With all good intentions, my big baking project is this Ultimate Fruitcake recipe from...

michael-in-phoenix

Well-known member
...a few years ago. I've tried to get this done for years. By Job, I'm gonna do it this year!

Michael

Ultimate Fruitcake

Makes one 10-by-16-inch cake

For the fruit foundation:

8 ounces dried figs, stemmed and cut into pieces

8 ounces pitted date pieces

8 ounces candied orange peel in 1/8-inch strips

8 ounces raisins

8 ounces golden raisins

8 ounces dried currants

4 ounces dried sweetened cherries

4 ounces dried pineapple

4 ounces walnut halves

4 ounces macadamia nuts

4 ounces whole almonds

1/2 cup dark rum

For the cake batter:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 pound butter at room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

For the marzipan:

1 pound almond paste

1 pound powdered sugar

1/3 cup corn syrup

For the syrup:

2/3 cup corn syrup

1/3 cup dark rum

1. Toss the fruits and nuts with 1/2 cup of rum, cover and let rest overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 300. Butter an 11-by-17-inch pan and line it with baker's parchment.

3. Whisk the flour with the baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking soda and cloves. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and brown sugar and, one a time, stir in the eggs. Add the dry ingredients all at once to the butter and egg mixture and stir until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter over the fruit and nut mixture, fold everything together thoroughly and scrape into the buttered pan.

4. Press a piece of parchment over the top of the batter and bake it for 50 to 60 minutes, or just until the cake is firm. (Do not over-bake, or the cake will be hard and the sugar in the fruit will caramelize and turn bitter.) Cool the cake in the pan on a rack.

5. Make the marzipan in a food processor, pulsing the almond paste, powdered sugar and corn syrup together to form a soft dough. Knead the dough until it's smooth and keep it covered with plastic wrap until you're ready to top the cake.

6. Stir the corn syrup and rum together and brush the top of the cake with half of the syrup.

7. Roll half the marzipan into a rectangle the same size as the fruitcake, drape it over the surface of the cake and press down to make it stick. Invert the cake out of the pan onto a clean surface and brush the other side with the remaining syrup. Roll out the remaining marzipan and press it onto the second side of the cake.

8. Trim a half-inch from each side of the cake, cut it into 40 two-inch squares and wrap each square in plastic wrap. The wrapped pieces of cake keep refrigerated for several weeks or, frozen, several months.

— Adapted from Nick Malgieri's Oxford Fruitcake in "How to Bake"

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t159/Storehouse78/fruitcake.jpg

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2002/1208/taste.html

 
By Job? M, you may want to pick someone with a few less trials and tribulations.

Cake image looks amazing. Good luck.

 
Considering how many years I've had this recipe and actually BOUGHT THE...

...INGREDIMENTS, but never followed through and made it due to my own trials and tribs, me and Job are on a first-name basis.

But he only had one name... oh well.

Michael

 
Michael, would you let us know how it turns out?

I've always wanted to try a really good fruitcake recipe, so maybe this is it! I'll be interested in your feedback. . .

 
Picture me sternly and resolutely staring this recipe in the face. Inspirational music begins to...

...play in the background (Nessun Dorma, or something equally emboldening).

Nothing will stop me! NOTHING!

Unless, of course, it's like all the other years.

Michael

 
wow Michael. How long would you store this? and would you cover it in marzipan and then wrap and

store/age, or age it and then cover it? or not age it at all?

 
Oh no! Now I have to try to make it too. Just too big a challenge to pass up. Damn.

A Traditional Christmas Fruitcake . . . and me, a Jew. Sigh.

 
You know...being a friend & all, I'd be willing to "store" a few pieces at my home for you.

You know, for testing purposes and empirical data results and all that.

 
According to the last part of the recipe, it keeps well cut and wrapped in the fridge...

...for weeks, or frozen for months.

I'll probably make it soon and freeze some. I'll let some age in the fridge for a couple of weeks and see if it is better than eating it fresh.

We'll see!

Michael

 
I hadn't thought about it, but I'd probably make it 'as written' first. If it's good...

...I'll make a second batch. I could toast the nuts then. Thanks for the suggestion.

Michael

 
Hello Marilyn. I've been checking in from time to time. I got a new job earlier this

year and haven't had as much time to linger.

Thanks for asking.

 
Would anyone be interested in a Southern fruitcake recipe, that has a white cake base? It's very

delicate and non-traditional in the English sense...

 
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