In the spirit of a homespun Christmas and homemade Christmas gifts, I'm going to post some of my favorite drunken dessert recipes, starting with a repost of a fruit and stout cake from last November. I know some of you may shudder at the prospect of receiving a fruit cake for Christmas, but this one is different! This cake is very heavy, very dense and definitely tipsy! Use a lighter flavored stout as the really dark stout can make this cake a tad bitter.
It's Good To Be Gaelic!
November 17, 2009
Blame it on my Scotch-Irish roots, but I love spirited sweets! I love the idea of making a cake and repeatedly dousing it with liquor until it feels like a brick and has a 3-year shelf-life. But I've always found the flavor off-putting...I think it has to do with those weird little bits of candied fruits. They are just plain disgusting. I mean, where the heck do they even get those lime-green cherries?
Anyway, a year or two ago, I found a recipe for a sensible fruitcake...plenty of alcohol, plenty of spice and no freakish candied fruit. It needs to 'mature' for a month, with a weekly dousing of Guiness, so now is the time to get started if there's going to be fruitcake for Christmas! Give it a try and, in a month, let me know what you think!
Fruit and Stout Cake
1 c. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
2 c. prunes, pitted and chopped into small bits
1 1/2 c. golden raisins
1 1/2 c. currants
1 1/4 c. stout plus more for dousing
2 2/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1 1/4 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Brush a 9X4 loaf pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Combine the prunes, raisins and currants in a medium bowl. Add 1/2 c. stout and let stand.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon. In the bowl of an electric blender, cream butter and sugar til fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time mixing well after each and scraping down the sides. Add dry ingredients, half at a time just til combined. Fold in fruit mixture.
4. Pour batter into pan and bake until dark brown and set in the center, til a cake tester comes out clean. About 3-3 1/2 hours. (No, that isn't a typo. 3-3 1/2 hours) Cracks will appear on top of the cake. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 1/2 c. stout. Let stand on wire rack for 30 minutes, remove from pan and discard parchment. Let cool completely.
5. Wrap in muslin or cheesecloth and douse with remaining 1/4 c. stout. Store in a cool dark place, dousing with 1/4 c. stout once a week for a month before serving.
3 comments:
Ah yes...fruitcake. It used to be an annual mandatory - to be made in November, aged until Christmas and then lovingly doled out during the year. I'll add "Sue's Ma's Fruitcake" tomorrow from home.(Name also has a story, but we'll skip that!) Hubby used to "whine" - well, nag is more like it - until his annual supply was done. More recently, he has had a problem with blood sugar and the type II diabetes threat, so fruitcake is off the list.
Over the years, I realized that it's basically just a pound cake - 1 lb butter, 1 lb sugar, one lb eggs (1 dozen) and 1 lb flour (4+ cups) with some quantity of dried fruit added. I've forgotten the quantity of fruit, but it was all variable - that is, the quantity had to stay the same by weight, but you could add or eliminate whichever fruits you chose, as long as the total weight stayed the same. It did include glazed cherries, but I've never used green ones. It did _not_ include candied pineapple, because apparently it molds over the storage period.
Come to think of it - it's probably in the Joy of Cooking - I'll check. If so, not much point in adding it!
Ok...Mom's recipe is pretty much the Fruitcake, dark II recipe. Some slight variation, but not much - Mom's calls for dried figs, 1/4 lb ea of the various candied fruits (1# total) and walnuts - both English and Black. (both call for 6# of dried fruit total) Joy of Cooking bakes them in 4 x 8 loaf pans - we've always used 3 x 6 loaf pans.
By the way - Joy also recommends storing them in containers filled around with confectioner's sugar. Interesting.
Here's my "drunken dessert"...
Rum Bisque
1 Qt milk
1 C sugar
1/2 C liquor
1/2 C cold water
2 Tbsp plain gelatin
1 stale angel food cake torn into pieces
Dissolve gelatin in water and set aside. Add sugar to liquor, then add the milk. Scald, add gelatin, and pour over the angel food cake, which should be in a metal bowl (makes it easier to turn out). I usually lined the bowl with aluminum foil, just to make life easier. Cool and chill until firm.
Turn out and frost with whipped cream.
1 C whipping cream,
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp liquor
You can leave plain, or decorate with colored sugar spinkles. They'll dissolve and make pretty streaks on the cream. Red and green for Christmas, of course. Pink for a shower.
Don't put the cream on until fairly close to serving time.
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