Fruit Cake

[leidana]

Hey all

was wondering if anyone has a simple recipe for a fruit cake, i want to see if i can make one for christmas

thanks

[Miruwin]

I think Binndii posted one somewhere further down the recipe listings. Failing that, will see if I can find my Mum's recipe.

OR, if you have one, use the Boiled Fruit Cake recipe out of the Commonsense Cookbook. Nearly everyone who goes through high school should have a copy of this cookbook lying around. Its a very good and basic recipe book used for cooking lessons in schools. I know the newer versions of the book aren't so good but there should be plenty lying around in the possession of older relatives.

[Miruwin]

OK - here's the recipe out of the 1961 Advanced Commonsense Cook Book compiled by the Public School Cookery Teacher's Association of NSW. This is pretty much the same as my mother made except that she used brown sugar which gave the cake a richer flavour and a more 'fruit cake' colour instead of looking a little pale. She sometimes added a packet of glace cherries cut in half. Sometimes she would also toss in a small handful of walnut pieces, almonds and chopped up pecan pieces. Add the extra fruit and nuts at the boiling the fruit stage if you want.

Boiled Fruit Cake
2 eggs
450gm mixed fruit
140gm butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 and 1/4 cups self raising flour
1 cup plain flour

1. Beat eggs well
2. Place fruit, butter, sugar, spice and water into a saucepan and boil for 3 minutes.
3. Let stand until nearly cold
4. Add bicarb soda to beaten eggs and add to this the cooled fruit mixture.
5. Sift both the flours into to mixture
6. Pour into a tin lined with greased paper. (use brown paper bags sprayed very lightly with spray oil or you can use greaseproof paper)
7. Bake in a hot oven with decreasing heat for 45 mins to an hour.

To Store.
Leave to cool on a cake rake and when pour over around a tablespoon of either brandy or rum. I prefer rum as it is a better flavour and doesn't seem to be as 'drying' as brandy. Wrap cake in several layers of greaseproof paper and then in plastic wrap. Store in a cake tin in a cool dry place.

Preferably, your fruit cake should be kept wrapped up and allowed to mature for at least 3 months prior to using as the flavours develop and intensify. However it can be eaten fresh if you must (lol).

A couple of days prior to Christmas, unwrap the cake, pour over another tablespoon of rum or whatever and ice with a royal icing and decorate if desired.

[Miruwin]

Now, here's the Advanced Commonsense Cookbooks Christmas Cake recipe. Seriously, if I'm making any sort of cakes, I always use the Commonsense cookbook as my guide. Their recipes work!

Christmas Cake

450gm raisins
450gm currants
450gm sultanas
225gm candied peel
280gm flour
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
good pinch of salt
225gm butter
450gm sugar
5 eggs
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
225gm blanched almonds (chopped)
1 teaspoon allspice (mixed spice)
grated rind of 1 lemon
1/2 gill sherry *

1. Cut peel finely and add to other fruits
2. Sift flour, bicarb soda and salt.
3. Cream the butter and sugar (beat until sugar is completely broken down and there is no grittiness in the mix)
4. Beat the eggs and gradually add to the butter and sugar mix.
5. Add prepared fruit, almonds, nutmeg and allspice.
6. Add sifted flour and sherry or brandy.
7. Mix well
8. This mixture requires a large cake tin. I use a square 20cm tin with sides around 10cm high. I also line the tin with well greased paper.
9. Bake 3 to 3.5 hours according to size and thickness of cake in a hot oven and gradually decreasing the heat to moderate.
10. If cooking too fast, the top of the cake will be dome shaped and split, so keep a bit of an eye on it. To test if cake is cooked, stick a skewer into the centre of the cake, if it comes out moist and 'battery' it needs longer cooking, if it comes out with just a few cake crumbs then it is probably cooked. In the early days, when you bought a new broom, you always pulled out a couple of the straws of the broom and put them aside to test if your cake was cooked.

Storage for this cake is the same as the boiled fruit cake. This is also the base cake for a traditional wedding cake and is extremely suitable for icing and decorating. With this one, put a good layer of marzipan icing on the top and sides of the cake then finish with a good fondant icing.

Fruits and nuts can be varied, as long as the quantities end up being the same as used in the recipe. You can use ginger, glace cherries or other glace fruits such as figs and pears and a variety of nuts pecans, brazils, hazel, macadamia, again, as long as the quantity used is the equivalent of that given in the recipe.

CHEAT: If you do want to ice the cake and the top is either a little dome shaped, slightly sunken or badly cracked, simply use a knife to level out the worst of the doming or cracking and then flip the cake over and ice the bottom. The bottom of the cake always has a nice even and level surface.

* a gill is an old measure which I have been unable to find anywhere. It converts to 1/4 pint and a pint is 20 fluid ounces or 475mls. Therefore 1/2 gill equals approx 60mls. (I think). Luckily, for this recipe, the measurement won't be critical.

[Miruwin]

And now, the ultimate in up market fruit cakes:

Wedding Cake

900gm butter
450gm castor sugar
450gm brown sugar
3 dozen eggs
2250gm plain flour
1 oz mixed spice (allspice)
900gm currants
2700gm raisins
2700gm sultanas
450gm cherries
450gm almonds
450gm peel
225 lemon peel
180ml wine or brandy

1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Add sifted flour and spice alternating with the well mixed fruit
4. Add any other ingredients, the wine or brandy should be mixed in last.
5. Bake in three paper lined and well greased square tins, 5 inch, 7 inch and 9 inch until a clean straw or fine skewer leaves the middle of the cake free from mixture.
6. The 9 inch cake will take 5-6 hours, the 7 inch will take 3-3.5 hours and the 5 inch cake will be 2-2.5 hours.

Store, and decorate as desired, but preferably with a layer of marzipan and then covered in sheets of fondant icing.

Yes, that really is 3 dozen eggs in this recipe.

[Takeshi]

Speaking of fruit cakes, what happened to Zurt? Internet dudes not fix yah yet? My grandmother used to put rum in hers.

[tavrah]

Chop up your dried fruit and then add a 26 oz bottle of Rum ... let it sit for 24 - 36 hours or until all the rum has been absorbed by the fruit ... from there simply follow the recipe

Once baked if you take cheesecloth ( very thin white cloth ) and drench it in Brandy or more Rum then wrap it around your cakes before wrapping in plastic then brown paper ... the cake freezes and when it thaws it will slowly absorb the alcohol from the cheesecloth