When I was growing up, my mom used to make fruitcake (among other yummy goodies) every Chinese New Year. I wasn’t too fond of it then, but now I find myself yearning for a taste of fruitcake at least once a year. This year for Christmas, I tried a recipe from the King Arthur Flour website – Golden Fruitcake. The fruitcake turned out beautifully tender with a fair share of cake in between all the fruit. NOTE that I reduced the amount of fruit used and did not use any nuts. From past experiences, I find that most recipes use way too much fruit and nuts (even the ones that say they don’t). The cakes had plenty of delicious fruit without being overly sweet (I would definitely NOT use 10 ounces of candied red cherries as specified in the recipe). Besides steeping the fruit mixture in brandy, I did brush the cakes with brandy as they were cooling (I probably used a total of about 1/4 cup) and let them rest for a couple of days before serving. Personally, I think that one-time brushing with brandy was just enough to flavor the fruitcake without being overpowering. If you don’t want any liquor flavor in your cake, try using flavored syrups, orange juice, or apple juice for both the maceration of the fruit and the brushing of the cake.
I would also recommend lining the cake pans with parchment paper (butter the pans, line the bottom and side with parchment, and butter the parchment) to prevent the cakes from sticking to the pans. I would do it even when the recipe doesn’t call for it as I found out the hard way one year. In addition, always use a sharp knife (I mean super-sharp) to cut the fruitcake to get nice, clean slices. Below is the fruit mixture I used:
4 ½ ounces golden raisins
4 ½ ounces dark raisins
4 ¼ ounces dried cranberries
4 ¼ ounces dried apricots, chopped
4 ounces candied orange peel
4 ounces candied red cherries, halved
I substituted golden syrup for the light corn syrup, omitted the ground nutmeg and Fiori Di Sicilia, and added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Everything else stayed the same as the recipe. Instead of loaf pans, I baked the fruitcake in two 9″ round pans and the total baking time took approximately 70 minutes, rotating the pans halfway.
The result: two thumbs up. My family and I really, really like this fruitcake. We kept going back for more.
