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re: To Submit Your Story or Recipe . . .
Posted by: Brenda Davis
Date: Dec. 4, 2006
Christmas Fruit Cake (The Best)
2 cups mixed candied fruit, chopped coarse
1 cup candied cherries, halved
3 cups raisins
1 cup currants
1/2 cup. bourbon (good bourbon!)
1 cup butter at room temp.
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
6 eggs at room temp.
1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 1/2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brandy (regular or apricot or peach - I also use more to baste
every few days)
In a large bowl, combine the candied fruits, raisins, currants, and bourbon.
Mix well. cover and marinate 3 hours at room temp or over night.
Cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs,
one at a time. Add the melted chocolate, walnuts, pecans and the marinated fruit along with the bourbon. Blend for a minute and add the flour, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda and salt. Mix well until all in incorporated. Pack the heavy batter into a greased 10 x 4 inch tube pan. Bake in a preheated 300 degrees for 2 hours and 10 minutes. Remove to a rack. When cake is cool enough to handle, remove it from the pan and cool on rack.
Place cooled cake in a stainless steel pot with a lid and drizzle half the brandy over it.
Cover and allow to rest on the counter for one week. After one week, drizzle with the
remaining brandy, cover and allow to rest another week. Slice and serve. This cake
will keep for months in the refrigerator.
(I wrap the cooled cake in several layers of cheese cloth. And I baste it
right through the cheese cloth every couple of days with apricot brandy. I have it stored in an air tight Christmas tin I received with a Neiman Marcus Whiskey cake years ago. Fits tight, but perfectly and it will last a year in the refrigerator! I often cut it in half and freeze half and keep the rest for a bit of dessert once in awhile all through the year.
It's is great!) You can wrap it in aluminum foil and put it in a zip lock bag, also.
Enjoy!
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