Poor fruitcake's bad rap dispelled by readers' recipes

Fruitcake doesn't please all palates, that's for certain. Its high proportion of fruit just gums up the works for cake lovers.

According to a Reuters story last month, nearly half of U.S. adults questioned in an online survey said they regift (or resell) holiday presents. Food and drink leads the list at 35 percent, and fruitcakes account for 15 percent of those items.

Poor fruitcake! It doesn't deserve the put-down, judging by the testimony of several readers.

A British specialty, fruitcakes were known as plum or plumb cakes in years past, with "plum" indicating a variety of dried fruits. Over there, they are special-occasion cakes, not only for the holidays but for weddings and birthdays as well. Here, we rarely see them except at Christmas.

Dark fruitcakes are generally made with darker ingredients, such as molasses, brown sugar, prunes, dates, raisins and walnuts. They also may include a wine or a brown liquor such as bourbon or brandy. Light fruitcakes are made with granu- lated sugar or corn syrup and contain lighter-colored ingredients such as almonds and golden raisins.

After slow baking and cooling, fruitcakes may be wrapped in a liquor-soaked cheesecloth and wrapped again tightly in foil. They will store for a long time this way — perhaps years — and the "aging" tends to improve the flavor.

Gloria Boston of Charleston asked recently for a dark fruitcake recipe, and they came flying out of old recipe boxes. A few dated to the 1800s.

"This was my grandmother's recipe so it's at least 60 years old," writes Bobbie Maguire of Edisto Beach. "Every Christmas, Mama and Grandma would make fruit cakes and cookies by the dozens. In those days we would have lots of company around the holidays to enjoy these goodies. Now it's just me and my brother so I don't bake every year.

"Every few years I'll have a taste for fruitcake so I'll half the recipe and make it just for me! This is more fruit and nuts with a little cake."

Black Fruitcake

1 pound butter or margarine

3 cups sugar

10 eggs, separated

2 pounds currants

2 pounds raisins

1 pound citron (see cook's note)

1/2 pound dried cherries

2 pounds chopped pecans

1 cup wine or whiskey

5 cups flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

Spices to taste: nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and allspice

1 teaspoon baking soda (in buttermilk)

1 cup buttermilk

Cook's note: Citron is the candied, lemon-scented peel of a semitropical citrus fruit of the same name.

Bobbie says, "Use whatever combination you like for the fruit and citron. I buy the mixed fruit because I don't like that much citron."

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks, then fruit, nuts and wine or whiskey. Sift together the flour, baking powder and spices and add to the mixture.

Add baking soda to buttermilk and mix until it makes a bubbling sound. Add the butter- milk to the fruit and flour mixture.

Beat egg whites until stiff and add last. Mix well.

Line and grease loaf pans, about four to five. Divide batter among pans and bake at 200 degrees for about 2 hours. After cakes have cooled, pour wine or whiskey over them, then wrap in wax paper.

Will freeze well.

"The following recipe was given to me by a great aunt, some 40 years ago," says Rosie Mellis of James Island. "She titled it 'McCall's Famous Christmas Black Fruitcake.' I have been told repeatedly it is one of the best fruitcakes, by those who taste it, ever eaten. I am sending the recipe as it was given to me; however, I modify it by substituting cherries, pineapple, figs or dates for the peels and citron, pecans or walnuts for the almonds, and I use bourbon as opposed to the alcoholic beverages listed."

Rosie says this can be baked in a 10-inch tube pan or two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. She also has used the smallest aluminum foil loaf pans with a yield of 6-8 cakes. "This size makes perfect gifts for neighbors and co-workers," she adds.

McCall's Famous Christmas Black Fruitcake

1/4 pound citron

1/2 pound candied cherries

1 pound candied pineapple

1 pound golden raisins

1/2 pound seeded raisins

1/4 pound currants

1/2 cup dark rum, brandy or sherry

1/4 pound blanched almonds

1/4 pound walnuts or pecans

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/8 pound candied lemon peel

1/8 pound candied orange peel

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

5 eggs

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

1/4 pound butter or margarine

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

To prepare fruits: Cut citron in very thin strips; cut cherries in half; cut pineapple in thin wedges.

Pick over raisins and currants and soak overnight in rum, brandy or sherry. Chop up nuts coarsely.

Grease and line pan or pans with brown paper. Set oven at 275 degrees.

Sift flour. Measure out 1/2 cup by spooning lightly into cup (do not pack or shake down), then mix it with the fruits and nuts in a large bowl. Sift remaining flour again with spices and soda onto wax paper.

Beat eggs slightly; mix milk and almond flavoring.

