Tutti Frutti Fruitcake Recipe from Preserved: Fruit
Please enjoy this recipe excerpt from Preserved: Fruit! The book is available for purchase here.
Fruitcake gets a bad rap. So, instead of the commercial brands studded with neon glacé fruit, we propose a version that’s dark and rich like a boozy energy bar. It’s high in protein from plenty of nuts and is filled with natural dried fruits. The whole wheat and buckwheat flours amplify its wholesomeness.
Disdainers of fruitcake may be surprised to learn that, in the past, fruitcakes were considered prestigious. Because the many pieces of diced fruits and nuts symbolized fertility, fruitcakes were once served at weddings. A heavy fruitcake called a groom’s cake was popular in seventeenth-century England, where it was offered alongside the bride’s cake. The fruitcake was cut up into small squares for wedding favors; an unmarried woman who placed a piece of cake under her pillow was prophesied to dream of the man she would marry.
Eventually fruitcake became a celebratory staple of the Christmas holidays. Although you can eat the cake as soon as it has cooled, both the flavor and texture improve with aging, especially when the cake is moistened with alcohol. Spirits were originally added to help preserve the cake for months—even years—leading to numerous jokes and legends about fruitcake’s longevity. We use rum, but you can substitute brandy, whiskey, sherry, bourbon, or even Guinness to achieve the taste you prefer.
This fruitcake can be baked a good three months before you plan to serve it. If you’re not up to dicing so much fruit, feel free to substitute an equal amount of packaged baker’s dried fruit medley, available online.
1 cup / 120 g whole wheat flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons / 100 g buckwheat flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup / 113 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup / 55 g dark muscovado sugar
1/4 cup / 85 g raw, unpasteurized honey (omit if using Tutti Frutti syrup)
1 large egg
Rum, for aging the cake
1 firmly packed cup / 160 g tart dried cherries
1 firmly packed cup / 60 g diced dried apples
3/4 cup / 110 g golden raisins
1/2 cup / 100 g diced dried pears
1/2 cup / 85 g diced dried apricots
1/2 cup / 75 g diced dried peaches
1/2 cup / 75 g diced dried figs
1/4 cup / 35 g diced candied ginger
1/4 cup / 75 g diced dried dates
1/2 cup / 64 g shelled raw, unsalted pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup / 64 g pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup / 50 g pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/4 cups / 300 ml dark rum
1/2 cup / 120 ml syrup from Tutti Frutti jar (see below) or apple cider
1/4 cup / 60 ml raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
Combine the dried cherries, dried apples, raisins, dried pears, dried apricots, dried peaches, dried figs, candied ginger, dried dates, pistachios, pine nuts, pecans, lemon zest, and orange zest in a large bowl.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the rum, tutti frutti syrup, and vinegar and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the liquid over the fruits and nuts. Cover the bowl and leave the mixture to steep at room temperature overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC. Butter a 10-inch / 25 cm loaf or springform pan and line it with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, baking powder, and cloves and mix well.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the butter, muscovado sugar, and honey. Beat the mixture on high until light, periodically scraping down the sides. Gradually beat in the egg until it is well incorporated—don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled. On low speed, add the dry ingredients in three batches, mixing well after each addition. The mixture will look dry. Switch to the paddle attachment; on low speed, add the fruits and nuts, and any liquid that hasn’t been absorbed, mixing only enough to thoroughly combine.
Scrape the batter into the loaf pan, smoothing the top. Tent the top loosely with a piece of aluminum foil to keep the cake from browning too fast. Bake for 75 to 90 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn off the heat and leave the cake to cool in the oven for 1 hour.
Transfer the loaf to a rack to let the cake cool completely, which will take several hours. Once the cake is cool, carefully remove it from the pan and return it to the cooling rack. Leave the cake to sit overnight, uncovered, to dry out a bit.
Moisten a large piece of cheesecloth with rum until it is slightly damp, not soaking. Wrap the cake tightly in the cheesecloth, then cover it with waxed paper and aluminum foil. Place the cake in a large zip-top bag. Store it in a cool, dark place for at least 4 weeks, unwrapping the cheesecloth and renewing the rum once a week. The cake will keep for at least 3 months.
Tutti Frutti Syrup Recipe
Tutti frutti, a nearly everlasting combination of brandy-soaked fruits, became the height of culinary fashion in the 1880s. Its Italian name (which means “all fruits”) lent cachet to a very basic method of preserving seasonal fruits in brandy. It proved so popular that in 1888, the first vending machine in America sold Tutti Frutti chewing gum. But the advent of Prohibition, with its interdiction of alcohol, killed the beloved fruit mixture. Fortunately, the flavor itself didn’t disappear, just the brandy. In the 1920s “tutti frutti” came to refer to finely chopped dried or candied fruit blends that were added to ice cream or used as a sandwich filling. Today, it’s still possible to buy a popular brand of rum ice cream dotted with candied fruits and pecans.
The original tutti frutti is due for a comeback. Just begin with a base of brandy and sugar, then add an early summer fruit. As each new fruit ripens, stir it into the crock along with its weight in sugar (once the tutti frutti is established, you can cut back slightly on the additional sugar). Feel free to substitute or add other fruits, like grapes or plums. Stored in a cool, dark place, the tutti frutti will improve with age, and you can keep your mixture going for years, dipping in whenever fancy strikes. If, like us, you keep ice cream tucked away in the freezer, a ladle of tutti frutti spooned over ice cream will dazzle any unexpected guests.
MAKE THE BASE: Sterilize a 2-quart / 2 L ceramic crock or wide-mouth glass jar. Pour the brandy into the container and stir in the sugar until dissolved.
ADD THE FRUIT: Stir in the strawberries and 1 1/4 cups / 225 g of the sugar. Then stir in the orange peel. Press a piece of parchment paper onto the surface and cover the crock or jar tightly. (If the lid of the crock isn’t tight-fitting, cover the parchment with a piece of plastic wrap and then place the lid on top.) Set aside in a cool, dark place for 3 days.
Add the peaches to the crock, along with another 1 1/4 cups / 225 g of sugar, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. You can either add the rest of the fruit and sugar now, or add the fruit sequentially as it comes into season, along with its weight in sugar. Always stir well after each addition.
The tutti frutti will be ready after a few weeks, but the flavors continue to develop the longer it sits. You can replenish it by adding new fruit and sugar to replace whatever you’ve removed, or renew it with a spoonful or two of apricot jam.
BASE
11/2 cups / 350 ml brandy
1 cup / 200 g granulated sugar
FRUIT
8 ounces / 227 g strawberries, hulled and halved (or quartered, if large)
51/2 to 6 cups / 1 to 1.1 kg granulated sugar or sucanat
2 (6-inch / 15 cm) spirals of orange peel
8 ounces / 225 g peaches, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch / 1.25 cm chunks
8 ounces / 225 g sweet cherries, stemmed, pitted, and halved
8 ounces / 225 g pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch / 1.25 cm chunks
8 ounces / 225 g pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch / 1.25 cm chunks