Fruitcake
based on:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/christmas-fruitcake/
1/8 cup chopped dried cherries
1/8 cup chopped dried mango
1/8 cup chopped dried apricots
1/8 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup dark rum
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsulfered molasses
2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup dark rum, divided
Soak fruit in 1/4 cup rum. Cover tightly and store at room temperature
for at least 24 hours (a week is best).
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line 6x3-in loaf pan with parchment paper.
In 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, alternating with molasses and milk.
Stir in fruit (including rum) and nuts. Scrape batter into pan.
Bake 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp
rum.
Cut one piece each of parchment paper and cheesecloth big enough to
wrap around cake. Moisten cloth with 1 tbsp rum.
Arrange cloth on top of paper and unmold cake onto it. Sprinkle top
and sides of cake with remaining rum. Wrap cloth closely around
cake. Wrap with paper.
Place in airtight container (I use a freezer bag) and age for at least
10 weeks. Douse with rum occasionally while aging (see below for
more).
Comments:
The original recipe says to use dried currants and candied
citron. I usually don't bother looking for those things and instead
use fruits like I listed above which are easier to source. The most
important thing is to have around 3/4 cup assorted dried fruits to
soak in 1/4 cup rum. It seems hard to mess this up, so feel free to
experiment.
I use Kraken rum. It's pretty cheap and has a nice flavor.
I try to age for around a year, and have kept cakes for even
longer. The recipe says to douse with rum every 10 weeks, but I prefer
to splash a spoon of rum every two weeks for the first few months. The
rum will pool in the bottom of the cake, so flip the cake over to keep
the distribution even. Eventually the cake will become too saturated
to readily absorb more rum, and I continue to flip the cake once a
month and only add rum when it seems to be getting a bit dry. A mature
cake should only need to be moistened once or twice a year.
