California Fruitcake
Sorry this took so long!
CALIFORNIA FRUITCAKE
There’s not one candied bit of anything in this fruitcake. It’s chock full of yummy dried fruits and luscious nuts. You can add some finely chopped orange zest, if you like to give it that real California touch!
makes 2 in 9x5x3-inch pans, or 5 in 5x3x2-inch pans
Note: This recipe doubles, triples, quadruples, etc., exactly!
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup clover honey
6 extra large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated peel of 1 large orange
2-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon Rumford's baking powder
3 cups each diced prunes, diced dried figs, dates, apricots, yellow raisins, and chopped walnuts -- 15 cups in all! (Be sure to buy dried fruit which has already been pitted.)
Heat oven to 275 degrees F. Grease loaf pans well. Line the bottoms of metal pans with waxed paper or parchment. Grease the lining.
Cream butter until fluffy. Beat in honey. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla, orange peel, flour and baking powder.
Beat until smooth and well blended. Fold in fruit and nuts.
Spoon mixture into pans. Press to eliminate air spaces, and smooth the top. Cover pans with greased foil. Bake at 275 degrees for 1-1/2 hours. (1 hour for smaller pans.) Remove foil, raise temperature to 300 degrees F., bake 1 hour more (1/2 hour).
Cool in pan(s) for 15 minutes. Then remove from the pans to a cooling rack and cool with the top side up. Remove paper.
Wrap cakes in rum soaked cheesecloth, then foil. Store in cool, dry place.
to post it last night. I have sent myself a message to be sure it gets posted tonight.
