The classic fruitcake has been the brunt of many jokes. The often ridiculed cake popular at Christmas is typically a heavy, dense, overly sweet cake laden with artificially colored candied green and red cherries as well as other fruits and nuts. It has usually been soaked in rum or some other liqueur.
Supposedly, Johnny Carson poked fun at this holiday dessert on the Tonight Show years ago when he said that there really is only one fruitcake that gets passed from family to family!
I must say I’m not a fan, and don’t know many who are except for my father-in-law who always seemed to enjoy a piece of fruitcake. To this day I’m fairly certain it was the rum he really liked, and the cake was just the vehicle!
When I saw this recipe for a White Fruitcake in the Washington Post last week I decided this was a fruitcake I could love.
It is a recipe from the southern cook Nathalie Dupree.
One of her editors at Atlanta Magazine gave her this recipe years ago, after she revealed herself to be anti-fruitcake. She fell in love with it. “This one will be eaten, not re-gifted, ” she says.
I wholeheartedly agree.
This is a light cake loaded with dried apricots, crystallized ginger, golden raisins, toasted pecans and the zest of fresh orange and lemon. I added some dried pineapple to the fruits called for, and was happy with the results.
Flavored with vanilla, almond and lemon extract the batter has a heavenly scent signalling the yumminess to come.
Besides tasting delicious, it’s also pretty to look at…here’s the recipe…
White Fruitcake
(adapted from “Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking,” by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart)
MAKE AHEAD: The cakes can be tightly wrapped and stored at room temperature for 3 days or frozen for up to 4 months.
Ingredients
2 and ½ cups golden raisins (I used only 2 cups of raisins)
1 cup dried apricots, cut into quarters (about 7 ounces)
1 cup chopped crystallized ginger
½ cup dried pineapple, cut into small pieces
2 and ¾ cups all-purpose or cake flour (I used cake flour)
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
2 cups chopped pecans, toasted and cooled (see Note)
Steps
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Spray two 4 and ½ -by-8 and ½-inch loaf pans with nonstick oil-and-flour spray. Line with 2 pieces of parchment or waxed paper, one cut to the width of the pan and the other to the length of the pan plus 4 inches of overhang to use as handles to lift the loaf from the pan.
Toss the raisins, apricots, pineapple and ginger in ¼ cup of flour until evenly coated.
Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces, add them to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low speed until soft, about 3 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 or 2 minutes, until the mixture looks like lightly whipped cream.
Reduce the speed to low and add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, gradually increasing the speed and beating until well whipped, 5 or 6 minutes.
Combine the eggs and extracts in a small bowl, then add to the butter mixture in four additions, beating for 1 minute on medium-low speed after each addition.
The mixture might look curdled, but all will be well.
Sift the remaining 2 and ½ cups of flour with the baking powder and salt onto a piece of waxed paper. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture to the batter, beat well, then add the remaining flour mixture and beat.
Once the flour is incorporated, use a flexible spatula to fold in the grated zests,
then the nuts, and dried fruit.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Tap each pan once against the counter to remove any air bubbles, and smooth the tops.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 and ½ hours or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (The cakes will be white and might give the appearance of being underbaked even though they are not.)
Transfer the pans to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
Carefully run a knife around the inside of the pans to loosen the cakes. Use the parchment paper handles to remove the cakes from the pans and transfer them to the wire rack. Remove the parchment or waxed paper and cool the cakes thoroughly.
Note: to toast pecans, spread them on a baking sheet and place in a 350 degree oven, shaking the sheet occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes. Watch carefully; nuts burn quickly.