Traditional fruitcakes are butter cakes embellished with a mixture of dried and candied or glacéed fruits and nuts. Today we freely interchange these additions, and many of us omit the candied and glacéed fruits altogether, replacing them with chopped dried apricots, pears, or dates, along with the traditional raisins or currants.
If you do like glacéed or candied fruits, you will be rewarded by spending a little extra on the best quality, often imported, available from specialty stores. Larger pieces are usually fresher and better. The diced offerings in the supermarket come in assorted colors but all taste alike, and are not very distinguished at that. Use oiled scissors to snip candied or dried fruits rather than trying to cut them up with a knife—a sticky procedure at best. Do not worry about uniformity in the sizes of pieces, as the knife that slices the cake will cut any fruit or nut in its path and the many shapes and colors in cross section make an attractive mosaic. Fruitcakes can be lightly studded with fruit or so loaded that there is only enough cake to hold them together.
Aging fruitcake allows the moisture from the fruit to permeate the cake. For an even moister cake, some cooks soak the fruit pieces in liquor before adding them to the batter, while others puncture and douse the cakes in liquor afterward and wrap them in liquor-soaked linens to ripen. Such cakes, well wrapped and stored in airtight tins, are reputed to remain enjoyable for as long as twenty-five years; we have not sampled one. In lieu of spirits, you may soak fruits in fruit juice, or not at all.
Bake fruitcakes in shiny metal pans rather than dark or glass ones, to prevent excessive browning of the cake and the fruit pieces that touch the pan during the long, slow baking periodΓÇöas long as 3 1/2 hours. Line the bottoms and sides of pans with wax, parchment, or brown paper to further insulate the batter and ensure that the heavy but fragile cake will emerge from the pan without sticking or breaking. If you use a tube pan, line the bottom with paper by cutting a hole to allow for the tube; use wide strips of paper to line the sides and tube as well. Grease pans first to hold the paper in place. It is not necessary to grease wax or parchment paper.
For a 2 1/2-pound cake, use an 8-inch ring mold or an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch (6-cup) loaf pan, and fill either one about 2 1/2 inches deep. Do not overlook the possibility of baking miniature loaves, or using small fluted molds or disposable aluminum pans for gifts.
Hot fruitcakes are heavy and have a tendency to break apart; to be safe, let them cool for at least 20 or up to 60 minutes in the pan on a rack, before unmolding them very carefully. After unmolding, peel off the paper liner and allow the cake to cool completely right side up on the rack. When the cake is cool, you can puncture it a few times with a skewer and very slowly pour up to 1 cup (for a 2 1/2-pound cake) hot, but not boiling, liquorΓÇösuch as brandy, bourbon, rum, or wineΓÇöover the cake, allowing it to absorb the liquid.
