Ingredients
-
For cake:
- 4 to 4 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
- 2 packages active dry yeast (not rapid-rise yeast)
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus additional for the pan
- 1 1/2 cups very hot water
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups seedless raisins
- 3/4 cup (about 3 ounces) chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup chopped candied citrus peel or a mixture of chopped dried fruit such as apples and apricots
Directions
In large bowl, using electric mixer, combine 1 3/4 cups of flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace and undissolved yeast. Add butter and mix until combined. Gradually add hot water and mix on lowest speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until combined. Add eggs and an additional 3/4 cup of flour. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Add raisins, pecans, candied peel or dried fruit and 1 1/2 cups of flour, reduce speed to low or switch to wooden spoon, and mix until combined. Batter should be stiff; if it is not, add remaining 1/2 cup flour.
Butter a 10-inch tube pan (may substitute a bundt pan). Turn batter into pan.
Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 375°. Bake cake for about 45 minutes, until lightly browned on top and cake tester comes out dry. Invert cake onto wire rack, remove pan and set aside to cool completely. When cake is completely cool, drizzle top of cake with glaze.
For glaze:
1 cup confectioner?s sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a bowl, stir together sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Glaze should be thin enough to drizzle; if necessary, add additional milk, a little at a time, to achieve desired consistency.
This recipe makes a tall, sturdy cake when baked in a 10-inch tube pan. The cake is not very sweet, and not as dense or as moist as a fruitcake. Adapted from ?Fleischmann?s New Treasury of Yeast Baking? booklet (1968). Serves 12 to 14.
