10 October 2010

Recipe: Veda's Dark Fruitcake

See review here. Veda uses muscovado sugar in the cake but tells me that regular US brown sugar will work fine as well. You can certainly halve the recipe if you don't want quite so much. 

And an extra note: this blog is devoted to reviewing commercially-sold fruitcakes. I've decided that I will review one homemade fruitcake a year, and so I'm done for 2010. Trust me, though, these are fabulous!!

Veda's Dark Fruitcake


1 3/4 pounds pitted dates, quartered
1 3/4 pounds pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 pound each golden and dark raisins
1 pound each candied orange and lemon peels, coarsely chopped
1 pound currants
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup orange juice

Mix all of the above in a covered container and let stand overnight or a few days. Shake occasionally to mix.

Batter:

1 1/4 pounds unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 pounds (3 1/3 cups) muscovado dark brown sugar OR packed standard dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
8 extra large eggs at room temperature
Grated zests of 1 orange and 1 lemon
1 1/4 pounds (4 1/4 cups) unsifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon each salt and baking powder
1 tablespooon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons each ground nutmeg and cloves

Decoration:

1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 pound nuts and 1/2 pound candied cherries

Line five 8"tube pans with parchment, grease with melted butter. Or use 6 8" loaf pans.
Preheat oven to 300° F. Put a pan of water on the floor of the oven to prevent overbrowning.
Cream the butter and sugar together for five minutes until fluffy. Add eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Add zests.
Mix all the dry ingredients together and add, mixing on low speed until blended. In a very large bowl, fold fruit mixture into batter with two spatulas.
Fill lined pans 3/4 full, level off with the back of a spoon to prevent air pockets. Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes until almost done. Take cakes out of the oven, brush tops with corn syrup, arrange nuts and cherries on top of each cake, and return to oven for 15 minutes more or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.

Cool completely in pans. Remove paper.

Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of brandy per cake, wrap in parchment and then foil. Age a couple of weeks before serving. Additional brandy may be added every two weeks.

Yield: approximately 14 pounds

Cakes will keep up to six months refrigerated.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm tempted to make my own just because it sounds to homey and warm to have these baking in the oven. Though 1 tablespoon of brandy just doesn't sound boozy enough for me...

Isabelle said...

I'm betting you could ALWAYS add more! ;-)

Unknown said...

Isabelle, you make this sound so great I want to try making one myself!