It's been the butt of many Christmas party jokes, because normally people hate fruitcake. But this, this fruitcake may just change your mind, with a beautiful intermingling of the dried fruits, zest, pecans, and spices! It is dense with flavor and just delightful! I am not entirely surprised that I like fruitcake (or at least THIS fruit cake), given my old-fashioned tastes by American standards. It doesn't have any of those candied red/green cherries that gross me out, instead it's packed with some of my favorite fruits!
Ingredients:
228 g all purpose flour (about 1 2/3 cup)
226 g salted butter (1 cup)
100 g dark brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
45 g molasses (3 tbsp.)
180 ml water (3/4 cup)
3 large eggs, whisked
1 tsp. vanilla (optional)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. mixed spice
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
600-800 g dry fruits and nuts, such as:
175 g raisins (about 1 cup)
200 g dried cranberries (about 1 1/4 cups)
200 g chopped prunes (about 1 heaping cup)
100 g pitted and chopped dates (about 3/4 cup)
75 g chopped pecans (about 3/4 cup)
Spice and fruit note: the 1 tsp. spice mix can be whatever you like. I did 1/4 tsp. each of nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cardamom. Use whatever fruits and nuts you'd like!
Directions:
First, add the dried fruits (raisins, cranberries, chopped dates, and chopped prunes), butter, brown sugar, molasses, and water to a saucepan. My prunes had a lot of moisture, so I didn't add them at this stage.
Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, and then reduce to a simmer for 3-4 minutes. Let everything melt, and it will darken in color.
Immediately remove from the heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl to cool, stirring occasionally. It will need about an hour to cool.
When it is almost ready, preheat the oven to 320°F and grease and line a 7 or 8 inch round pan with parchment paper for easier removal.
Prepare the dry ingredients. Add the flour, spices, baking powder, salt, and zest and combine well. Set aside.
To the cooked and cooled mixture, add the pecans and mix in.
Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Mix in the dry ingredients until completely combined.
Pour the thick batter into the cake pan, and bake for 70-90 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. It will be very moist in the middle.
Let cool in the pan completely.
Store at room temperature, covered, up to 1 week, or you can soak and age it with alcohol (see note below), or freeze it, covered, up to three months. I chose to freeze mine, first by wrapping slices in plastic wrap, then in a Ziploc.
Notes: I didn't do the tradition of baking the fruitcake and gradually adding alcohol, but if you'd like to, bake about 1 month before Christmas and store the cake covered in a cool dry place, poke holes in it, and add ~2 Tbsp. of a liquor like rum or brandy every 1-2 weeks until Christmas! You can ice the cake after this, if desired.
The ingredients I used. You can change up the spices and dried fruits and nuts you add!
Prep the dates, nuts, and prunes by chopping them.
Like this.
The dried fruits, brown sugar, molasses, butter, and water need to be heated first.
After bringing to a boil.
After simmering, next you'll remove it to cool.
While the fruit mix is cooling, prepare the baking pan. Mine was actually about 9 inches but worked fine.
Then prepare the dry ingredients and zest.
And mix together. Set aside.
Back to the fruit, it has cooled down.
To the cooled fruit mixture you can add the chopped nuts (I also added the dried prunes here because they were quite moist and didn't need to be cooked).
After mixing that together, add the eggs (and vanilla if using).
After mixing in.
Then add the dry ingredients.
And combine! The batter is ready!
Before baking.
After baking.
A dense texture and delicious flavor!
The original recipe is from: https://merryboosters.com/super-moist-fruit-cake-recipe/