fruitcake

PJ Hamel’s selected fruitcake is a moist, dark loaf filled with dried pineapple, raisins, apricots, dates and candied red cherries. Rum soaks the fruit, while toasted walnuts and warm spices accompany it in the cake.

The selected fruits rest overnight in rum. Unsalted butter and dark brown sugar are beaten together, then table salt, ground cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and baking powder enter before four eggs are added individually.

Flour and optional black cocoa are combined separately and gently beaten into the mixture with the selected golden syrup. Water follows, then the soaked fruit with its collected liquid and the toasted walnuts.

The batter fills two greased loaf pans about three-quarters full. The loaves bake slowly until a cake tester comes out clean, then their edges are loosened before the cakes are removed from the pans.

An optional rum brushing finishes the warm loaves before they cool completely. Crystallized ginger can join the fruit mixture, and extra candied cherries are offered for decoration, keeping the cake’s fruit-rich character at its centre.