Look, it’s not the most attractive stuff, I know. Just go with it.

Fruitcake. Everyone hates it, right? It’s a joke, right? Only if you’re doing it wrong. Don’t use those weird jellied fruits or candies to make this. Do it right with real dried fruit and lots of rum and you’ll have a gift that stores for weeks and tastes great.

Things you’ll need that you might not have:
Bread loaf pan or mini-loaf pan.
Cheesecloth
Container of some sort for loaf/loaves.

Be warned, if you make it right, you’re going to use almost a full bottle of rum. So have that on hand. I like dark 100 proof spiced rum. You can use gold or white, though.

Your first step is to soak your dried fruit in rum overnight.

You can mix and match most of these the way you want them. Chop up big things like figs, apricots, and dates. Add cranberries, mangos, or raisins, or prunes, apples - you name it. You can even use dried citrus peel. Just make sure it’s all 5 cups of dried fruit when you’re done.

But I would say you MUST have dates and ginger. Get the big fat juicy medjool dates. Pit them yourself with a chopstick. (Look it up online, it’s easy) Chop them up and make a pile, chop that pile. You want your dates to be a thick chunky mess. Everything else can be neat.

FRUIT INGREDIENTS:

1 cup fig
1 cup cherry
1 cup apricot
1 cup dates
1 cup crystalized ginger
Enough dark rum to cover.

Now, put it all in a suitable container and cover it in rum for 24+ hours. Keep it at room temperature.

The next day, the work begins.

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

2c all purpose flour
1 T of EACH of the pumpkin spices (clove, ginger, allspice, cinnamon)
2 T fresh grated ginger
Dash salt, cayenne
1 T cocoa powder (optional)
1 t vanilla extract (optional)
1 c brown sugar (or white, or sucanat, etc)
1 c good butter
4 eggs - room temperature is best.
1 c pecans

A WORD ON SPICES:
These are general ideas. I usually use more cinnamon and ginger and go lighter on cloves. You might like more nutmeg or more allspice. A touch of black pepper instead of cayenne. Cardamon. More vanilla. It’s up to you. The key is that it needs a LOT of spice. A good bit of the flavor will bake off. And the rum heat will cover up anything that’s not intense.

SO MIX:

Mix dry ingredients. (Except grated ginger)
Melt butter. Let cool slightly.
Mix eggs well in a large bowl.

Slowly add butter/eggs about ¼ of each at a time. You want to avoid letting the butter cook the eggs, so mix them as you go. If you have a mixer, fine, but it doesn’t have to be super-smooth.

Take your fruit aside and let it drain out. You don’t need it dry, you just don’t want to add all that rum in (yet). Set your fruit-rum aside, you’ll use it later.

Now, add your fresh ginger and all of the soaked fruit.

Brush your pan/pans with butter, and brush the tops of your loaves with butter. I like to make these in mini-loaf pans, for gift-giving, and to make it easier to eat a little.

Bake at 285f for 1-1.5 hours. Use a thermometer/toothpick test to determine if done. (200F at the center)

Take it out. Brush the fruit-soaking rum over the top as it cools. Two or three coats.

Now, let it cool to room temperature. Drizzle rum over the top until it does not soak in rapidly.

Take a bit of cheesecloth, enough to cover the loaf/loaves. Soak it in rum until all is absorbed. Then wrap your cake/cakes in rum-soaked cheesecloth. Pour a little bit of rum on top of the cloth every day until rum starts to pool up in the container. Then turn your cake over so that both top and bottom become soaked. Repeat as necessary. Do this for 5 days or until you run out of rum.

During this time, cover the container with foil or a lid to keep it from drying out. You can add brandy or whiskey, as well.
Store at room temperature in fresh cheesecloth in a sealed container. This will last a couple of weeks. Refrigeration is optional.