Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 24, 1994 TAG: 9412270075
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The recipe for this culinary wonder has been evolving in Ray's kitchen for 25 years. His 1994 installment:
6 cups plain bread flour sifted with 6 Tbsps. ground nutmeg and 6 Tbsps. allspice (spices must be fresh)
1 1/2 lbs. butter
1 1/2 lbs. light brown sugar
20 large eggs
2 lbs. candied fruit rind, mixed red, yellow & green
2 lbs. dried pineapple cut in small strips (or substitute more fruit rind)
2 lbs. chopped dates
2 lbs. English walnuts (broken)
2 lbs. pecans (broken)
32 oz. orange marmalade or apricot preserves
4 cups each prune juice & port wine
"Steps: Soak raisins and dates overnight in the prune juice and port wine. Working with very softened butter, ``cream'' in brown sugar. Separate eggs, setting whites aside. Beat yellows; add to butter/sugar mix and add sifted flour with spices. Whites beaten separately to stiff peaks and set aside. Dump nuts, colored fruit rind, pineapple and batter mix into soaked fruit, adding marmalade or preserves, melding thoroughly; rubber-gloved hands being the best melding device. Stuff the beaten whites in as best you can and meld some more.
"This will make eight three-pound cakes using meat-loaf pans, which should be lined with brown paper greased on one side. Paper cut 10 inches by 14 makes a good size for meat-loaf pans. With hands still rubber-gloved, fill pans to within one inch of the top and pat down. Here is a merciful resting place: You can let your filled pans sit overnight in a cool place.
"The cooking of a fruitcake should not be rushed at a high temperature. Start with oven heated to 275 degrees and gradually reduce heat to 150 degrees. Cut off the oven at the end of three hours and leave the cakes in until oven cools. What you want at the end is a rich brown color not burned around the edges, and the cakes firm not hard to the touch. Cooking will be best with cakes on middle rack only, so entire recipe will need two sessions. To keep cakes moist while cooking, put a small pan with port wine or water at bottom. When cakes are cool, lift out by the brown paper, which stays with them, and store in closed container with apple slices and a bit of spirits in a cup."
Garland says his objective is to produce a cake, a special treat for the holiday season, ``in which many natural flavors express themselves, not over-
powered by an excess of sweetness.'' This year, he and his wife spent nearly 10 hours in the kitchen - not counting baking time - to produce 60 rich pounds as gifts for friends and relatives.
We thank him for sharing Fruitcake '94 with the editorial staff, and wonder if next year he'll give an update in his column on any '95 recipe improvements. None of us, after all, lives by politics alone.
by CNB