White Fruit Cake
My mother has been making this fruit cake at Christmas time for as long as I can remember. My whole family loves it. I know there are a lot of people out there that have issues with fruit cake, but this recipe has converted even the most reluctant.
My mother has been making this fruit cake at Christmas time for as long as I can remember. My whole family loves it. I know there are a lot of people out there that have issues with fruit cake, but this recipe has converted even the most reluctant.
- Carbohydrate 722.72864655135 g
- Cholesterol 889.366667081246 mg
- Fat 244.006037491497 g
- Fiber 29.5825562466147 g
- Protein 60.6985445437909 g
- Saturated Fat 91.5057473767111 g
- Serving Size 1 1 loaves fruit cake (1326g)
- Sodium 1212.28172690437 mg
- Sugar 693.146090304736 g
- Trans Fat 16.7753870819285 g
- Calories 5156 calories
Step-by-step
- Chop pineapple, raisins, and cherries. Combine chopped fruit with currants, orange peel, and citron; soak in orange juice overnight.
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Place a small pan of water in the oven. Line one 5x9 inch loaf pan and two 3x8 inch loaf pans with parchment or doubled waxed paper.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioner's sugar. Stir in beaten egg yolks. Stir in fruit, juice, and pecans. Mix in sifted flour.
- In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to peaks. Fold into batter. Fill pans 2/3 full.
- Bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until golden brown, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
Confectioners' sugar listed in the measurements performs a double duty here, acting both as the sweetener in the creaming stage and as a fine stabilizer that absorbs residual surface moisture from the fruit. Achieving a proper crumb structure requires strict adherence to temperature sequencing and egg handling. Ignoring the details of how the components interact leads to heavy, dense results instead of a golden, cohesive loaf.
Soaking and Structural Integration
Drenching the pineapple, raisins, cherries, currants, and citrus peels in orange juice overnight plumps the dried fruit cells and prevents them from drawing moisture out of the surrounding batter during baking. Whisking the egg whites separately and folding them in at the final stage introduces the necessary aeration to lift dense volumes of flour, butter, and four cups of chopped pecans. Place a small pan of water on the oven rack at 275 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain ambient humidity, which stops the exterior sugars from scorching during the extended two-to-two-and-a-half-hour bake time.
- Grease the pans thoroughly and line them with doubled waxed paper or parchment to prevent the high-sugar batter from adhering to the metal.
- Test for doneness by inserting a wooden toothpick into the center; it should emerge clean without wet batter clinging to it.
- Allow the baked loaves to cool completely in their pans before attempting inversion, because hot fruit cake lacks the structural rigidity to support its own weight.
