to 3/4 cup of simple syrup, and brush this mixture on the cakes. You might want to try at least 2–3 layers of the syrup you use.

To store a fruitcake for an extended period of time, wrap the fruitcake in (optional) liquor soaked tea-towel, and then wrap in either plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Store this in a cool dry place until used.

Photo of Dean Jones taken by Brian Edwards at the Mechanics Institute Library Chess Room 2019

Dean Jones is a Librarian, Cookbook Reviewer, and writer. Originally from San Diego and having lived his teen years in the Pacific Northwest, Dean has lived for over 20 years in the wonderful but barely affordable San Francisco Bay Area. Dean has graduated with an MLIS from the University of North Texas and has a BA in Liberal Studies from JFK University in the Bay Area. Dean is the Library Director for Hurwich Library in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dean can be seen at Book Festivals and Library field trips with the BayNet Libraries Group, of which he the Vice President. He can also be seen haunting farmers’ markets, bookstores, and local restaurants. Dean lives in the SF Bay Area with his lovely wife, six kids, and many books. Dean has been published in “Amoral Beatitudes Magazine”and writes on Medium for “One Table One World,” “The Cookbook for All,” “An Idea,” and “Authors what are you reading.” Contact Dean at wellseasonedlibrarian@gmail.com

And search out more stories at One Table, One World by Kim Duke, and Kathryn Dillon!