Fruitcake Extraordinare

Title:
Fruitcake Extraordinare

Yield:
1 Servings

Categories:
Cakes,
Chef,
Christmas,
Christmas
h,
Holiday
rec




Ingredients:





          ---SUBMITTED BY CAROLYN


          -CLOE---


          ---Makes 16 lbs. of cake---


     2 lb Dates


     2 lb Candied cherries; (1 green,


          -1 red)


     2 lb Raisins


   1/2 lb Citron


   1/4 lb Lemon peel


   1/4 lb Orange peel


     2 lb Pineapple; (white, green,


          -red)


     2 lb Pecans; (+more if you like)


     1    16-oz glass Apple jelly


     1    16-oz glass Coffee; brewed,


          -(Measure in Apple jelly


          -glass)


     1 lb Sugar; (2 cups)


     1 lb Flour; (4 cups)


     1 lb Margarine


     1    Doz Eggs


     1 ts Baking soda; (dissolved in a


          -little warm water)


     2 ts Baking powder


     2 ts Cinnamon; ground


     2 ts Clove; ground


     2 ts Nutmeg; ground






 (Reserve a few cherries and pieces of pineapple, and pecan halves for


 decorating tops of cakes.)


 


 Cut dates, peels, and pineapple. Chop coarsely the pecans. Place into a


 container large enough to handle all the cake batter. Add rest of fruit.


 Sprinkle fruit/pecan mixture with flour (from the 4-cups), tossing mixture


 to coat with flour.


 


 Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs, jelly. Mix spices and baking powder


 into the flour, stir well. Add flour mixture alternately with coffee. Pour


 over fruit and mix (use hands and mix well).


 


 Prepare pans for baking fruitcakes. Grease the pans completely and cut wax


 paper to fit the bottoms. (Mrs. Hawkins uses small round pans (not rounded


 bottoms) and places a small greased cheese glass in the center of each pan


 to make a hole in the center of each cake. She also uses some rectangular


 pans for small loaf cakes.) Keep each cake under 3 lbs. and it will do


 better; larger than that does not turn out as well. Spoon the mixture into


 the pans. (Mrs. Hawkins pointed out that the cake does not rise during


 baking, therefore fill the pans accordingly.) Decorate the top of each cake


 with reserved cherries, pieces of pineapple and pecan halves. It does not


 hurt to let the cakes set until they can be baked. Cover waiting unbaked


 cakes with damp towels. The unbaked, towel covered, cakes can also be


 refrigerated overnight if necessary.


 


 Baking the cakes -- The cakes are steamed for the first 3 hours of cooking


 on top of the stove in a large covered pan as follows: Place the cake in a


 brown paper sack. Put water in the bottom of the large steaming pan (about


 1" to 2" deep). Place a rack or old dish or something in bottom of steaming


 pan to hold the cake up out of the water (Mrs. Hawkins uses old saucers


 turned upside down -- maybe old bowls to hold it up a little higher). Place


 the paper sack holding the unbaked cake on top of the "rack" in the


 steaming pan, and cover the steaming pan. Steam for 3 hours on top of stove


 (she did not indicate required heat - I would guess bringing the water to
a


 boil, then lower heat so that water is just simmering. Add water to


 steaming pan as necessary to prevent it from going dry). After cake is


 steamed, remove it from the paper sack and put it into another dry paper


 sack and bake in a slow oven for 1 hour. When done, remove cake from sack,


 twist glass and remove. Run knife around cake and turn out onto a plate.


 Then turn back over on piece of foil. Sometimes the pieces of fruit from


 the top of the cake will stick to the plate - just place them back on the


 cake and as it cools it will stick to the cake.


 


 NOTE: You can vary the fruit. If you don't like citron, you can substitute


 it with 1/2 lb. of pineapple or extra pecans, etc. Mrs. Hawkins said that


 the original recipe for this cake called for whiskey in the place of the


 coffee, and that she had tried both and prefers the coffee. They are the


 most beautiful and tasty fruitcake I have ever tried. They are a rich brown


 color, and the fruit and pecans on top give it a nice "chunky" surface with


 a beautiful glazed appearance. These cakes make fabulous gifts. They also


 freeze well.


 


 NOTES : Recipe from Jean Hoskinson's mother-in-law.


 


 Recipe by: Virginia Hoskinson Hawkins


 


 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #812 by C4 
on Sep 28, 1997