Sourdough Fruitcake

The recipe is one that incorporates sourdough with real dried fruit instead of a bunch of candied pretend fruit. I can't remember how I stumbled on this but it sounded very good to me and not having made fruitcake before, I didn't have preconceived notions so I was open to any idea.

The full link is here. I checked for a copyright and not seeing any, I thought I would repost the recipe here but the full credit for the recipe belongs to the linked page. I didn't use organic fruit or ingredients for the most part since they were unavailable to me but I tried to stick to the spirit of the recipe as much as possible. Pictures included are my own.

What You'll Need

2 medium size loaf cakes

1 cup organic golden raisins

1 cup organic dried currants

½ cup organic dried cranberries

½ cup organic dried blueberries

½ cup organic dried cherries

 ½ cup organic, dried, unsulphured apricots 

1 cup golden rum or brandy 

Zest of one organic lemon

Zest of one organic orange

1½ cups organic whole wheat flour

1½ cups organic apple juice or cider (not to all be used at once) 

½ cup sourdough starter, fed in the last 12 hours

1 cup organic, unsalted butter 

1 cup rapadura or another unrefined sugar (no honey or maple syrup)

¼ tsp. ground clove

½ tsp. ground allspice

1 tsp. ground cinnamon 

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. unrefined sea salt

1 tsp. aluminum-free baking soda

3 free-range, organic eggs  

1 cup chopped, toasted pecans

1/2 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

Extra butter for buttering loaf pans 

Brandy for basting

1. In a medium size bowl combine dried fruit, lemon and orange zest and 1 cup of golden rum (I used Brandy). Cover and allow to sit overnight.

2. For your sourdough sponge, combine flour, 1 cup apple juice and sourdough starter. Cover and allow to ferment overnight or for at least 8 hours, but preferably no longer than 12.

1. Mix together macerated fruit, including liquid, butter, sugar, the spices, salt and the remaining half cup of apple juice in a large, non-reactive pot. Heat over medium, to medium high heat until mixture begins to boil. Reduce heat and allow ingredients to simmer for approximately 15-20 minutes or until you have a thick syrupy mixture. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 300°F. Butter loaf pans and line bottom with parchment paper.* While the oven heats up, allow the fruit mixture to cool for at least 15-30 minutes. Alternatively you could do this step a day ahead of time and then reheat the mixture to room temperature when you are ready to use it. 

* I've used a variety of different shape dishes to bake my fruitcake in. My favorite being small, 4" wide ramekins to make individual size fruitcakes. The smaller dishes require less baking time. In the case of the ramekin size that you can see in the pictures, the cake was done baking at about an hour.  I always line the bottom with parchment so I'm guaranteed the cake won't stick and will easily come out. There is nothing worse than going through all the baking effort only to have your end product stuck in the baking pan.

3. Add the sponge to the cooled fruit in the pot and then sprinkle the baking soda over top. Quickly stir everything together, making sure to well incorporate the baking soda and evenly distribute the fruit.

4. Stir in eggs one at a time until completely incorporated, then fold in the toasted nuts.

5. Pour half of batter into each prepared baking pan.*

*If you are experimenting with different size dishes you can fill them to about 1/3" from the top. This cake does not rise much.  

6. Bake loaf pans in preheated oven for 1 hour and 20 minute. Check for doneness a little over an hour, but most likely they will take longer. They are done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

7. Immediately baste cakes with brandy (I used rum), then allow to cool completely before removing from pans.

8. Store in an airtight container. Check on fruitcake every couple of days, if it feels dry baste with more brandy. These cakes are best if allowed to age for 2 - 3 weeks before eating. 

Enjoy!

I think we might dig into the half filled pan a little sooner than in 2 or 3 weeks just to get a taste. ;-)

ETA I have a question about storage. Can I leave the fruitcake in the ceramic loaf pans they were baked in and just wrap them up tightly? I searched the web and couldn't find an answer. Thanks!