It's December, which means for a lot of people it's time to start baking all sorts of holiday treats: cookies, pies, cakes and more.
But what about fruitcake?
No, we're not talking about recreating those rectangles of candied fruitcakes you see in the stores, but a loaf of home-baked fruitcake that your friends and family will thoroughly enjoy.
Which brings us to sitting down in the kitchen with our Managing Editor Gary Poole, a long time amateur baker who shares with us an old family recipe.
"As a kid, I love those super sweet and chewy fruitcakes, but as a I grew older I found them too sweet," Gary reminisces. "That's when I found a handwritten recipe on a index card in my mother's recipe tin."
This fruitcake features dried, not candied, fruits along with nuts, chocolate chips, and even some rum.
"The rum is optional, for those that prefer a non-alcoholic cake," notes Gary. "But I find the combination of a bit of rum and a bit of orange juice really adds a nice complexity of flavor to the cake, especially combined with the traditional holiday spices of cinnamon and nutmeg."
Home-Baked Holiday Fruitcake
FRUIT MIXTURE
- 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
- 1 cup dried dates, chopped
- 1 cup dried cherries
- 1 cup golden raisins
CAKE INGREDIENTS
- 1 and 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup dark rum
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 300F with a rack in the center position. Lightly grease two 8x4-inch loaf pans.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream the softened butter and light brown sugar together until light and fluffy. (stand or hand mixer)
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating just until each egg is incorporated. The mixture will look slightly broken.
- Slowly add the flour mixture until just absorbed.
- Add the juice, rum, nuts, fruit mixture, and chocolate. Stir mixture with a large spatula until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated.
- Divide the batter evenly among the loaf pans, smoothing the batter into an even layer. Set the loaf pans on the center rack, several inches apart from one another. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway, or until the cakes have set.
- Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool completely before removing from the pans.
"I like to dust my fruitcakes with some powdered sugar once they are completely cooled," says Gary. "It adds a nice subtle sweetness to the crust as well as presenting a festive holiday look."
