Baking Day

Many things had to happen before Baking Day: ordering a monumental amount of dried fruits and nuts, getting enough foil baking pans (as I do not happen to just have 16 loaf pans on-hand), laying in stores of flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and spices. One of the hardest challenges was finding a mixing bowl that could hold 24+ pounds of batter, even my largest mixing bowl, which could double as a regimental punch bowl in a pinch, came short. In the end I had to go to the hardware store and buy one of those long flat storage containers designed to go under your bed—which you can see in some photos from the day below.

All of the nuts and dried fruits were added to the mixing “bowl”, and I started on the batter itself. That was another challenge, as my stand mixer was also not large to make it all in one go, so I had to mix the batter in four batches and add each to the fruits and nuts. I didn’t have a scale large enough to weigh the entire mix, so to evenly divide the batter amongst the sixteen pans I put 1.5 pounds in each tin, and the resultant leftover was small enough I could measure and evenly divide the remnants.

The final challenge was fitting everything in the oven: with a low baking temperature of 275F and a baking time of over two hours, I really wanted this all done in one batch. I managed to do it, albeit with some pan stacking, which worked well enough. Since I was removing all of the pans and rotating them every half-hour I wasn’t worried about uneven baking.

Finally, after they were baked and cooled they were each wrapped in a pre-made square of cheesecloth which I had boiled for five minutes and allowed to cool. The cheesecloths were soaked in cognac, wrapped around the loaves, and then more congnac misted on the cheesecloth to ensure it was moist. The soaking in alcohol, along with the high sugar content and their eventual sealing in two layers of plastic vacuum packs, are key to the long-term preservation of the fruitcakes. Remember, we want at least one of the loaves to last 100 years.

They’ll spend a week in the now-cleaned mixing “bowl”, the lid on and getting daily doses of more cognac. Pictures below to tide you over until they day comes to seal the cakes.

  • The fruits and nuts ready to go. Fruits and Nuts: The fruits and nuts ready to go.
  • Adding the batter to the fruit and nuts—making the batter had to be done in batches, as my stand mixer wasn't large enough otherwise. Adding the batter: Adding the batter to the fruit and nuts—making the batter had to be done in batches, as my stand mixer wasn't large enough otherwise.
  • The only way to do this was to put some rubber gloves on and get in there by hand. Fully mixed: The only way to do this was to put some rubber gloves on and get in there by hand.
  • The batter portioned out into 16 baking tins. Portioned out: The batter portioned out into 16 baking tins.
  • This was a bit of a tight fit, I had to stack some of them; given the baking time of over two hours, I was trying not to have to do this in batches. Stacking in the oven: This was a bit of a tight fit, I had to stack some of them; given the baking time of over two hours, I was trying not to have to do this in batches.
  • Pulled out of the oven fully baked, waiting to cool. Fully baked: Pulled out of the oven fully baked, waiting to cool.
  • The cakes were wrapped in clean cheesecloth, ready to be soaked in some cognac. Wrapped up: The cakes were wrapped in clean cheesecloth, ready to be soaked in some cognac.