White Chocolate Christmas Fruitcake

By Howie

Ingredients

• 1 cup (4 oz) figs, dried and finely diced
• 3/4 cup (2 oz) apples, dried and finely diced
• 3/4 cup (4 oz) apricots, dried and finely diced
• 3/4 cup bourbon
• 1/2 cup (2 oz) pears, dried and finely diced
• 1/2 cup (2 oz) currants, dried
• 1/2 cup (2 oz) bananas, dried and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, unsalted and room temperature
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tb brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
• 4 large eggs, separated and room temperature
• 8 oz white chocolate, melted and lukewarm
• 1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
• 11/4 cups (4 oz) pecans, toasted and salted
• 3 tbs all purpose flour
• 2 oz white chocolate, melted

Details

Servings 10

Preparation

Step 1

1) Mix first 7 ingredients in small bowl. Cover and let stand at least 24 hours at room temperature, stirring once.

2) Preheat oven to 300°F. Butter 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Line bottom with waxed paper. Dust pan with flour.

3) Using electric mixer, cream ½ cup butter with sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in 8 ounces chocolate, then 1 cup flour.

4) Mix pecans and tbs flour into dried-fruit mixture. Stir into batter. Using clean, dry beaters, beat whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Mix 1/3 of whites into batter to lighten, then fold in remaining whites.

5) Pour batter into prepared pan. Cover pan with buttered aluminum foil. Place pan in baking dish. Add enough hot water to dish to come halfway up sides of pan. Bake until metal skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean, about 2½ hours.

6) Remove loaf pan from water. Cool cake completely in pan on rack. Unmold the cake. Wrap in plastic, then foil. Let stand at least 8 days at room temperature. (Can be prepared 3 weeks ahead).

7) Dip fork into 2 ounces melted chocolate. Drizzle chocolate decoratively over top of cake (chocolate can also be piped through parchment cone). Let stand until cool. Cut into slices.