Fear not the fruitcake

This is the season that makes a young girl's heart turn to fruitcake, and that is just what fills holiday guests with fear and dismay. Everyone has met at least one fruitcake of the classic horrific variety. These, as you know, feature sawdusty batter through which unfortunate brightly colored nubbins are distributed liberally. The nubbins are bought in plastic tubs with labels that read something like "FRUIT CAKE MIX," and they are not food. As a result of all this hanky-panky, people tend to harbor a certain skepticism about fruitcakes.

The fruitcake I make, based on a recipe in Carol Fields' Celebrating Italy, is not like those fruitcakes. It is very ugly and quite ancient and entirely delicious. It is called "panpepato," which means "peppered bread," and is a wonderful wodge of real fruit, nuts, honey, spices, and dark chocolate. It is a cake in an older sense only, containing just enough flour to hold those other, more important elements together. There is no butter or egg and certainly no leavening of any kind.

The ingredient list is long, but if you bypass the two most time-consuming steps by buying excellent quality candied citrus peel and pre-toasted, -peeled, and -chopped hazelnuts, it is actually a snap to make. It is not, no matter what you do, cheap to make, because it is chock full of the luxuries of the season. But then, that is what makes it so good, and I find it cheering to be partaking of something that has been a winter luxury since a time long before central heating. Besides, it is rich, which means that you serve it in tiny slices and it goes a long way.

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped prunes
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, peeled, and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup almonds, toasted or blanched and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup candied orange or lemon peel
3 1/2 oz. good semisweet chocolate, chopped or grated
2 T strong espresso

6 T honey dissolved in 3 T hot water
1/4 c currant, grape, or cherry jelly

A generous grating of nutmeg
Grated zest of one orange
12 grinds of pepper

3/4 c flour, plus a few tablespoons extra for forming the cakes
Another 1/4 c of jelly for glazing the cakes

TO DO
Preheat the oven to 350° F.

If your dried fruits are not very moist, soak them in warm water for half an hour and drain them. Combine the fruits, nuts, chocolate, candied peel, and espresso in a large bowl. Add the honey-water mixture and 1/4 cup of jelly and mix with a spatula. Add the nutmeg, zest, and pepper and stir again. Then add the 3/4 cup of flour bit by bit, mixing with your spatula as you go.

Now dust your hands and work surface with flour and divide the mixture into six equal parts. Form each one first into a well-packed sphere and then flatten into a hamburger shape. Set on a buttered and floured or parchment lined baking sheet. Wash up and then bake them for 15 minutes. In the meantime, heat that last 1/4 cup of jelly over low heat. After the 15 minutes are up, brush the tops of the cakes with the melted jelly and put them back for another 5 minutes of baking. Leave them on their pan until they've cooled completely. Cut into small wedges to serve.

Posted by redfox at December 21, 2004 06:38 PM (essays) | Comments (5)

Comments

There are many tasty fruitcakes! The past few years I have bought panettone from the North End since Christmas was my busiest time. This year we (or I should say Bernhard) made German Christmas Stollen which has been chilling on our backporch for 2 weeks now. We made 2 as hostess gifts for my relatives in Colorado and are hoping that they go over well. Stollen is like panettone in that the cake is fluffy instead of dense and filled with yummy nuts and fruits. We're looking forward to eating it!
Happy Holidays!

Posted by Chloe at December 22, 2004 10:54 AM

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