Old-fashioned Fruitcake

By RoketJSquerl

Makes 6 (5” X 3”) or 2 (9 1⁄2” X 4 3⁄4”) loaves

This recipe does not specify what type of dried fruit to be used for a lot of reasons. One is we all have our favorites, and perhaps more practically dried fruit is expensive and dried cherries cost way more than raisins. The thing is even the humblest of assortment of fruit is delicious. One year we made a combination of just raisins—Golden, Muscat, and Thompson—and it was delicious. Noble dried fruit selections include: apricots, dates, figs, apples, pitted prunes, currants, pears, peaches, cherries, goji berries, golden berries, and raisins. Nuts are also open ended. We don’t recommend peanuts but do recommend walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds of dried (not candied) fruit, a combination of your favorites
• 1 ⁄2 pound nuts
• 1 ⁄2 cup dark rum, or peach brandy
• 1 ⁄2 pound butter, room temperature
• 1 ⁄2 pound unrefined sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 ⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground mace
• 1 ⁄2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 ⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• oil for greasing pans, parchment paper
• 1 ⁄2 cup milk
• 1 ⁄2–1 cup dark rum, or peach brandy to brush on finished loaves

Details

Adapted from engrainedblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

Chop the larger fruit to the size of raisins. Put the fruit, nuts and 1⁄2 cup rum in a large bowl. Stir, cover and allow to rest overnight. The next day preheat oven to 250° F. Cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the egg yolks (be sure to save the whites). To this add the flour and all of the spices and mix these ingredients to create the dough. Stir in the soaked fruit and nuts. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold into the firm dough.Oil pans and line with parchment paper. Divide the dough evening into the pans. Brush the tops with milk. The large loaf pans will take about 3 1⁄2 hours to bake. The smaller loaves will take about 2 1⁄2 to 3 hours. Use a toothpick or fork to test the center, when it comes out clean they are ready. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before you peel of the parchment paper. Once the loaves are thoroughly cooled, brush each side with rum, or peach brandy. For long storage, soak a clean piece of cheesecloth in rum or brandy and wrap this around your fruitcake. Store in a cool dark place.