Fruitcake, Day 2

Another day where I meant to post more, but didn’t. I’m in a new work situation, you see, and still trying to achieve a state that one might call “normalcy”. That of course is no excuse — fruitcake makers await! So let’s get down to it.

Start by whisking together your dry ingredients.

Then cream (as best you can) your butter and sugar. I do it with a wooden implement since it helps me better get into that Old World spirit.

Add your eggs one or two at a time and beat until you have a soupy mess that looks like this:

Add it to the dry ingredients…

…and stir until you have a thick batter. Don’t worry that it’ll be too thick for a fruitcake, because once you add in your fruit and nut mixture, it’ll loosen back up again.

See?

Now then. Taking your prepared pan, put in half the batter (a quarter if you’re doing the full recipe).

Mine came out to 2 3/4 pounds per loaf (that’s serious cake, man).

Bake as instructed until the fruitcakes look like well-fired fruit and nut bricks. Like so:

After they’re cooled down, it’s time for the fun part. Grasping the nearest spritz bottle full of rum — and who doesn’t have one of those lying around? — spritz the loaf liberally on all sides.

Swaddle in a double layer of cheese cloth to keep the loaf from sticking to the outer layer of foil…

…then apply the outer layer of foil.

Ta-da! A fruitcake ready for cellaring. Of course you can also put it in the fridge if you want, but a basement is traditional and still best. If you fear rodentia or other types of cake-eating vermin, you can put the cakes in a plastic tupperware container. That’ll have’em stymied. Check the cakes every other day or so to check for drying (you don’t want that) and spritz and rotate as you see fit. See you on Christmas Eve, boys!