Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake Recipes

CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• Soak cherries, mango, cranberries, currants, and citron in 1/4 cup rum for at least 24 hours. Cover tightly, and store at room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Butter a 6x3-inch round pan or loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; mix into butter and sugar in three batches, alternating with molasses and milk. Stir in soaked fruit and chopped nuts. Scrape batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons rum.
• Cut out one piece parchment paper and one piece cheesecloth, each large enough to wrap around the cake. Moisten cheesecloth with 1 tablespoon rum. Arrange cheesecloth on top of parchment paper, and unmold cake onto it. Sprinkle top and sides of cake with remaining rum. Wrap the cheesecloth closely to the surface of the cake, then wrap with paper. Place in an airtight tin, and age for at least 10 weeks. If storing longer, douse with additional rum for every 10 weeks of storage.

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°. In a large bowl, combine the nuts, dates and cherries. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; add to nut mixture, stirring until nuts and fruit are well coated. , In a small bowl, beat eggs until foamy; stir in vanilla. Fold into nut mixture and mix well. Pour into a greased parchment-lined 9x5-in. loaf pan. , Bake at 300° for 1-3/4 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKE

Steps:

• The day before you intend to bake the cake, measure out the brandy and port, into a large saucepan. Then add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, dried fruits, mixed peel, nuts and zest's. Now stir and bring the mixture up to simmering point, then, keeping the heat low, simmer very gently for 10 minutes. After that allow everything to cool then pour the mixture into an airtight plastic container and leave it in a cool place overnight. Remember to take the butter out of the fridge so it will soften. When you are ready to bake the cake, pre-heat the oven to 140°C, gas mark 1. All you do is measure out the flour, sugar and softened butter into a very large mixing bowl then add the eggs and with an electric whisk, beat until everything is evenly blended. (Use a wooden spoon if you don't have an electric whisk). Now use a large metal spoon to gradually fold in the fruit mixture until it's all evenly distributed. Then spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, levelling the surface with the back of the spoon. Finally cover the top of the cake with a double square of parchment paper with a 50p-size hole in the centre (this gives extra protection during the long slow cooking). Bake the cake in the centre of the oven for 4 hours until it feels springy in the centre when lightly touched. Cool the cake for 45 minutes in the tin, then remove it to a wire rack to finish cooling. When it's completely cold, wrap in double greaseproof paper and then foil and store in an airtight tin or polythene box. This cake eats very well as it is but if your want to use some of the brandy from your storecupboard, you can 'feed' it by making small holes in the top and bottom with a cocktail stick and spoon in a couple of tablespoons of brandy then it wrap it in double baking parchment and foil or store in an airtight tin. You can now 'feed' it at weekly intervals until you eat it as it is or ice it.