Name: Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake
Yield: Fills a 2-litre 3½ pint, 8-cup) baking mould or a 15 X 10 cm (6 X 4 in) cake tin
Ingredients: 160 g (4 fl oz, 4 heaping Tbsp) unsulphured black treacle (Rhoda used molasses); 120 g (4 oz, 1 cup) diced mixed candied fruit, including glace cherries; 200 ml (8 fl oz, 1 cup) Bourbon whiskey; pinch each of ground nutmeg and ginger; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; 230 g (8 oz, 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened; 60 g (2 oz, ½ cup) broken pecans; 100 g (scant 4 oz, 6 Tbsp) candied peel; ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda; 120 g (4 oz, ½ cup) dark brown sugar; ½ tsp salt; 130 g (4½ oz, ¾ cup) unsifted plain flour; 100 g (scant 4 oz, ⅔ cup) dried currants; 4 Tbsp milk; 2 size 2 egg (= 6 Tbsp beaten egg)

Preparation info

Fills a
2 litre
cake tin

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Feast of Christmas

By Paul Levy

Published 1992

About

The quantities for this recipe, which are the closest I’ve ever seen to the fruitcake Rhoda, our family cook, used to make months in advance of every Christmas, are similar to those of Rose Levy Beranbaum, in The Cake Bible (1992).