Wendy Ra­hamut

It's that time of the year once again, the time when many think about their Christ­mas kitchen and be­gin their prepa­ra­tions for the sea­son. It's the time when peo­ple get on with mak­ing pastelles, sor­rel, ponche de cr�me and gin­ger beer and of course, the ubiq­ui­tous Christ­mas cake.

Those of you who pre­pare in ad­vance are prob­a­bly think­ing about your Christ­mas cake right about now.

Fruit­cake is an en­dur­ing tra­di­tion here in T&T and many of us have recipes that have been hand­ed down from gen­er­a­tion to gen­er­a­tion. And of course, every­one has his or her own ver­sion of the best fruit­cake ever.

Here are some de­light­ful fruit­cake recipes for you to add to your col­lec­tion.

OLD FASH­IONED FRUIT­CAKE

1 cup mixed can­died peel

2 1/2 cups raisins

2 cups cur­rants

1/2 lb pit­ted prunes

2 cups pecans or wal­nuts chopped and toast­ed

1 cup each red and green glace cher­ries, halved

1 1/2 cups dark rum (or cher­ry brandy)

1 3/4 cups all-pur­pose flour

1 tsp bak­ing pow­der

1 tsp cin­na­mon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp nut­meg

1/4 tsp all­spice

Pinch of salt

1 cup un­salt­ed but­ter

1 cup brown sug­ar

3 eggs

2 tb­sps mo­lasses

2 tsp vanil­la

METHOD

Line two 9x5-inch loaf pans or two nine inch round cake tins with brown pa­per twice, grease the last lay­er and flour.

In a large bowl com­bine mixed peel, prunes, cur­rants, raisins, and cher­ries pour on rum and let soak for a one-week or overnight, drain and re­tain al­co­hol.

Di­vide fruits in­to two, mince one half and com­bine with un­minced por­tion.

Pre­heat oven to 250F

Com­bine the rest of the flour with the cin­na­mon, nut­meg, all­spice, cloves and bak­ing pow­der.

With elec­tric mix­er cream but­ter with sug­ar un­til light and fluffy, add eggs one at a time beat­ing well be­tween each ad­di­tion. Add vanil­la and mo­lasses.

Fold in flour mix­ture.

Fold in fruit mix­ture and nuts.

Turn bat­ter in­to pre­pared pans and bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours un­til a tester comes out clean.

Cool in tins. Pour the re­tained al­co­hol from the fruits over cakes af­ter bak­ing.

Makes 2 cakes

LIGHT FRUIT CAKE

1 cup but­ter

1 cup gran­u­lat­ed sug­ar

4 eggs

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup can­died cher­ries, fine­ly chopped

1/2 cup mixed peel

1/2 cup chopped wal­nuts or al­monds, (op­tion­al)

2 cups all pur­pose flour

METHOD

Pre­heat oven to 325 de­grees.

Fine­ly chop fruits.

Grease, line and flour one nine-inch round pan.

With an elec­tric mix­er, cream but­ter and sug­ar un­til light and creamy, about five min­utes. Add eggs one at a time beat­ing well be­tween ad­di­tions.

Fold in flour and fruits. Pour bat­ter in­to a 9-inch round pan.

Bake for about 1 1/2 hours. Cool.

BEST EVER CHRIST­MAS BLACK CAKE

1 lb raisins

1/2 lb cur­rants

1/2 lb sul­tanas

1/2 lb prunes

1/2 lb chopped wal­nuts

1/4 lb mixed peel

1/4 lb cher­ries

1 2/3 cups dark rum

1 2/3 cups cher­ry brandy

1 lb but­ter

1 lb all pur­pose flour

3 tsp bak­ing pow­der

1 lb brown sug­ar

6 eggs

1 tsp cin­na­mon and all­spice, mixed

2 tsp mixed essence

METHOD

Com­bine rum and cher­ry brandy and add fruits to mix­ture. Let soak overnight or up to one week.

Pre­heat oven to 300F.

Cream but­ter and sug­ar un­til light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beat­ing well af­ter each ad­di­tion.

Sift to­geth­er flour and bak­ing pow­der, cin­na­mon and all­spice.

Drain fruits and re­serve liq­uid. Chop or mince in food proces­sor.

Add drained fruits to but­ter and sug­ar mix­ture.

Add cut up cher­ries and nuts.

Fold flour in­to fruits and but­ter mix­ture.

Add mixed essence, mix well.

Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans with waxed pa­per, grease and floured pa­per.

Spoon cake bat­ter equal­ly in­to pre­pared bak­ing pans.

Bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Driz­zle ex­tra rum over cake when baked.

Cool in pans be­fore re­mov­ing.

Makes two 9-inch round cakes.