Cream butter or margarine until soft, with your hands. Gradually work in white sugar, then the brown sugar until fluffy. Stir in eggs, milk mixture and then flour. Mix thoroughly. Pour this batter over fruits and nuts mixture. Mix extremely well.

Using both hands, lift batter into pan. Press down firmly with your palm. Bake (see times below).

--For a 10-inch tube pan, fill with batter and bake 3 hours, 15 minutes.

--For 9x5x3-inch loaf pans, fill halfway with batter and bake 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Let stand 1 hour after coming from oven before turning out of pan. Then turn upside down on a wire rack and tear off paper.

When stone cold, put cake in crock or tin with sliced, unpeeled apples. Cover tightly and keep cool.

For a magnificent flavor, pour 1/2 cup rum, brandy or sherry over cake every 4 weeks.

Rosie's note: "I wrap cakes in bourbon-soaked cheesecloth, refreshing once a week, then wrap in waxed paper and aluminum foil. Keep in refrigerator to ensure smooth slicing."

Ann Dawson of Goose Creek says the "best dark fruitcake ever" is made from the Black Fruitcake recipe in the original "Charleston Receipts" cookbook. "It makes a huge cake, so I usually half the receipt."

Also thanks to Bill Ivey of Cordesville, Mary B. Thrower of North Charleston, Barbara Byrd of Johns Island, and Ethel Snyder of Moncks Corner.

Across the miles

I heard last week from Kimberly Sine of Raleigh. She e-mailed, "For many years I had a catering business in Raleigh and I taught cooking in Pinehurst, N.C. A friend of mine, a Charleston resident, sent The Post and Courier a recipe of mine that she thought was "the cat's PJs" ... and it was just zucchini!

"I am currently working for UNC-Chapel Hill's Carolina Club, not cooking, but doing events. We are gathering recipes of friends, staff, etc. that have had their own recipes in 'print.' — Hootie Hoot!"

While Kimberly has had several recipes printed in the Pinehurst paper and the fundraising cookbook there, she was missing the Kim's Zucchini-Prosciutto Custard that appeared in a Post and Courier column in 2002. So I located it in our recipe archives and sent it to her. It does sound delicious, and I thought it bears repeating.

Note: Do not add any salt, as it is salty enough with the soup mix, prosciutto and cheese."

Kim's Zucchini-Prosciutto Custard

Makes 12 servings

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped onion (mix red and white or yellow)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 pounds zucchini, scrubbed but not peeled, and coarsely shredded (about 5 cups)

1 tablespoon savory garlic-herb dry soup mix

2 1/2 cups half-and-half

1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice

1 1/4 cups grated parmesan cheese (divided use)

4 ounces goat cheese or cream cheese, softened

Pepper, to taste

1 cup finely chopped prosciutto

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a shallow 2-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large skillet, heat butter and olive oil. Add onion and cook over medium heat until tender. Add garlic and zucchini, increase heat to medium-high, and stir 5 minutes until zucchini has released some of its juices. Sprinkle with the dry soup mix and stir 1 minute longer, until the soup mix is absorbed.

Stir in the half-and-half, rice, 3/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, the goat cheese (or cream cheese) and pepper.

Stir in the prosciutto. Pour into prepared dish, sprinkling remaining 1/2 cup parmesan over the top. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes until golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand 10-15 minutes to allow the custard to set.

Note: The baked and cooled casserole can be covered and refrigerated overnight, or frozen. Thaw and bring to room temperature before reheating, covered, in a 375-degree oven for 15 minutes.

"I am also enclosing one of my most requested recipes for you to enjoy," Kimberly wrote. "Men love this recipe! I gave this old-timer recipe a twist to include a little cake mix to thicken it with better flavor than flour. I also added vanilla to it just because it is so good!

Sweet Corn Pudding

2 (15-ounce) cans cream-style sweet corn

3/4 cup white sugar or Splenda

3/4 cup self-rising buttermilk biscuit mix

3/4 cup yellow cake mix

1/3 cup milk or cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups frozen white corn, thawed slightly

Grease a 9x13x2-inch baking dish with butter. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except frozen corn. Mix well, fold in frozen corn. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake until the top is light golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes.

Who's got the recipe?

--"I used to work at the Winn Dixie on Folly Road several years ago. One of my co-workers, Bonnie Mitchum, made these great tarts around the holidays. They were small, had nuts and golden raisins in them and were topped with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar. They were really good! Maybe you can help me locate this recipe." — Shjuanna Connelly, Walterboro.

--Terry Ongaro of New York City remembers Captain Guilds' Cafe that was once in the Old Village of Mount Pleasant. "I am hoping someone was lucky enough to be given the secret recipe to their chutney that was on each table."