291142 Sun Dec 08 13:54:18 -0800 2002 13 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1582945 At the end of October there was a long thread on fruitcakes. Well, its time to start baking! I just spent all day (since 7:00 am) doing mine and they should be out of the oven around 5 pm. Has anyone else started theirs? This is one item best not left to the last minute since I think the cakes (mine are made from a recipe brought from St. Lucia by my husband's grandmother)actually need to "age." Sun Dec 08 13:54:18 -0800 2002 0 Faren 1 1582953 Would you mind posting the recipe? Sun Dec 08 15:02:19 -0800 2002 1582945 0 Sandra Levine 2 1582958 This is an authentic West Indian fruitcake. The recipe was brought to the USA by my husband's grandmother, better known as "Aunt Flossie" at the turn of the last century. It is fairly labor intensive and you need a full day and must follow the recipe exactly or it won't taste the way it should. Note that you can cut this recipe in half. "Aunt Flossie's Fruitcake" 1 lb. sweet butter (use a good brand - I like the imports from France) 1 lb. all purpose bleached white flour 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1 tsp. allspice 1 TBL cinnamon 1 tsp. mace 1 tsp. freshly ground nustmeg 1 TBL vanilla 1 TBL almond extract 1 tsp ground ginger 1/2 pint heavy cream 1 lb. light brown sugar 1 dozen eggs burnt sugar Fruits for a 1 lb cake: 1 lb dried pitted prunes 1 lb. raisins 1/2 lb dried cherries 1 lb currants 1/2 lb citron 1/4 lb candied lemon peel 1/4 lb candied orange peel In a large ceramic jar (or you can use glass but never metal!) add all the fruits and pour over these: 1 quart medium (not cream) sherry 1 quart ruby (gallo) port 1 quart stout 1 quart dark rum cover and soak for at least a month before using (these fruits can keep forever -not a surprise considering the amount of alcohol- and I always have fruits soaking in a big ceramic jar that I keep in a cool pantry. If you do this just check on the fruit every few months to make sure all the liquid hasn't evaporated) When ready to bake the fruits have to be ground. I use a cuisine art and grind them using the pulse button - you want the fruit ground but not turned to paste or mush - so do it a little as a time -don't strain the liquid To bake the cake: 1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees 2.Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy - about 10-12 minutes 3. In a separate bowl put in flour and add all the dried spices 4. Put vanilla, almond extracts and heavy cream in a bowl and set aside 5. Beat the butter mixture once more to make sure its still fluffy and add 1/2 tsp salt 6. Separate the eggs and beat into the butter mixture the yolks ONE AT A TIME 7. Sift the flour mixture 8. Using a wooden spoon beat in 1/4 of the flour mixture to butter. Then alternate adding cream and flour to butter until all is incorporated 9. Add in burnt sugar for coloring the batter - you can make this by literally burning sugar and then adding a little water to give it a more liquid as opposed to sticky texture- or look in the west Indian/import section of your grocery store and you'll see bottles of burnt sugar- so add until get the color you like 10. Add mixing with the wooden spoon 8 large cooking TBL (by this i mean the large metal cooking spoons used to stir large pots) of soaked ground fruits. Now here's the part which calls for your own judgement. Taste the batter after you have added those first 8 cooking TBL of fruits and see how you like it - If you like it "darker" meaning more of a taste of fruits keep adding fruits - the more fruits you add the denser it will be.My family likes it pretty dark (dense) 11. With an electric mixer beat the egg whites unitl stiff but not dry - like for a meringue 11. Fold egg whites into mixture 12. Grease with crisco two deep cake pans - 8-10 inch diameter and 4-5 inches deep or several smaller ones. add batter 13. Bake at 300 degrees for 35 minutes and then lower to 200 degrees and bake 4 hours. Check after 2 hours to see how its doing. When done inserted toothpick should emerge relatively clean. When taken out of the oven sprinkle with more rum (this is optional) Aunt Flossie always made one or two tester cakes to see if she needed to add more fruits to batter.In a very tiny pan - I use small ramekins- I bake a tester cake - I actually do it at 350 degrees and it takes less than an hour - then I taste and add more fruits to the batter if I need it. Or sometimes I bake a dark and light cake. I bake half of it as is and then add more fruit to the other half. There you have