Fruit and Spice Cake
Submitted by ddoug on December 25, 2003 at 2:51 pm

This is from the Sunday Boston Globe food column by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven: "Years ago a reader named Susan Malick gave us her recipe for fruitcake, on which this cake is based. Unlike old-fashioned fruitcakes which were loaded with red and green candied fruits, this one uses dried fruit and nuts and bakes into a luxurious cake."
[This cake does not have to be made ahead. It keeps very well wrapped in foil.]

Butter and flour for the pan
1/2 lb. dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1/2 lb. pitted dates, coarsely chopped
1/4 lb. dried cranberries
3/4 lb. golden raisins
1/4 lb. unblanched almonds chopped
1/4 lb. walnuts, chopped
1/4 lb. pecans, chopped
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, cut in strips or chunks
grated rind of 2 oranges

2 cups. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves OR allspice
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar [or all brown sugar, if you wish]
6 eggs
juice of 1 orange
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup rum, brandy or other similar (or juice)

Set the oven at 300F.

Butter a 10" tube pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper cut as exactly as possible to fit. Butter the paper and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

In a large bowl, combine all the fruits and nuts, ginger and orange rind. Add 1/4 of the flour and toss to coat the fruit and nuts.

In another bowl, sift the remaining flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

In an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add the sugars and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Beat in the juices and rum.

With the mixer on the lowest speed, beat in the flour mixture just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Add the mixture to the fruits and nuts and fold in until no trace of flour shows and fruit is well coated.

Spoon/pour the batter (which will be thick) into the prepared pan. Bake at 300F for 2 1/2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean.

Set cake in the pan on a rack for 1/2 hour.

Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake, lift off the rim, then turn the cake upside down on a plate and take out the tube. Take off the parchment paper and turn the cake right side up on the rack to cool.

I made a syrup of 1/2 cup orange juice and 1/2 cup sugar, poked holes in the cake, and dribbled the syrup in. You could add some Cointreau or rum if you wanted.

• This topic was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.