Christmas Fruitcake - Southern Living

My first fruitcake was a Bara Brith, this is a fruitcake that Southern Living says is for those who don’t like fruitcake.  I like the variety of fruit that it has in it along with the nuts.  The recipe calls for apricots, dates, raisins, tart dried cherries, candied cherries, cranberries, apples, candied peel, slivered almonds and pecans.  I used extra apricots and cranberries and didn’t use dates or apples.  

I did two things that compromised the crumb.  First I used a 9x4” pullman pan instead of the 9x5” loaf pan so the batter was taller and more weighted down than it should have been.  Where the recipe says to smooth the top of the batter down, I went a bit overboard with that compressing the batter.

All in all thought, this is a delicious fruitcake and better than store bought for sure especially since making it yourself, you can control the quality of the ingredients. 

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Ingredients for 2 cakes

Soaked Fruit:

• 1 1/2 cups (about 8 1/2 oz.) chopped dried pitted apricots
• 1 1/2 cups (about 8 oz.) chopped pitted medjool dates
• 1 cup (5 oz.) golden raisins or raisins
• 1 cup (5 3/4 oz.) dried cherries
• 1 cup (6 3/4 oz.) glazed red cherries
• 1/2 cup (2 3/4 oz.) dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup (about 1 1/4 oz.) chopped dried apple 
• 1/2 cup (about 1 oz.) chopped glazed orange peel (optional)
• 1 cup (8 oz.) dark rum or brandy

Batter: for 2 cakes

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup (8 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. grated orange zest (from 1 medium orange)
• 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups (about 8 1/2 oz.) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground allspice
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 cup (4 3/4 oz.) slivered almonds, toasted
• 1 cup (4 oz.) pecan halves, toasted
• 1/2 cup (4 oz.) dark rum or brandy, for brushing

Directions

Prepare the Soaked Fruit: 
Combine all ingredients in a large shallow dish (such as a 9- x 13-inch baking dish); toss to coat.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until fruits have plumped and absorbed rum, at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours.

Prepare the oven and loaf pans: 

Preheat oven to 300°F. Light coat 2 (9- x 5-inch) loaf pans with cooking spray, and line pans with a double layer of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on each side.

Mix the Batter: 

Beat butter, sugar, and orange zest with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add molasses, vanilla, and almond extract; beat on medium speed until blended, about 30 seconds. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed until just combined after each addition, about 1 minute total.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium bowl.

Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

Fold in fruits and nuts: 

Transfer batter to a very large bowl. Fold in almonds, pecans, and Soaked Fruit until evenly distributed.

Add batter to pans: 

Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans (about 5 cups per pan). Smooth top of batter with a small spatula, and gently tap pans on counter to release any large air bubbles.

Bake fruitcakes: 

Bake in preheated oven until tops are golden and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Cool and brush with rum: 

Cool cakes in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using parchment overhang as handles, lift cakes from pans; place cakes on wire rack. Using a pastry brush, brush all sides of cakes with rum. Let cool completely on wire rack, about 6 hours, continuing to brush occasionally with rum as cakes cool.

My index of bakes.