it for the ambitious. I buy my fruits in the Delancy /Orchard St area. There are several candy/dried fruit stores there and prices and selection are good. If you have any questions about the recipe let me know. If you don't have the month for the soaked fruits you can expedite the process by coarsly grinding them and then soak them. Sun Dec 08 16:02:03 -0800 2002 1582953 0 Faren 1 1582954 I've had my fruits chopped and marinating for about three weeks now. I had posted looking for a good source for candied orange peel, etc. I did find glacéed fruits at Dean and DeLuca, but at $10.00/lb, I sprung for a few small tubs and made the candied citrus peel myself. I WAS going to try the Black Cake recipe from Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking" but was dissuaded by too many negative reports. Instead I'll be doing the Classic Fruitcake from Saveur Magazine's Fruitcake piece from 4 or 5 years back. Next weekend is my baking kick-off, so the cakes will have just over a week to age. I've also been polling friends and family (in-laws; I know well the leanings of my own flesh and blood) as to who does/doesn't like fruitcake. With all the work that goes into them, I'll be damned if I'll give any to homes where they'll be subject to ridicule or, worse, left uneaten. Sun Dec 08 15:36:24 -0800 2002 1582945 0 GG Mora 2 1582955 I think polling is a great ides. Fruitcakes are too labour intensive to waste on the non-eaters. If your're in the NYC area you can go down to Ludlow St on the Lower East Side to the fruit and candy stores for all kinds of dried and candied fruits. My two little cakes are just about done but the bigger ones need at least another hour. Happy baking! Sun Dec 08 15:51:57 -0800 2002 1582954 0 Faren 2 1582962 In the unlikely event that you end up with leftovers, I volunteer to dispose of them for you - free!!! I'll even pay for shipping! Hell, I'll even pay for the leftovers themselves... am the only fruitcake eater in my extended family and am just NOT going to the trouble of baking one just for myself, and then eating it all by myself while others (husband) quietly disapprove of such a display of gluttony... Sun Dec 08 17:54:45 -0800 2002 1582954 0 Katerina 3 1582964 That is so sad! We should all send you a peice! Sun Dec 08 18:03:30 -0800 2002 1582962 0 Faren 4 1582986 It IS sad, isn't it? But... I'll eat many other fine things at Christmas, which I will spend in my home town, Prague, so you don't have to feel too sorry for me. My family bakes around 20 kinds of cookies for Christmas, plus the traditional Christmas bread, vanocka, which tastes like something halfway between a stollen and a pandoro and is braided like a challah. So I won't exactly suffer from sweets deprivation. I do adore a good fruitcake, though. Yours sounds incredible - nothing but decades of tradition and refinement and fine-tuning could produce such a complex recipe. Mon Dec 09 01:19:17 -0800 2002 1582964 0 Katerina 5 1583046 Your Prague X-mas sounds fabulous. If there is any special cookie recipe you'd care to share, I'd love to see it. Really good, traditional Cookies are a favorite of mine. Enjoy! Mon Dec 09 15:12:50 -0800 2002 1582986 0 Faren 5 1583233 would you mind sharing the recipe for vanocka or perhaps kolaches? my czech grandmother's recipes for these are somewhat incomplete...the measurements are missing! will you be eating carp in prague? have a great time! Tue Dec 10 16:19:50 -0800 2002 1582986 0 petradish 6 1583340 I'll post the recipe for vanocka and some cookies later tonight (when I'm at home), under a new thread heading. I still don't know my recipes by heart the way my Grandma (age 92) does. Wed Dec 11 12:01:38 -0800 2002 1583233 0 Katerina 7 1583706 Recipe posted - look above. Fri Dec 13 13:31:31 -0800 2002 1583340 0 Katerina 2 1583012 Made mine about 4 weeks ago. Its a traditional British fruitcake and has to be made far in advance of the holidays as it has to be fed with small amounts of brandy. Still have to put the marzipan and royal icing on it. It smells wonderful and I can't wait to have a slice. Mon Dec 09 11:46:20 -0800 2002 1582954 0 Charlieboy 1 1582957 WE finished up our "Hermit Cake" yesterday, and now it is sitting on the porch curing. 3 weeks is what the recipe calls for, but we will just be under that for Xmas. It is my husbands' grandmother's recipe which includes walnuts, dates and brown sugar, eggs, soda, and a little flour. We usually eat it ourselves, and share with our "family" here, but I don't really think they like it all that much! peace. jill Sun Dec 08 15:53:07 -0800 2002 1582945 0 jill