Fruit Cake

Photo courtesy of http://www.closetcooking.com

Fruit Cake 
This traditional cake is popular for its bittersweet taste. While it takes some time to acquire the taste for this dish, for members of the family who love fruit cake, it’s time to give them a little treat. Aside from baking a fruit cake for the family’s noche buena, you can also give them away as gifts. 


The recipe involves a lot of steps and ingredients so be careful when mixing and baking. 

Ingredients 
1 Cup butter 
1 1/1 Cup Brown Sugar 
4 large eggs (1 cup) or 5 medium eggs 
3 cups all-purpose four 
1/2 cups flour (to dredge fruits and nuts) 
1 tsp Baking Powder 
1 tsp salt 
1/2 cup milk 
3 Tablespoons Molasses 
1/4 tsp baking soda 
1 tsp vanilla 
2 tsp cinnamom 
1 tsp nutmeg 
1/2 tsp allspice 
1 1/2 cups nuts (Combination of walnuts, pecan, cashew, pili) 
1 1/2 cups dates 
1 1/2 cups glazed fruits (You can buy pre-bottled ones at the supermarket) 
1/2 cup cherry brandy 
Extra Cherries, fruit glaze, nuts for decorating on top of cake 
Cherry brandy to brush top of the cake 

Preparation 

Fruit Mix 
1. Soak fruits in 1/2 cup cherry brandy overnight. 
2. Drain the fruits for 1 hour. 

Preparing the Baking pan 
1. Don’t use wax paper. 
2. Use thick cellphane (1 piece only) and use enough to cover the cake after baking. 
3. You can also use aluminum. More messy but more sure. 

Batter 
1. Heat oven to slow. 
2. Cream butter and add sugar slowly until fluffy. 
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until light. 
4. Blend Flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg. 
5. Stir in alternately with milk, molasses, juices and vanilla beginning and ending with flour. 
6. In a different container, mix glazed fruits, nuts, and dates. 
7. Sift ½ cup flour onto the fruit mixture and mix them all together. 
8. The batter is then mixed to the fruits. 
9. Put batter in cellophane lined or aluminum lined pans. This recipe makes 4 pans. 
10. Bake for one (1) hour at 300 F. But do check the temperature based on the pan you use. Sometimes baking can be as short as 45 minutes to 1 hour at 325 F. 
11. Remove pans from oven and decorate top with cherries, buts and fruits. 
12. Cover pan with overlapping aluminum foil to prevent burning. 
13. Bake 15 more minutes until done. 

After Baking 
14. Keep cellophane or aluminum intact with the cake. 
15. After baking and the cake has cooled down, brush the top of the cake with cherry brandy 
16. Wrap the whole cake with the overlapping cellophane or aluminum , then more aluminum foil to cover the whole cake ending with colored cellophane. 

Tips 
1. It’s important to drain the fruit mix for 1 hour. This is because alcohol destroys the cake batter. 
2. Never use peanuts but do use pili, cashew, walnuts, or black walnuts. 
3. The batter is mixed to the fruits so that the emulsion in the batter is not destroyed.