Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake

I'm back! All the holidays are over (thank you Lord). John and I have had a crazy holiday schedule. I've barely gotten to cook or bake! I did, however, start and finish a project I've been wanting to try for sometime now - Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake.

I've heard women around town talk about these cakes before - usually Mamaw (pronounced Mam'maw) made it, and then forced it on kids, grandkids, neighbors, party-goers, visitors, and any other fool that came around. Few Kentucky ladies have ever actually made one. The reason? This cake took 4 weeks, from start to finish, before eating!


This is the booziest desert I believe I'll ever make. An ENTIRE BOTTLE of Woodford Reserve went into this thing. (Most expensive cake too, I'll bet.) I felt lightheaded after eating a whole piece!

It starts by soaking 1 1/2 pounds of fruit (I used candied cherries, citron, dates and dried apricots), allowed to steep overnight. The fruit quantity can be bumped up, if desired. These could have been soaked for longer, but I'm an impatient person. Some recipes call for 48 hours of bourbon soaking. A half pound or so of nuts rolled in honey and flour also went in.

After the soaking, I made the batter, which I placed into a parchment lined tube pan. If there is a smart way to line tube pans with parchment paper, somebody let me know, because it was a pain. Place batter in lined-pan (I placed my batter in and then realized I'd forgotten to fold in the nuts. So I scooped it out, added the nuts, then placed it back in tube pan. Ugh. Genius.)

Fruitcake must be baked very slowly at low temperatures. I baked mine for 3 and a half hours! That's longer than cheesecake. Some recipes suggest longer times, I took mine from the Junior League of Owensboro's To Market, To Market cookbook, and this is what they suggested. Came out perfectly, and with no pan of water in the oven. It was quite tasty immediately after baking. John was nibbling off what was to become the bottom as it cooled, taking chunks when I wasn't looking. Had a consistency like a very dense dessert bread at this point. (Once John had nibbled, I nibbled, too. You can see the holes in the back area in the photo below.)


Once the cake cooled enough, I flipped it over and added some pecans on the top, for visual effect. The next step then is to brush the entire cake with bourbon, and then wrap it in a bourbon soaked cheesecloth. Use the remaining liquid from the fruit for this. I brushed the cake with these leftovers, and then soaked my cheesecloth in it, until all the leftover liquid was gone. The cherries had turned the liquor a faded red in color, which it gave to the cake's exterior. I liked it, personally.

My cake looked like a poorly mummified I don't-know-what after wrapping. Ready to go into Pharaoh's tomb for a thousand years. With all that alcohol in there, it just might have lasted, too. Ever hear those corny fruitcake jokes this time of year? The alcohol works as a preservative, making it last a really, really, really long time.

I was soooo mad when I thought my phone had died permanently. These pictures would have been lost, if I couldn't get them off. Thankfully, I did. Some day, (when I've saved up enough), I will get a real camera, (a Canon Rebel Digital T4i DSLR please), and then we'll have some REAL pictures, not just camera phone ones!

To the left here is my cake a week and a half in. So, it's been sitting in my fridge for 10 days. The cake needs to be checked periodically and brushed with more bourbon again, to prevent it from drying out. I unwrapped it from its aluminum foil covering, then undid the cloth, and brushed it inside and out. The center hole needed a lot more bourbon than the outsides.

After waiting for so long, I can't tell you how nervous I was about seeing the final product. There's nothing quite like finding out you made something awful, or that you messed completely up, after weeks and weeks of waiting. When I cut into it however, I practically gasped at how beautiful the cake looked. This camera does it no justice!! The colors were wonderful. Tasted pretty good, too. And it made me feel good... The bourbon flavor was muted for the most part, but every now and then, if I bit into a large piece of fruit, I'd taste it. Not so sure that pregnant women or children should be eating this desert.  :)

John, I just ate three pieces of bourbon fruitcake. Think I'm safe to drive?

(Kidding. I could only eat one. Too rich!)

print recipe

Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake

Adapted from To Market, To Market by JLO January-3-2013

Like Mamaw used to make!

Ingredients

• 1 pound candied cherries, halved and chopped (mix it up)
• 1/4 pound chopped dates
• 1/4 pound dried apricots
• 1/4 pound or so (I added a couple of handfuls) citron
• 2 cups + Woodford Reserve Bourbon
• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 6 eggs, seperated
• 5 cups flour
• 1 pound pecans, chopped
• 1 TBS honey
• 2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

1. Soak fruit in bourbon overnight. 2. Line greased 10-inch tube pan with greased brown paper. (This cake will stick like you won't believe.)3. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy, add egg yolks and beat well.4. Stir in soaked fruit. Set aside remaining bourbon.5. Mix 1/2 cup flour and honey with pecans.6. Add remaining flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and baking powder to creamed mixture. Mix thoroughly. 7. Beat egg whites unitl stiff peaks form, and fold in batter. Gently mix in floured pecans.8. Spoon batter in prepared pan. Bake at 250 degrees for 3 1/2 hours. Allow to cool in pan.9. Remove cake from pan. Peel off paper. Soak a cheese cloth in leftover bourbon juice from fruit. Brush cake with bourbon, paying special attention to the interior hole. Wrap brushed cake in bourbon soaked cheese cloth, then wrap tightly in aluminum foil and store in refrigerator.10. Allow cake to sit for at least 4 weeks. Check periodically for dryness, and brush with more bourbon if needed.

Yield: 12