Fruitcake Cheese Loaf Recipes

FRUITCAKE LOAF CAKE

Steps:

• Cut the cherries into quarters and mix together with the raisins and mixed fruit (or glacé citrus peel). Measure the cherries AFTER they are quartered. In the cake pictured, I have used a mixture of half red and half green glacé cherries for the most colourful appearance.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Lightly grease a 9x5 inch standard loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
• Measure the flour, then remove 2 tbsp to dust the fruit with later.
• Sift the remaining flour with the baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• Cream together butter, sugar and cream cheese, until smooth and fluffy,
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Next, beat in the vanilla extract (and almond extract if you are using it.)
• Fold in the dry ingredients until almost fully incorporated. A few streaks of flour in the batter should remain at this point.
• Toss the fruit mixture with the reserved 2 tbsp flour.
• Add the flour coated fruit to the batter and fold in well.
• Spread batter evenly into the prepared loaf pan.
• Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. My oven actually took closer to 1 1/2 hours.
• Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. If freezing, wrap tightly in several layers of plastic wrap before placing it in a large ziplock freezer bag, removing as much air from the bag as you can before sealing it.

OLIVE AND CHEESE LOAF

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, and yeast; stir in cheese and olives. Add water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until a wet, sticky dough forms, about 30 seconds, adding additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and surface becomes dotted with bubbles, 12 to 18 hours.
• Generously flour work surface; scrape dough onto work surface. Lightly flour hands, a bowl scraper, or a spatula and lift edges of dough toward the center. Nudge and tuck edges of dough to make round.
• Place a piece of parchment paper on work surface and generously dust with flour. Gently place dough on parchment, seam-side down. If dough is tacky, lightly dust top with flour. Cover dough loosely with wax paper and two clean kitchen towels. Let dough stand in a warm, draft-free spot until almost doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
• Gently poke dough with your finger; dough should hold the impression. If it springs back, let rise 15 minutes more.
• Ten minutes before dough has finished rising, preheat oven to 475 degrees on a conventional oven (450 degrees on a convection oven) with a rack in the lower third. Place a covered 3 1/2-quart cast-iron or enameled cast-iron Dutch oven (with plastic handle removed and screw hole plugged with aluminum foil) in center of rack.
• Using pot holders, carefully remove preheated Dutch oven from oven and uncover. Uncover bread and loosen bottom with a large spatula. With the aid of the parchment paper, invert bread into preheated Dutch oven so that it is seam-side up. Cover Dutch oven and transfer to oven; bake for 25 minutes.
• Uncover and continue baking until bread is dark brown but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Using a heatproof spatula or pot holders, gently lift bread from Dutch oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

CHEESE LOAF

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a loaf pan.
• Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and cheese in a large bowl. Mix in milk and melted butter. Stir to form a soft dough. Spoon dough into prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 34 to 40 minutes. Remove from pan to cool.

CHOCOLATE CHIP CHERRY FRUITCAKE LOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 F and have ready a greased 9x5" loaf pan.
• Beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until well combined.
• In another large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix well.
• Add nuts, dates or raisins, 1 cup cherry halves,& the chocolate chips and stir gently to combine.
• Pour into a greased 9x5" loaf pan(mixture will be very thick).
• Garnish top with a row of cherry halves down the center of the batter- press gently so they stick.
• Bake in a preheated 325 F oven for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until golden and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out mostly clean (there will be streaks of melted chocolate but not gobs of beige batter) - DO NOT OVERBAKE or it will be as hard as a rock.
• Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely.
• Usually I slice the loaf after it has cooled and seal it in a plastic zip-top bag, which helps keep it from hardening up.

CHEESE-FILLED MEAT LOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Chop 4 bacon strips; set remaining 4 bacon strips aside.
• Cook chopped bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until bacon is browned and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Set chopped bacon aside.
• Lightly mix ground beef, bread crumbs, beaten egg, garlic, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, salt, and black pepper together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Spread meat mixture out on a piece of waxed paper, forming a rectangle about 10 inches square. Spread Cheddar cheese and cooked chopped bacon over the meat, leaving a 1/2-inch edge all around. Carefully lift an edge and roll the meat around the filling. Place into a loaf pan with the seam side down.
• Bake meat loaf in the preheated oven until hot and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes. Mix ketchup, brown sugar, pineapple, and 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce together in a bowl, stirring to dissolve brown sugar. Remove meat loaf from oven and place remaining 4 bacon strips onto meat loaf, weaving them together. Spread pineapple mixture over woven bacon and top of loaf.
• Return meat loaf to oven and bake until bacon topping is crisp and pineapple mixture has baked into a glaze, about 20 more minutes. An instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the center of the meat loaf should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

CREAM CHEESE FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• To make the fruit & nut mix, chop up an assortment of dried fruits and nuts of your choice. Typically, my mom uses raisins, pineapple, papaya, green & red glacé cherries, and pecans. Smaller dried fruits like raisins don't need to be cut, but dice up the other fruits and the nuts. Now measure out 3 cups worth of the mixture and mix it up with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour (this is done so that the fruits and nuts won't all sink to the bottom of your cake when baking).
• Preheat the oven to 325°F
• Cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in the cream cheese.
• Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla extract.
• In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, the baking powder, and the salt.
• Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients; the batter will be quite thick.
• When barely any streaks remain, mix in the flour-covered fruit & nut mix. Only on few strokes of your spatula are needed; do not overmix.
• Spray a loaf pan (9x5 in) with nonstick spray and line the bottom of the pan with a rectangle of parchment paper.
• Scrape your batter into the loaf pan, smoothing the top.
• Place in the oven and let bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
• If near the end of baking, the inside of the cake is still wet but the top is browning too quickly, cover the top with a sheet of foil.
• Let your cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooking.

FRUITCAKE CHEESE LOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375^. Cook the bacon in a medium skillet over med-hi heat until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate with a slotted spoon. Reserve the drippings.
• Crumble enough of the fruitcake to make 1 cup; set the remaining cake aside. Mix the crumbled cake, flour and butter with your fingers in a bowl until the mixture is in pea-size pieces. Place on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let cool, then add the bacon and crumble the mixture into smaller pieces.
• Beat the gorgonzola, cream cheese, chives, worcestershire sauce and cayenne in a bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth; set aside. Line a mini loaf pan or small soufflée dish with plastic wrap,leaving a long overhang on the sides. Press the crumble into the bottom of the dish. Spread the cheese mixture over the crumble layer and fold in the excess plastic wrap to cover the cheese. Refrigerate until firm , about 1 hour.
• Brush a baking sheet with some of the reserved baking drippings. Slice the remaining fruitcake into 1/4 inch thick pieces with a serrated knife (if they fall apart, press back together with your fingers). Place the slices on the prepared baking sheet, brush with more drippings and toast 7-10 minutes per side. Cool on the baking sheet. Uncover the cheese mold and invert onto a platter. Serve with the fruitcake toasts.