One More For the Season.

Fruit cakes, I suppose like brussels sprouts and licorice, are one of those things people only feel one of two emotions about; either absolutely love it and can’t get enough of it or abhor it and won’t go twenty feet near it.

And I- or at least I thought I did- fell squarely into the second group of people. Thanks to one too many dry and heavy fruit cakes loaded with way too artificial looking and even more artificial tasting dried fruits, I had quickly learnt that when it came to fruit cakes, I would be better off staying as far away from them as possible.

But this year, perhaps because I had finally gotten my hands on a precious copy of Maida Heatter’s Cakes book, I was overcome with a strange urge to make a fruit cake I spied in her book for Christmas.

After all, who better to launch my first foray into fruit cake making and one last shot at fruit cake eating than Maida Heatter? If even Maida couldn’t get me to love fruit cakes, no one certainly could.

And as expected, my not so blind faith in Maida paid off deliciously. For I was rewarded with the most moist and delicious fruit cake I’ve ever had.

The fruit cake had basked and soaked in all the port I had generously brushed over it for eight long weeks, resulting in a gorgeously fragrant and tender fruit cake.

I mean, seriously, while I knew anything from Maida Heatter would be delicious, I certainly would have never dreamt that a fruit cake could be this delicious. Or that I would find myself cutting thick slices of a fruit cake and polishing it off by the forkful until all that was left were just crumbs.

Even the darling boyfriend, whom I just learnt over this Christmas had a thing for fruit cake (almost seven years in and I’m still learning new things about him all the time!), was smitten with this one, proclaiming it to be the perfect fruit cake, both in terms of texture and sweetness. But the best response to this cake came from my dad, for sure, who, with his forkful of it, made sure to tell me not to give any of it away, as I’m fond of doing with all things sweet in the house (the less of them around, the less I eat right?).

So while fruit cakes still might be one of those things people either love or hate, I’m certainly now fall into the camp that loves and can’t get enough of fruit cakes, well this fruit cake in particular at least.

And we might be well into our twelve days of Christmas now but I most certainly know what I’ll be making and eating every Christmas this year on.

Light Fruit Cake [adapted from Maida Heatter's Cakes]

Notes: I know the recipe looks a little long but please don’t let that put you off trying this off; this cake is seriously so easy to whip up. It does require quite a long baking time because it makes quite a massive cake but the waiting for the cake to bake is probably the hardest part of this recipe (resisting the urge to polish off the entire cake after it’s done baking is another thing altogether though, I must warn you). Also, try to make this cake as far ahead of the festive season as you can as so that your cake can soak in all that alcoholic goodness although Maida does say that she served it once five days after making it and it was delicious. Oh and if you hate how artificial most of the “fruit” in fruit cake taste, the beauty of making your own fruit cake is that you get a say in what types of dried fruit goes into your cake. Just in case you’re wondering, chelory is my favourite fruit cake “fruit” this season- essentially dried bits of papaya, it makes a fantastic substitute for the candied cherries which I absolutely detest.

Ingredients
150g raisins, soaked in 1/2 cup of rum or brandy for at least an hour
250g dried citrus peel, cut into small strips
150g dried pineapple, cut into 1/4 cm pieces
120g dried chelory, cut into 1/4 cm pieces
4 cups sifted plain flour
250g flaked almonds
360g unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
Rind of 1 lemon, finely grated
1 tsp cream of tar tar
Additional rum or brandy, for brushing

1. Preheat the oven to 140C. Grease and line 2 large 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pans and set aside.
2. Place all the dried fruits in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the sifted flour and toss the fruit and flour together until the fruit is coated in the flour. Add the nuts and toss again; set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter until it’s soft and smooth. Add the vanilla and 1 2/3 cup of sugar. Add the yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Sift the remaining 3 1/2 cups of sifted flour with salt. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing till just combined. Beat in the milk, followed by one-third of the flour mixture. Finally, add the rum soaked raisins and any remaining rum and the last one-third of the flour mixture, mixing till just combined. Stir in the lemon rind.
5. Using a clean bowl and beaters, beat the egg whites till barely foamy. Add the cream of tar tar and keep beating till soft peaks form. Reduce the speed and add the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar gradually. Increase the speed and beat the whites till stiff peaks form.
6. Add the butter mixture and beaten egg whites to the floured fruits and fold all three mixtures together until just combined. Divide the batter equally among the two prepared pan, smoothening the tops.
7. Bake the cakes for about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out with moist crumbs clinging.
8. Brush the top of the cakes with rum or brandy as soon as you remove them from the oven. Let them cool in the pans before unmoulding.
9. When the cakes have cooled to room temperature, wrap the cakes individually in plastic wrap and store them in the fridge. Brush them with more rum or brandy every week until ready to serve. Serves about 16 to 20 people

Posted by thecoffeesnob on December 29, 2011

http://eatandbehappy.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/one-more-for-the-season/