Mark's War / Bachelor (Boiled Fruit) Cake

This might seem like a whole lot of complicated instructions, but I tend to ramble and include lots of details, so do forgive me. It is a really simple cake to make. And I've made it so many times in my convection oven that I'm confident of timing it exactly without need to check several times with a skewer. Plus its often well received by my friends

This simpler version of a fruit cake doesn't need to be made months in advance. Its called a Boiled Fruitcake (also known as a War Cake or Bachelor's Cake). Of course, it still has all the necessary fruit cake ingredients, like dried fruits and spices, yet it is very easy to make and can be eaten right away. I've modified enough from the original recipe to feel the right to call it Mark's War / Bachelor Cake; basically reduced the amount of sugar and upped the amount of booze and cocoa (for the benefit of a good friend who's a chocoholic.

Now, as the name implies, the sugar, water, butter, spices, and the dried fruit are, in fact, "boiled". Once this boiled mixture has been left to cool, the next step is to stir in cocoa powder, self-raising flour, vanilla extract, zest and alcohol (no eggs). And that's it. Just pour the batter into the pan and bake. Now, if possible, do try to resist eating this cake right away. Although it does not need weeks to age, it does benefit from being stored, at least a day or two. Spices can also be adjusted to your taste, adding more or less of each.

Instructions

Weigh / measure out the amounts of water, butter, molasses and dried fruit. You might want to slice the larger pieces of fruit into smaller slivers and this is most easily done with a pair of kitchen scissors.

Put molasses, water, butter, spices and dried fruit in a pot or large saucepan. Do adjust the amount of molasses according to how much of a sweet tooth you are. The dried fruits (especially sugar infused dried cranberries), cointreau and marmalade do contribute a great deal to the eventual sweetness of the cake, so I've actually made the cake once without the molasses. If you're intending to do without sugar, you might want to reduce the amount of citrus zest, as the bitterness might get unmasked and show thru.

Bring to boil, covered and simmer in low heat for five minutes, remove from heat, and let cool.

While the fruit mix is cooling in the pan, line the inside of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) non-stick loaf pan with double layer parchment and finally baking paper. The parchment and baking paper should rise about 2 inches above the sides of the pan to ensure the cake is well protected and a crust doesn't form on the outside in the baking process.

After you're done lining the pan, zest the orange (or lemon) You may use a zester (I just use a grater, but be sure to rinse the grater immediately after using, else the remnant bits may dry up on your grater and you'd have helluva time scraping them off!) Also, please ensure you avoid grating too deep and incorporating the bitter citrus pith.

Stir into the cooled fruit mix the following ingredients in this order; vanilla extract, alcohol, marmalade, citrus zest, cocoa powder. The alcohol will evaporate if your fruit mix is not adequately cooled.

You should get a dark fruit mix with some liquid left in the pan still. If the dried fruit has absorbed almost all the liquid, you might need to top up with an extra shot of either orange juice, water or more brandy. I usually use this as an excuse to add more alcohol!

A note about the alcohol used: Forget cheap cooking brandy. It'd spoil your cake. You won't regret using good alcohol for the cake. Cordon Bleu is expensive but that'd be best. Otherwise, use no less than Black Label.

Finally stir in the self-raising flour and you should end up with a lumpy batter which still drops off the spatula (you may not use all of the flour, depending on how much liquid you have left in the fruit mix)

Pour into the prepared pan and bake in a water bath for 2 hours in a preheated oven at 160 deg Celsius. If you insert a skewer (if you don't have a skewer, just use a use a stick of uncooked spaghetti like I normally do) , it won't come out totally clean, it would be stained chocolate actually.

Remove from oven, ladle a few more spoons of brandy over the hot cake and let cool on a wire rack. Wrap in baking parchment and store, if possible, for a few days before serving.

Makes one - 9x5 inch loaf



Ingredients:

• 50 grams molasses
• 1 cup (240 ml) hot water
• 1/4 cup (56 grams) salted butter
• Spices: 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground star anise
• 450 grams of dried fruit: seedless golden raisins, dark raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried apples (I used 100g each of golden sultanas, jumbo raisins, cranberries & dried cherries, and made up the rest of the weight with dried apples)
• 150 grams self-raising flour + 1 level teaspoon of baking powder
• Citrus zest: Zest of 1 orange (may use lemon too) If you're omitting the sugar, go easy on the zest, as the bitterness may show thru.
• 6 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 shot glassful of cognac (use good, not cooking quality brandy; you won't regret it!!)
• 1 shot glassful of cointreau
• 2 tablespoons of marmalade