As the holidays draw I find my self thinking about my family and the families before us.(I love doing genealogy and found most of our family came from the Netherlands, France,Germany, England and Scotland). I like to do something every year the directly links us to our ancestors. So this year I have decided to do Fruitcake. I think I have heard Miss Baritone talk about fruitcakes and would like to ask what type of fruitcake she makes. My sister in law is very excited about this as my husbands ancestors come from Ireland and England..She asked about a dark fruitcake.

This is a traditional english fruitcake. It makes a 7 inch square or an 8 inch round cake

3/4lb plain flour
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp grated nutmeg
9oz butter
9oz soft brown sugar
2 tbsp black treacle
6 eggs
2lb mixed dried fruit
6oz mixed peel
4oz chopped nuts
4oz glace cherries
1/2 pint alcohol (use brandy, sherry or whiskey)

put dried fruit, cherries and nuts in a bowl and pour alcohol over. Let this stand for at least 24 hours.
Grease tin and line with a double thickness of greaseproof paper
sift flour with spices
cream butter with sugar and treacle.
beat in eggs 1 at a time adding a spoonful of flour mix with each
stir in fruit mix and flour mix
transfer to tin and smooth top
Bake in centre of a cool oven 300F or gas mark 2 for 4 - 4 1/2 hours until a skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.
leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
DO NOT REMOVE LINING PAPER.
when cold wrap in greaseproof paper and aluminum foil.

This cake gets better with keeping so ideally keep for 2 -3 months before covering with marzipan and royal icing or fondant but you can use sooner if you wish.

If you wish once a week unwrap and drizzle 1 tablespoon of alcohol into cake top.

I believe treacle is what we refer to as dark molasses? Or dark corn syrup? Also what is a "mixed spice"?

Miss Baritone,
Thank you so much for such a quick answer to my post. Do I put the fruitcake in the refrigerator or can I leave it out in the pantry. I will make the fruitcakes this weekend this way they will be ready for christmas. Again thank you for answering so quickly.

Nancy

Yes treacle is molasses
mixed spice is a blend that we buy ready mixed over here, according to the ingreediant list on my jar it consists of
cinnamon, coriander seed, caraway seed, nutmeg, ginger, cloves

these are all ground down into a very fine powder. Iwouldn't worry too much about exact proportions.

xx

Just leave it in the pantry. I normally leave mine in a box under the spare bed. The good thing about these is once they're made (unless you want to feed them with extra alcohol) you can forget about them until you're ready to decorate. Don't remove the lining paper until you are ready to decorate as it helps the cake stay moist. A good fruitcake should be very dark, rich and moist and as I've said it does need some time to mature

I've tried to get mixed spice here...and haven't had luck.

You can try finding it in an African or West Indian store if you have any of these ethnic type stores close by.

If not try this recipe:
http://www.recipelink.com/ch/2000/may/herbmixtures3.html



Princess