I
t would probably take an entire book to tell the long and complicated history of fruitcakes. For thousands of years, through many countries and many religions, the most special and expensive ingredients have been saved to be prepared for important feast days. Dried fruits, since fresh wasn’t possible, have usually featured in midwinter celebrations.
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ORGANIC & NGI PIES, CAKES, BREADS, ROLLS & FRUIT CAKES
The Traditions of Fruitcake
At the Duncan Garage, we start our fruitcake process in late August or early September by soaking fresh local and dried organic fruits in rum and wine, to sweeten and preserve the fresh fruit and plump up the dried. We never use ‘candied’ or artificially coloured fruit of any kind.
We have to bake our Dark Fruitcakes by early November, so they can have a little sleep, soothed occasionally by a light brushing of brandy, before they’re ready for sale in December. This means we have already baked all we can for the year, so pick up what you want as soon as you can. They easily last a year or more tightly wrapped in the fridge (we like to save some slices for the heavy spring gardening dig-fest, when tea and fruitcake make the perfect afternoon pick-me-up.) Dark fruitcakes are more fruit and nuts than cake; there’s just
enough unleavened spicy butter and molasses batter around the morsels. We make them with a no-gluten-ingredient blend of flours or with wheat flour. Light fruitcakes don’t need to age; they’re ready to eat as soon as they’re cooled from the oven. As soon as we’ve made the Dark cakes, we soak up a new batch of fruit with a focus on fruits such as pineapple and blonde figs that are naturally light in colour even when dried. The Light fruitcake batter is much lighter in both colour and texture; it incorporates whipped egg whites and is literally zested up with fresh orange and lemon rind and subtly enriched with ground almonds. We make both wheat and no-gluten-ingredient options for light fruitcakes too, and we cover them with a lovely layer of marzipan to seal the goodness in. Store them tightly wrapped in the fridge. We also do a vegan fruitcake; it started as a wartime rationing recipe when eggs and butter weren’t available, but it’s a really nice spiced cake. We make them and sell them from our retail freezer because they are more likely to go stale than the more traditional types of fruit cakes. Submitted by Jenny Bradshaw
Open MonDAY-SatURDAY to nourish you during shopping with warm, delicious & organic home made food.
Duncan Garage Cafe and Bakery 330 Duncan Street, Downtown Duncan 250 748-6223 31
