Happy Healthy Holiday: Dark Fruit Cake

When we consider traditional holiday treats, we don't ordinarily put the fruitcake in the "health food" category. But traditional fruitcakes are full of real fruit and nuts as well as nutritious sweeteners such as molasses or honey. Unlike light sponge cakes, fruit cakes are well suited to whole grain flours. Better still, unlike so many modern confections made with synthetic whipped toppings, preservative-laced mixes and artificial everything, almost everyone can be satisfied with a small serving of fruitcake. And as we all know, a fruitcake keeps indefinitely, improving with age and ready to provide a quiet little indulgence on a cold winter evening.

We received a request for a dark fruitcake recipe, perhaps made with molasses and typically stored for a month or more before Christmas. Obviously, we've missed the window for storage, but a cake made this week would be lovely served fresh on Christmas Day, or stored (with or without additional brandy) for the next two weeks then brought out on 12th night.

I found the recipe in my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 1965 edition. It's actually a traditional British wedding cake, which somehow became the Americans' Christmas cake. Thinking of the wedding tradition of giving each guest a piece of cake in a tiny box to take home (single girls were to sleep with the cake beneath their pillows, to dream of a future husband,) a fruitcake makes far more sense than the fragile butter and sugar cake typically served at American weddings.

This '65 recipe calls for shortening; I strongly suspect that was a change from the more authentic lard or suet.  It also includes chocolate, which does not sound right to me at all. I've included the chocolate as "optional" in the list of ingredients.

In addition to cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg, the recipe calls for mace, which probably is not in your spice cupboard. You could use ground cloves instead, but you won't get the expected "fruitcake" flavor or fragrance.  So if possible, chase down a little packet of mace, and keep in the unused portion in the freezer until you make another fruitcake next year.

One final consideration; the directions given in the Fannie Farmer recipe, the cake is baked at very low heat in loaf pans lined and tightly covered with aluminum foil, with a pan of hot water set in the oven to create steam. This is clearly an improvisation of the British steamed pudding which requires covered pudding molds not commonly used in American kitchens. I do not like to have aluminum in contact with food, and recommend lining each pan with a long sheet of oiled parchment, which can be brought up over the top of the batter and secured with a metal paper clip or pin. It won't be sealed tightly, but your option is to buy a steamed pudding mold ($20+ through Amazon.)

Anybody have other ideas on how to steam a cake or pudding without aluminum or non-stick coatings? Please answer in Comments here!

Recipe: Dark Fruit Cake

Fannie Farmer's recipe makes 4 large loaf pans, so I've cut everything down so these amounts will produce one 9" x 5" loaf.

Line loaf pan with a long strip of oiled parchment, leaving enough to fold and secure over the top of the cake. Set oven to 250 degrees, and place a 9" x 13" pan with about 2" of water on lower rack.

 Cream together:
1/2 c. butter or lard
2/3 c. packed dark brown sugar

Stir in well:
1/4 c. molasses
3 egg yolks (reserve whites at room temperature)

Combine and fold into mixture:
3/4 c. all-purpose unbleached or whole grain flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

In a separate bowl, combine:
2 Tbs. flour
1 1/2 c. raisins
1 c. golden raisins (sultanas)
1/2 c. currants
1 1/4 c. candied citron, coarsely chopped
1 Tbs. grated lemon rind
2 Tbs. grated orange rind

Note: this is the traditional combination of fruit, but there's no law saying you couldn't replace the citron (yuck!) with any other chopped dried fruit such as apricots, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, pineapple, OR whole red and green candied cherries, which weren't around when King Henry VIII was inspiring Christmas cookery.

Using salad tongs or your hands, gently toss until all fruit is dusted with flour.
Fold into batter.

Add:
1/4 c. brandy
4 oz. chocolate, melted (optional and definitely not traditional)

Beat until stiff, then gently fold in:
3 egg whites

Turn batter into lined loaf pan. Bring oiled parchment over the top of the pan, and fold edges down several times so the cake is enclosed. Secure parchment with heat proof clip or pin.
Set cake in preheated oven on rack over pan with steaming water. Bake 3 hours.

Remove cake from oven and cut away the parchment from the top of the cake.

Remove pan of water from oven and replace the cake in the oven. Bake another 1 1/2 hours to dry out the cake (unless you prefer pudding!)

The fruit cake will be very moist with a dry top when done, so testing with a skewer or toothpick would be difficult. Let cake cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Use a second rack to flip cake upright.

Optional: Pierce top with a skewer and drizzle with additional brandy.  When completely cooled, store cake in airtight container. Continue to drizzle with brandy once a day for several days, then store airtight until served.