Sean's Holiday Fruitcake

The reputation of fruitcake has been tarnished but store bought and candied fruitcakes. Using dried instead of candied fruit demonstrates what fruitcake is supposed to be.

Yields:	10 servings
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	Preparation	25 hours
	Cooking	1 hours
	Ready In	14d

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Ingredients

1/2	cup	golden raisins
1/2	cup	currants
1	cup	cranberries	dried
1/2	cup	blueberries	dried
1	cup	cherries	dried
3/4	cup	apricots	dried, chopped
1	x	lemon	zest from
1	x	orange	zest from
1	x	lime	zest from
1/3	cup	ginger	candied, chopped
1	cup	rum
1	cup	sugar
3/4	cup	butter
1	cup	apple cider	or apple juice
4	each	cloves	whole
6	each	allspice berries	whole
1	teaspoon	cinnamon	ground
1	teaspoon	ginger	ground
1 3/4	cup	flour, all-purpose
1 1/2	teaspoon	salt
1	teaspoon	baking powder
1	teaspoon	baking soda
2	large	eggs
1	cup	pecans	walnuts

Directions

Grind all the spices in a petal and mortar or any other method you prefer. Using whole spices and grinding just prior to making the fruitcake makes a difference.

Use dried fruit instead of candied fruit.

Toast the nuts in a 300 degree F oven for an hour. Toasting the nuts brings out much more flavour.

Combine fruit, candied ginger and the orange, lemon, lime zest in a large non-reactive bowl. (eg. glass or plastic) Add rum and macerate (marinate) overnight. To speed things up you can microwave for 5 minutes to speed the process.

Place the fruit/rum mixture in a non-reactive pot. Add the suger, butter, apple cider, and all spices. Bring to a boil, stirring often and simmer for 5 or 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the remaining dry ingredients and sift into the fruit mixture.

Using a large wooden spoon mix together quickly. Then stir in eggs one at a time until completly incorporated, then fold in the nuts.

Place the mixture into a 10 inch non-stick loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Check for doneness with a toothpick in the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean it's done. If it's not done bake for another 10-15 minutes and check again. I find mine usually take a good 1 1/2 hours.

Remove cake from oven and place on a cooling rack. Spitz the top with brandy in a spay bottle (or baste) and allow to cool. Let the cake cool completely before taking it out of the pan.

Once the cake is completely cool, seal in a tight sealing food safe storage container. Check the cake every few days. If it's dry, spritz with more brandy.

The spritzing with brandy is to help prevent the cake from cracking by preventing the surface from drying out.

The cake's flavour will be considerably enhanced by aging over the next two weeks.