Southern Fruitcake

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is yet another fruitcake recipe which I chose to try out. It is a Southern Fruitcake which contains ingredients common in the southern part of the United States. Unlike the other three fruit cakes on this website (the Traditional Christmas Fruitcake, the Caribbean Black Fruitcake and the Creole Christmas Fruitcake), this fruitcake contains a lot of Pecans. It also contains a simple Peach Nectar and some honey. It is chunky in nature due to the high volume of pecans and contains spices like cinnamon and allspice. This recipe was initially published online by Taste of Home. I have however made a lot of changes to the original recipe to produce a fruitcake which can be aged for Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

(1) 226 Grams Unsalted Butter (1 Cup)

(2) 210 Grams Brown Sugar (1 Cup)

(3) 5 Eggs

(4) 410 Grams Pecans (4 Cups)

(5) 250 Grams Dried Apricots (1-1/2 Cups) (See Note 1)

(6) 300 Grams Candid Pineapple (1-3/4 Cups)

(7) 250 Grams Golden Raisins (1-1/2 Cups)

(8) 260 Grams All Purpose Flour (2 Cups)

(9) 1/2 Cup Honey

(10) 1/2 Cup Peach Nectar (See Note 2)

(11) 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

(12) 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

(13) 1-1/2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon

(14) 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTES:

(1) The original recipe called for either dried Apricots or peaches. I chose to use dried apricots as these are more easily accessible than dried peaches.

(2) The original recipe called for 1 cup of Peach Nectar: half to be used in the cake recipe and another half to be used in soaking the cake after baking. I opted to use alcohol as my aging liquid and thus dispensed with the need for a whole cup of peach nectar. If you want an alcohol-free fruitcake, you can use the extra 1/2 cup of peach nectar to soak your cake when you are done baking it. I have a tutorial on how to make Peach Nectar which can be found here.

(3) The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of milk. This is because this cake is not supposed to be stored for a long period of time. Milk reduces the shelf life of cakes. I have chosen to make my own cake without the addition of milk as I plan to age it for 3 months before eating it. If however you are looking for a fruitcake recipe which does not require aging, you can include milk in yours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROCEDURE:

(1) Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

(2) Grease and line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch spring form or removable bottom cake pan with parchment paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(3) If your fruits and nuts have not been chopped already, do so. It helps to toast the pecans for about 8 minutes before chopping to improve their flavor and taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4) In a large bowl, combine the chopped apricots, pecans, candid pineapple and golden raisins together. Add 1/2 cup of flour from your total flour quantity to the nuts and fruits and toss to coat them with the flour. This will prevent the fruits and nuts from sinking to the bottom of the cake as this batter contains more fluid that most fruitcake recipes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(5) In another bowl, mix the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and allspice.

(6) In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(7) Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(8) Next, add the honey and peach nectar to the batter. Your batter might separate at this point due to the high liquid volume. This is normal and do not panic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(9) Next, add the flour mixture to the batter and mix until combined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(10) Finally add the pecans and fruits mixture to the batter and mix. You will notice that the batter will be somewhat chunky. This is due to the high quantity of nuts in it. This will provide a lot of texture to the cake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(11) Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and flatten the top with the back of your spatula or a spoon. You can decorate the top of the cake with a few pecans if you want to. Bake in preheated oven for 3-1/2  hours or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(12) Allow cake to cool in pan before taking it out. If using the additional half cup of peach nectar, make holes on top of the cake and soak with peach nectar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(13) If you intend to age the cake, allow it to cool down properly before wrapping and storing. I have a tutorial here on how to properly age fruitcakes. For this cake, I chose to stick to the southern theme and aged it with Southern Comfort which is a brandy flavored Liqueur which has its origins in the South.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Traditional Christmas Fruitcake Recipe, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Creole Christmas Fruitcake Recipe, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Caribbean Black Fruitcake, click here.