FRUIT IN FRUITCAKE – MAKE YOUR OWN MIX
When making fruitcakes, add up the total amount of fruit and nuts called for in the recipe, and then make changes according to your personal preferences.
- dried apples
- dried apricots
- dried pears
- dried peaches
- dried pineapple
- prunes
- dates
- black and golden raisins
- currants
- dried citrus peel
- Not creative enough? You can always add the following:
- dried mango
- dried papaya
- cherries
- cranberries
- dried blueberries
- nuts
Choose the fruits that you like, use what you have on hand, or what’s most cost effective for your budget.
If there are certain fruits you don’t like, you can always include more or less of another kind.
The ratio of fruit to batter has always been an issue for fruitcake connoisseurs. At least half the weight of the cake should be fruit, and the more fruit, the better.
A fruitcake with less than a 50:50 ratio, is called a Plum Cake or Dundee Cake.
The dried fruits should be cut into small pieces with kitchen shears or chopped with a knife.
The chopped fruits are then soaked in fine spirits such as a good a port, sherry, Marsala, Madeira, Malmsey, Muscat, rum or brandy for 24 hours before making the cake or follow your recipe if this is not required.
Don’t scrimp the alcohol, use a good-quality liqueur for best results. The heat of cooking will destroy most of the alcohol, while leaving behind the flavour.
If you do use candied fruit, rinse it first to get rid of most of the syrupy, sticky glaze. While dried fruit absorbs alcohol, candied peel does not readily soak up the liqueur so it’s probably better to plan on eating this type of fruitcake fresh, rather than aged and cured.
There are dark fruitcakes and light fruitcakes, and some people prefer one better than they prefer the other. A light fruitcake uses light coloured fruits such as currants, dried apricots and pineapple, lighter coloured spices and light corn syrup. A dark fruitcake uses darker fruits like raisins, dried dates, cranberries, and prunes, darker coloured spices, and dark corn syrup or molasses.
Dust the fruit with flour, before mixing with the batter, to prevent the fruit from sinking to the bottom depends on your recipe.
Elsabie Templeton
Selfgemaakte vrugtemengsel. Dadels (ontpit as jy wil tyd spaar), korente, sultanas en rosyntjies, sitrus skil, kersies. Ek sit pekanneute en verglanste gemmer ook by.
Rina Kleinhans
Ek voeg opgesnyde makataanstukke ook by, wanneer ek in voorraad het.
Posted by: Adam Cloete
Photo: Rina Kleinhans
Photo 2: Sarie van Vuuren
