The Mother of All Fruitcakes!

I've never been terribly partial to fruitcakes. That said, I haven't even tried a fruitcake in something like fifteen years, so I have no idea whether my fruitcake tastes and opinions have changed since then. And catalyst is a huge fan of fruitcake. On top of that I have a fondness for old traditional recipes and a fascination with baked good that need to age before eating.

Edmonds has an entire section dedicated solely to fruitcakes. Admittedly, it's a small section, but still! It has a fruitcake chapter! This includes a whole range of cakes. Everything from a light, blonde lemony cake with sultanas and candied lemon peel as the only fruit... all the way up to the "rich Christmas cake" which includes seven kinds of fruit + almonds, orange juice, rum (or brandy or sherry), and two types of citrus zest. This cake takes two days to make, four hours in the oven, and is meant to sit for a full two months before serving. It also weighs just shy of five kilos! This cake does NOT mess around.

Rich Christmas Cake

Very slightly adapted from Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. orange juice
• 3/4 c. dark rum¹ or brandy + an extra 2 Tbsp. for soaking
• 2 Tbsp. grated orange zest
• 500g dried currants
• 500g raisins
• 2 c. sultanas
• 2 c. chopped dates
• 150g crystallized ginger, chopped
• 150g mixed peel
• 150g glacé cherries, halved
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 2 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 1 c. slivered almonds²
• 2 1/2 c. strong flour ("high grade", bread, or all-purpose)
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 250g (salted) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. treacle³
• 5 large eggs (or 6 medium eggs)

Directions

1. Combine orange juice, 3/4 c. rum, and orange zest in a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Combine dried fruit in a large bowl and pour juice mixture over it. Cover and leave to soak overnight.
3. The next day, add the vanilla, almond extract, lemon zest, and almonds to the fruit mix.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and spices.
5. Prepare your baking tin and tie a double layer of brown paper around the outside. Edmonds suggests lining a deep 23cm (9") square pan with baking paper. I greased and lined the bottom of a 10" springform pan.
6. In a third (very large) bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and treacle/molasses.
7. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
8. Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the fruit mixture.
9. Scoop the batter (which should be more like a bowl of dried fruit with a thin coat of cake batter on it) into the prepared tin.
10. Smooth the top with wet hands and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 4 hours.
11. Remove from oven and let cake cool overnight.
12. Poke a few holes in the top of the cake with a skewer or toothpick.
13. Pour 2 Tbsp. of rum (or brandy or sherry) over the top of the cake and let it soak in.
14. At this point, Edmonds says to wrap the cake in tinfoil and a cloth and store in a cool place. I didn't like the idea of the tinfoil being right up against the cake, so I wrapped it in baking paper first (I just reused the paper from the outside of the tin) and then wrapped it in tinfoil followed by a tea towel.
15. Cake should be baked by late October in order for flavours to have fully developed by Christmas.

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¹ I used spiced rum because that's what I had on hand. ^Back
2 Edmonds calls for blanched (presumably whole) almonds. I used slivered both because I felt like that might allow for a more even distribution and because, as with the rum, I already had some on hand. ^Back
3 Treacle isn't really a Thing in Canada, so I tend to just substitute molasses whenever I come across a recipe that calls for treacle. They're pretty close. And I've had good results doing this so far. ^Back