Name: Mimi’s Fruitcake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 2 cakes
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups (625 ml) golden raisins; 2 1 /2 cups (625 ml) Sultana raisins; 1 cup (250 ml) red candied cherries; 1 cup (250 ml) green candied cherries; 1 1/4 cups (310 ml) candied citrus peel; 1 1/4 cups (310 ml) walnut pieces; 1 cup (250 ml) pecan pieces; 2 cups (500 ml) sugar; 3 tablespoons (45 ml) vegetable shortening; 1 tablespoon (15 ml) ground allspice; 1 tablespoon (15 ml) ground cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) ground nutmeg; 2 cups (500 ml) water; 3 cups (750 ml) pastry flour; 1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking soda; 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt; Cheesecloth; Rum, brandy or amaretto (optional)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups (625 ml) golden raisins
2 1 /2 cups (625 ml) Sultana raisins
1 cup (250 ml) red candied cherries
1 cup (250 ml) green candied cherries
1 1/4 cups (310 ml) candied citrus peel
1 1/4 cups (310 ml) walnut pieces
1 cup (250 ml) pecan pieces
2 cups (500 ml) sugar
3 tablespoons (45 ml) vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon (15 ml) ground allspice
1 tablespoon (15 ml) ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) ground nutmeg
2 cups (500 ml) water
3 cups (750 ml) pastry flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking soda
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
Cheesecloth
Rum, brandy or amaretto (optional)

Preparation

In a saucepan, combine the fruit, nuts, sugar, shortening, spices and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Let cool and refrigerate overnight.
With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F). Butter and flour two 23 x 13-cm (9 x 5-inch) loaf pans.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
Pour the dry ingredients over the cooled fruit mixture and stir for 5 minutes with your hands or a wooden spoon. Pour the batter into the pans, without packing it.
Bake for about 2 hours, covering the pans with aluminum foil halfway through baking. Unmould and let cool.
Fold each piece of cheesecloth in half and soak them with the liqueur. Wrap the cakes in cheesecloth, then wrap in aluminum foil. Let the cakes rest for a few days before serving to allow the flavours to meld.

Note from Ricardo

You can eat the fruitcake on the same day that you bake it; it will be delicious. However, to allow the flavours to merry better, wait a few days or even weeks before serving. Your fruitcake can easily be prepared several weeks in advance. Well wrapped, it will keep for months in a cool place. Moreover, we once appreciated fruitcakes because they kept nuts and candied fruits for a long time.
If you don’t have any fruitcake left after Christmas and want to prepare more, buy your candied fruit and freeze them now: it's that time of year that you find a greater variety in supermarkets.
Fruitcake is a dessert popular here but also in the United States, where even a festival is dedicated to it. The Great Fruitcake Toss is held each year in Colorado in January. This festival is a great success and allows everyone to present his or her own recipe. In other western countries, this traditional holiday season cake takes a different look from ours: there is, of course, the famous British plum pudding, and in Italy, the delicious panettone. As for Spain, there is no candied fruitcake: however there exists a tradition to eat 12 grapes, one at each stroke when midnight strikes to mark the arrival of the New Year.

Mimi’s Fruitcake

Categories

Ingredients

Preparation

Note from Ricardo

Personal Note