Alpha Bakers: English Dried Fruit Cake

I thought I wouldn't have much to say about this cake. It is one of the recipes in the book I am not excited about. When I saw the title of the recipe, I remembered the Fruitcake Wreath I baked and didn't like from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. But to my surprise (eating my second slice while typing this post), I really like this fruitcake. The crumb has a good texture - even with the mistake I did of forgetting to drain the dried fruits. I like all the fillings in it, the pecans add a nice crunch to the texture and variation to the softness that the dried fruits give. And unlike my experience with the Fruitcake Wreath, this cake has enough rum!!!

I like how simple this recipe is. I did not have much time coordination on Saturday, when I bake this. We decided to try out a new restaurant in the nearby mall, never considering the fact that it is December, less than 3 weeks before Christmas. The mall is a quick 7 mile drive from home and it took us 45 minutes to get there and find parking. By the time we got home it was 2:30 in the afternoon and we were tired from just going to eat. So it is a good thing this cake requires very little preparation time. If it had been a 5 page recipe, there would be lots of cussing in the kitchen.

I made 1/2 a recipe of this cake. I have a collection of cake pans (4 inch, 6 inch, 7 inch, 9 inch, 10 inch), but not 8 inch. So I used my 7 inch pans.

The recipe calls for toasting the pecans, soaking the dried fruits in boiling water for 5 minutes, and slicing the apple. For the dried fruits, I used a combination of prunes, apricots, currants, cherries, and cranberries. For the apple I used golden delicious.

"Sand" butter - melted butter with superfine sugar and brown sugar.

Combine the "sand" butter, orange zest, and apples.

After adding 3 eggs.

Combine the dry ingredients with the toasted pecans and dried fruits. I forgot to drain the fruits so I just scoop it out from the bowl (discarding the liquids).

Combine the wet and dry ingredients.

Ready to bake.

The cake baked for an hour, longer than what the recipe calls for because the dough is more wet from the un-drained fruits. I love how evenly this cake baked and was glad it did not overflow the 7 inch pan.

Close up shot, after it's been doused with a whole lot of rum!

ETA: I gave half the cake to my friend, A, who wrote to me late last night: "Jenn, that was the most delicious fruit cake ever... seriously!!!"

Crumb and slice shot.

Alpha Bakers is a group of bakers who are baking through The Baking Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum's latest cookbook. Come check out the rest of the group at Rose's Alpha Bakers.