Wow! Crash, who has sworn that he hates fruitcake, tasted a slice of
one of the cupcakes I made, and actually liked it! I always use
pecans (personal preference), but he said it needed walnuts. I'll cut
back on the mixed fruit and use more whole candied cherries for the
next batch. And I'll use both red and green.
Here's the issue. Crash is a recovering alcoholic. He gave the
fruitcake back to me after taking one slice and told me if he finished
it, it would set him off. Rum was his drink of choice. He just asked
me to hide the rest of the bottle. He can handle small amounts of
other alcoholic beverages (wine, wine coolers, etc.), but not hard
liquors.
Is there anything about fruitcake that makes it require booze? I'd
like to make this for him again, but I don't want the cake to be
super-dry for lack of hootch.
My thoughts: Pre-soak the fruits with orange juice? Add more of
something to the batter recipe for moisture? Here is the recipe. Pics
are available at link in my sig. I need to use *this* recipe, but am
wondering if it needs alterations.
* Exported from MasterCook *
Fruitcake
Recipe By
amsel
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : cakes
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
----BATTER----
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons lemon extract
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons sherry
2 1/2 cups flour
----FRUIT MIXTURE----
1/2 pound candied cherries
1 pound golden raisins
1/2 pound seedless raisins
1/2 pound currants
1/2 pound chopped pecans
1 pound mixed fruitcake fruit
flour -- to coat fruit
In a large bowl, combine batter ingredients in the order given,
beating in one egg at a time. In a huge bowl, combine fruits and nuts.
Add enough flour to the fruit mixture to coat lightly. Pour batter
over fruit mixture; combine well.
Line baking pans with at least two layers of heavy brown paper, such
as postal wrapping paper, or grocery bags. (Instructions at end of
post, if needed) Spoon batter into pans, filling no more than 2/3
full.. Place shallow pan of water in bottom of 300 degree oven and
bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out
clean (1-1/2 hours for 1 pound cake, 2-1/2 to 3 hours for larger
cakes) Remove from oven and pour rum over cakes while still hot. When
cooled just enough to handle, remove paper from cakes and cool on a
wire rack.
When thoroughly cooled, saturate with more rum (optional). Decorate
tops with candied fruits, attached to cake with corn syrup.
Examples:
*One-half red cherry in center, with thin wedge-shaped slices of green
pineapple on each side (rectangular cakes)
*One-half green cherry in center, with thin wedge-shaped slices of
yellow pineapple on each side (rectangular cakes)
*Pecan half in center, with pineapple on each end (rectangular cakes)
*One-half cherry with thin wedge-shaped slices of pineapple forming a
starburst around cherry center (round cakes)
Wrap neatly with plastic wrap, using tape to secure wrap at the bottom
of each loaf.
Baking containers:
*Any size loaf pan. I like to make tiny, individual-sized cakes for
gift-giving.
*Short coffee or sweet potato (yam) cans.
Lining baking pans:
*Cut paper to size. Be sure to allow enough to cover bottom of pan,
and up the sides.
*Mark the paper (on the side that will be away from the cake) to the
size and shape of the pan bottom.
*For a rectangular pan, cut the paper from the outside corner to the
marked corner, and stop there. Do this with all four corners. Place
paper into pan, covering bottoms and sides of pan, and wrap excess
paper around corners, inside the pan.
*For a round pan, follow the same procedure, but cut the paper from
the outside edges to the marked base of pan, cutting several times, in
a starburst-type pattern.
Source:
"Pat and Carol Zastera"
Yield:
"4 1/2 pounds"
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http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/head_trollop/my_photos