Frosted Fruitcake With Meringue Mushrooms Recipes

FROSTED FRUITCAKE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Line baking sheet with parchment or grease. In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar; add egg, orange zest, and juice. Mix well. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to creamed ingredients. Stir in raisins, candied fruit and nuts. Shape dough into a strip roughly 7x12 (mine was more like 5x12) and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven; cool slightly, then frost with glaze while warm. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired. Cut into strips.
• Glaze: Whisk together all ingredients until smooth.
• Makes about 20, once you've eaten away the scraps.

CHEWY FRUITCAKE MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Spread hazelnuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet; toast until golden and fragrant, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool slightly; chop.
• Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees. Combine egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a mixer set over a pot of simmering water (do not let bottom touch water). Whisk until eggs are foamy and sugar dissolves (mixture should feel smooth and warm to the touch when rubbed between your fingers). Transfer to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add cream of tartar, and beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, 7 to 9 minutes.
• Combine hazelnuts, fruits, and candied citron and peel in a bowl. Fold maraschino syrup and all but 1/4 cup of fruit-nut mixture into meringue. Drop heaping tablespoons of meringue mixture onto 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, 1 inch apart. Top with remaining fruit-nut mixture.
• Bake, rotating sheets and rack positions halfway through, until meringues have darkened slightly and are tacky on surfaces but no longer sticky, 1 hour to 1 hour, 10 minutes. Turn oven off (do not open door); let cool in oven until dry and crisp on outsides, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Serve, or store in an airtight container at room temperature, between sheets of parchment, up to 5 days. Lightly dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

FRUITCAKES WITH MERINGUE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. Toss apricots, figs, and dates in a bowl with the liqueur. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
• With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in honey and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Fold in fruit mixture and hazelnuts by hand.
• Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes (if cupcakes start to brown too quickly, tent loosely with foil). Transfer tin to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
• To finish, use an offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Dust meringue mushrooms with cocoa and place on top of cupcakes just before serving.

QUICK AND EASY BRITISH FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 6-inch round cake pan.
• Place flour in a bowl. Rub butter into the flour until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add mixed fruit, 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, and mixed spice. Stir to combine. Add milk and egg and mix until batter is soft and easy to drop.
• Drop batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle light brown sugar on top and pat down with the back of a spoon.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

CLASSIC WINTER FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• Lightly beat the egg white in a shallow bowl and spread out the caster sugar on a baking sheet or tray. Dip the grapes and the holly or bay leaves into the egg white, or use a paintbrush. Shake off the excess, then coat in the sugar. Set aside to dry for at least 10 mins, ideally about 30 mins.
• When you're ready to decorate, make the frosting. Put a large bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Put the egg whites and icing sugar into the bowl and whisk for 5-7 mins until you have a thick, very glossy frosting. Use a spatula to clean around the edges of the bowl every so often as you whisk. Scoop the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it around with a flat-edged knife, swirling as you go to create a snowy effect (see Knowhow, below).
• Halve the clementines, figs and kumquats, then arrange on top of the frosted cake with the physalis, frosted grapes and leaves. Fix a ribbon around the base and leave the cake somewhere cool - but not the fridge - until your guests arrive.