St. Nicholas Dried-Fruit Cake |
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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 1 |
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Notes: Bake this cake at least 1 day or up to 2 months ahead; cool and wrap in cheesecloth or a thin towel saturated with orange-flavor liqueur. Chill airtight, and about every 10 days, moisten cloth with more liqueur. Serve thin slices of cake plain, with vanilla ice cream topped with rum-plumped raisins, or with rum-raisin ice cream. Wrap and continue to age extra cake. Ingredients:
about 1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter or margarine, at room temperature |
1 cup sugar |
6 large eggs |
1/4 cup molasses |
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour |
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon |
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg |
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom |
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves |
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice |
1 pound (2 2/3 cups) dried apricots |
1/2 pound (2 cups) pecan halves |
1/2 pound dried lightly sweetened pineapple |
1/2 pound (2 cups) dried sweetened cranberries |
1/2 pound (2 cups) dried cherries or blueberries |
1/2 cup apricot jam |
2 tablespoons orange-flavor liqueur |
Directions:
1. Lightly butter a 5- by 9-inch loaf pan. Line with cooking parchment.
2. In a bowl with a mixer, beat 1 cup butter with sugar until fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until well blended. Beat in molasses.
4. Mix flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and allspice. Add to egg mixture; beat just until blended.
5. Set aside 6 to 8 apricots, 10 to 12 pecan halves, and 1 pineapple ring.
6. Cut remaining pineapple into 3/4-inch pieces and add to batter along with the remaining apricots and pecans and the cranberries and cherries. Stir until well mixed.
7. Scrape batter into parchment-lined pan, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; spread top level.
8. Bake in a 275° oven until cake is firm in center when touched, about 3 hours. If it browns too rapidly, drape with foil.
9. Cool in pan on rack at least 2 1/2 hours. Lift out cake; peel off parchment.
10. Mix apricot jam with liqueur and brush over top of cake. Decoratively arrange reserved apricots, pecans, and pineapple in apricot glaze; brush more apricot jam mixture over fruit. Wrap airtight and chill at least 1 day.
11. Nutritional analysis per 3 ounces.
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