TheBanyanTree: Another fruitcake

[Laura]

On 25 Jan 2005 , Dee Churchill begged me:

> Wolfie, my love, yours sounds mightily intriguing, too. I don't care how
> many pages it is. Sure you don't wanna share it?

Lordy, chile - it's not that I don't wanna share it, it's just that I 
don't wanna type all that in!

Oh, ok.  Just 'cause you're so pitiful when you get that hang-dog look on 
yer face.

Please note that I was wrong about a few things.  There is indeed candied 
fruit in it, but not nearly as much as the grocery store cakes, and it 
doesn't call for rum at all - it's supposed to have the wine.  Hey, I 
can't remember my kids' names... you want me to remember a recipe I 
haven't so much as helped with for 25 years?  Gimme a break!  ;o)

Here goes: 

The recipe is from _Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking_.  This 
book belongs to my Mom, who has had it since they first got married.  So 
we'll conservatively say it's 60 years old.  Real "modern".

Wine Fruit Cake

1 cup medium syrup (see below)
1 pound candied citron
1 pound candied pineapple
1/2 pound candied cherries (NOT maraschino!)
11 ounces currants (american currants)
1 pound pitted dates (yummy, yummy!)
1 pound dried figs (yummy, yummy, yummy!!)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup sherry or port wine (try homemade elderberry...)
1 pound pecans, coarsely chopped
1 pound all-purpose flour (4 cups sifted)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound butter or margarine (screw the diet - use the butter!)
1/2 pound brown sugar
1/2 pound granulated sugar
1 dozen eggs (hey, you want diet, go somewhere else.)
1 cup glaze (see below)

Whew!  And we haven't even started the instructions yet!  Deep breath, 
here comes some more:

Equipment needed:
2 1/2 to 3 gallon bowl for mixing fruit (Mom always used these HUGE
   copper bowls she got while in Greece)
parchment paper for lining pans
large cookie sheet with rim for holding pans and water (jelly roll pan
   works great for this)
loaf pans: tiny (5 3/4 x 3 1/8 x 2 1/4) holds 1 pint, or 1 - 1 1/4 lbs
              batter
           No.6 (8 x 4 x 2 3/4) hold 2 pints or 2 1/4 lbs batter
           No.11 (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4) holds 3 pints or 3 - 3 1/4 lbs
              batter
           Rubber (silicon) scraper

To make syrup:
Heat 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar to boiling, then simmer for 5 
minutes.  Add 1 tablespoon of white corn syrup and cool.

To make glaze:
Boil equal amounts of water and white corn syrup vigorously for 1 minute.

Preparing fruit and nuts:
Cut fruit into thin, match-like strips (I remember that Mom always 
chopped them.  I could be wrong though.)  Combine fruit, nuts, syrup, and 
wine.  Mix thoroughly with hands or wooden spoon until fruit and nuts are 
well coated with liquids.  Cover tightly and let stand overnight, but mix 
2 or 3 times as liquid settles in bottom, and lower layer of ingredients 
become more saturated.

Preparing pans:
Line pans with parchment.  Grease inner liner lightly.  Make patterns as 
follows.  Measure a sheet of paper as long as the bottom and ends of pan, 
plus one inch, and as wide as the bottom and the two sides plus one inch. 
 Now hold pan upside down, lay paper over bottom and down sides, then 
press paper down over ends, and with shears cut closely against the 
corners of the pan.  This pattern fits neatly inside the pan and extends 
1/2 inch above the edge.  Next grease pans lightly but evenly, and fit 
liners into pans.  If paper is thin, grease inside liner and fit a second 
liner into pan.  The half inch of paper extending above edge of pan all 
around protects cakes from browning too fast on top and aids in removing 
cakes from pans.

Mixing cake:
Have ingredients at room temperature for easy measuring and mixing.  
Measure dry ingredients.  Combine flour and spices with soda and sift 3 
times to mix thoroughly.  Measure butter or margarine into a large bowl 
or large electric mixer bowl.  Cream until smooth and shiny.  Add sugar 
and cream thoroughly.  To be sure lumps are out of moist brown sugar, put 
through a coarse sieve.  Add molasses.  Then add whole eggs, and beat 
until smooth and fluffy.  Add flour in 4 or 5 portions and mix well 
between additions.  Turn this batter over fruit mixture, and scrape 
batter out with rubber scraper.  Mix with hands (great fun for kids!), 
lifting fruit mixture up into batter until fruit mixture is well coated.  
Weigh batter at once into pans.  Push up well into corners of pans for 
good shape, smooth level over top with spatula or knife.  Rap pan on 
table top 2 or 3 times to pack batter down evenly.  Fill pans with batter 
to within 1/8 to 1/4 inch of top.  Pat a thin film of milk over tops.  
This produces an attractive shine to top crust and reduces browning to a 
minimum.

(tired yet?)

Baking cakes:  
Place cakes of same size and shape on a large tin cookie sheet (jelly 
roll pan).  Keep cakes at least 1/2 inch apart for heat circulation.  
Pour hot water into cookie sheet to a depth of 1/4 inch.  As water 
evaporates, replace with boiling water.  Place cookie sheet with cakes on 
lower rack of oven, and bake at 250 degrees until done (The toothpick 
test does not work on this cake because it is supposed to be gooey.)  
Tiny loaf pans require about 2 1/2 hours, No.6 pans require about 3 
hours, and the No.11 pans will require about 3 1/2 hours.

When done, remove cakes to racks to cool thoroughly in pans.  Then lift 
cakes out, with paper still attached, onto racks.  At this point, brush 
cakes with glaze, and decorate if desired.  Let glaze dry thoroughly, 24 
to 48 hours.  Trim off edges of lining paper, and wrap cakes snugly in 
plastic wrap or aluminum foil.  Ripen in a box with a cover in a cool 
place, but not cold enough to freeze.  Cakes should not be stacked on top 
of one another.

Addendum from Laura:
I don't remember Mom using the glaze.  As I said, she would wrap each 
cake in a cheesecloth soaked with whatever wine she made the cakes with.  
Then she wrapped them up and stored them in the back of the 'fridge.  I 
could barely wait for Christmas Eve, when she would open up the first of 
the cakes to take to Gramma's house for our Christmas Eve get-together.

I'm drooling.

(Told you it was a long 'un!)

Wolfie
-- 
Laura
wolfljsh at insightbb.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~wolfljsh/index.html