Rich Fruitcake (Christmas)

Time is always of the essence when Christmas is just a few days away. With the gift-shopping and feast preparation, there's hardly any time left for baking. Remember when I shared this cheat some time ago when I didn't have time to prepare a traditional aged fruit cake? It did impress the family, being cute and festive, but technically speaking, it isn't quite a fruit cake.

So if you are caught in the same situation as me but still wanting a Christmas fruit cake, this might just be the thing for you. After doing extensive research (old occupational hazard dies hard) and a few test bakes, I finally decided on this recipe.

Rich Fruit Cake (makes 8" square)
(modified from veenaartofcake)

Mixture A (soak)
130g     Mixed fruits and peels
  50g     Raisins/Currants/Sultanas
  70g     Dried Cranberries
120g     Rum, dark if available

Mixture B
215g     Butter, unsalted
135g     Brown sugar, dark if available
  50g     Honey/Maple Syrup
   3g     Salt
Zest of 1 lemon

    3      Eggs
    2      Yolks

Mixture C (stir to combine)
Leftover rum from soaking fruits
   5g     Vanilla Extract

Mixture D (sift)
250g     Plain flour
   5g     Baking powder
   2g     Ground Cinnamon
   1g     Ground Nutmeg
   1g     Ground All-spice

Optional (roughly chopped)
 50g     Almonds
 50g     Pistachios
 50g     Macadamias

 50g     Rum, dark if available

1. Soak the mixed fruits and peels in dark rum for minimally 3 hours, best if overnight. Stir the mixture occasionally. Drain and reserve the leftover rum.

2. Line and grease the baking tin if needed.

3. Add a few tablespoonfuls of (D) to drained fruits to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake during baking.

Preheat oven to 150°C
4. Using a paddle attachment, beat all ingredients in (B) except the eggs till light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time till well combined.

5. Add in (D) in 2 additions while alternating with (C), i.e. flour -> rum -> flour. Mix well and scrape down before each additions. Mix till you still see a few streaks of flour and stop.

6. Stir in the fruits and chopped nuts (if using).

7. Pour batter into lined tin. Fill an oven tray with hot water and placed it on the bottom of the oven. Place the cake in the centre of the oven and bake for 90-120 mins or until a cake tester comes out clean with a few moist crumbs.

8. Drizzle the 50g of rum and cool in pan for 10 mins before removing from pan. Let cool completely on a wired rack. Best served after a day of resting for the flavour to mature.

Optional
9. Dust with confectioner's sugar.

Thoughts: While this cake might not be as deep and rich as an aged one, it scores distinction for me, considering the time constraint. If done properly, the cake is moist with fine crumbs and the flavour still rich enough. To remain alcohol free, skip the last step of drizzling rum over the baked cake. Although personally, I think apart from adding flavour, it also lends extra moisture to the cake. A little more alcohol can never hurt.

There are also a few aspects to the recipe which you can adjust to preference. The amount of sugar (as always), spices, mixed fruits and chopped nuts. In fact, I drastically reduced the amount of mixed fruits compared to the original recipe (a whopping 680g total before modification) and added chopped nuts instead of almond meal.

If you take an in-depth look, you will see that I changed more than just the amount of sugar, mixed fruits and what-nots. I found the original recipe to be moist but still not as rich as I would like. It was also a little too soft for what I think a Christmas fruit cake should be. I'm guessing it's mainly due to the water bath. So instead of using a water bath, I chose to place the tray on the bottom of the oven so its steam still keeps the hot air moist, yet not rendered the cake as soft. Cakes baked using this method will not be as moist as one that uses the water bath, so I worked on the recipe itself to retain moisture.

Verdict from the family? My mum loves it and thought it was better than all the fruit cakes I baked in the past (various other recipes). She thought it isn't overly sweet unlike commercially available fruit cakes, especially when elderly shouldn't take too much sugar. Another plus point for her is the addition of nuts and thought it gave a nice textural and flavour contrast to the cake. Although the rum is subtle, she didn't missed the alcohol-soaked rendition as it can get too overwhelming at times. If like me, you don't mind more alcohol, go ahead and amp up the amount of rum to be drizzled onto the cake. Just be careful not to make the cake too wet else it wouldn't be good eats. I'll still lap it up but that's just me.

And this conclude the last post of year 2014 as I will be travelling to Japan over the new year (YAY!). With that, as usual, as always, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Stay healthy, stay full-bellied while eating to live and living to eat.

All blog posts and photos are properties of WhatToBakeToday (unless otherwise stated). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of these contents, whole or part thereof, without express or written permission from this blog's author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to WhatToBakeToday with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.