Number 40
Fruitcake
( 20 Points, 3 of 10 lists, Top Vote#5 Quantum Vagina)
Holiday Christmas
Fruit cake (or fruitcake) is a cake made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and (optionally) soaked in spirits. A cake that simply has fruit in it as an ingredient can also be colloquially called a fruit cake. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated. Fruit cakes are often served in celebration of weddings and Christmas. Given their rich nature, fruit cake is most often consumed on its own, as opposed to with condiments (such as butter or cream).
The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash. In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added.
Fruit cakes soon proliferated all over Europe. Recipes varied greatly in different countries throughout the ages, depending on the available ingredients as well as (in some instances) church regulations forbidding the use of butter, regarding the observance of fast. Pope Innocent VIII (1432–1492) finally granted the use of butter, in a written permission known as the ‘Butter Letter' or Butterbrief in 1490, giving permission to Saxony to use milk and butter in the North German Stollen fruit cakes.
Starting in the 16th century, Sugar from the American Colonies (and the discovery that high concentrations of sugar could preserve fruits) created an excess of candied fruit, thus making fruit cakes more affordable and popular.
Holiday RecipeThe White House Fruit Cake! The only fruit cake that Barack can legally eat until 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/962/White-House-Fruitcake.htmlINGREDIENTS
• 1 15-ounce package raisins
• 2 cups golden raisins
• 1 cup currants
• 10 ounces mixed candied fruits
• 1 6-ounce mixture of glazed pears, peaches, apricots, figs and dates, cut up
• 1/3 cup candied pineapple
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 4 ounces slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup bourbon or Port
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1/2 pound butter
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• Grated rind of 2 lemons
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 12-ounce jar apricot preserves
• 1/2 cup rum
• 6 to 8 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 pound confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
PREPARATION
1.
Combine the raisins, currants, candied fruits, glazed fruits, candied pineapple, pecans and almonds with the bourbon and brandy in a large bowl. Refrigerate overnight, or if possible, for two days.
2.
Beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, honey, one-third cup of all-purpose flour, grated lemon rind, almond and vanilla extracts until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3.
Sift together one cup of all-purpose flour, one cup of cake flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon together. Add to the batter and beat until well mixed. Combine batter with the fruit and nut mixture, mixing well.
4.
Grease three 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-by-2 1/2-inch pans. Line the bottoms and sides with aluminum foil; grease the foil. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing tops.
5.
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until the centers spring back when lightly pressed. If tops are browning too fast, cover lightly with buttered foil.
6.
While the cakes are baking, bring the apricot preserves to a hard boil and boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, to reduce.
7.
Remove the cakes from the oven and while they are still hot, sprinkle with the rum. Then brush with the hot apricot jam.
8.
Mix enough bourbon with confectioners' sugar and butter to make a frosting that is thin enough to spread on top of the apricot jam while the cakes are still warm.
9.
Cool cakes in pans on wire rack. Allow frosting to dry. Remove cakes from pans; peel off foil. Cool completely. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate. Cake should be sliced chilled.
YIELD
3 loaf cakes
Fruitcake TriviaIf a fruit cake contains alcohol, it could remain edible for many years. For example, a fruit cake baked in 1878 is kept as an heirloom by a family (Morgan L. Ford) in Tecumseh, Michigan. In 2003, it was sampled by Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. Sadly, he still lives today. Wrapping the cake in alcohol-soaked linen before storing is one method of lengthening its shelf life.