
Traditional Dark Fruitcake
My dear friend Rebecca will guide us through a dark fruitcake recipe, describing the delicious and beautifully flavourful fruitcake recipe traditionally made by her Grandmother in her bakeshop back in England.
I can definitely vouch for this recipe: it is both crammed with yummy fruits and nuts, and flavoured beautifully with brandy. No wonder it’s a family favourite!
And as someone who normally has plain fruitcake (without the marzipan and fondant decoration), I was pleasantly surprised to discover the marzipan adds an additional level of richness that is hard to beat.
Show us how it’s done, Rebecca! 🙂
Rebecca…
Some of my earliest and fondest memories of my Grandparents are of them in their shop in Stoke-On-Trent, England. Hands and surfaces covered in flour. I remember this fact only once I start working with one of their recipes, realizing often too late that they are created to make large quantities for the shop! This is indeed the case with this Fruit Cake recipe, so you may wish to cut the recipe in half, unless your goal is to bake them as gifts or make larger, deeper cakes.Â
For one week you will have to soak the dried fruits and cherries in sherry or bandy in a large plastic bowl. Stir once a day to ensure all the fruit have equal opportunity to get truly drunk at the bottom!Â
I took a fun trip to the Bulk Barn for the ingredients. I found the Lyles Black Treacle in a specialty shop; most British shops will carry it. It is thicker than molasses and will darken the colour of the cake.Â
Grandma Colclough’s Dark Fruit Cake
Ingredients:
Directions:
Just be sure to wait a week before icing so the cake has absorbed it all. To decorate cover with warm apricot jam and layer with marzipan and icing sugar.