Categories: Cakes - Frosting - Icing
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup almond paste (from an 8 oz. can or package)
- 2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 eggs (1 cup)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup raisins
- 2 Tbsp. chopped citron
- 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
- Apricot Glaze:
- 2 jars (12 oz. each) apricot preserves
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup rum or brandy
- Rich Butter Cream Frosting:
- 1 1/4 lb. (5 sticks) butter or margarine 1 egg yolk
- 3 pkg. (1 lb. each) confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup orange liqueur
Directions
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Butter a 13 × 9 × 2 inch baking pan. Line bottom with wax paper; butter paper.
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Sift flour and baking powder onto wax paper; reserve.
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Crumble almond paste into butter or margarine in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer until creamy and smooth. Add sugar slowly, beating until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
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Add the flour mixture alternately with milk, beating after each addition until batter is smooth. (Use low speed on mixer.) Pour into pan.
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Bake in slow oven (325 degrees) 45 minutes, or until center springs back when lightly pressed with fingertip. Cool 10 minutes on wire rack; loosen around edges with a knife; turn out onto wire rack; loosen around edges with a knife; turn out onto wire rack; cool completely.
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For second layer of bottom tier: Prepare pound-cake recipe again and bake in the 13 × 9 × 2 inch pan.
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For second and third tiers: Prepare pound-cake recipe. Reserve 1 cup batter. Pour remaining batter into buttered 8 × 8 × 2 inch baking pan.
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For third (top) tier: Top reserved 1 cup batter, add 1 cup raisins, 2 Tbsp. chopped citron
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1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg. Pour into a buttered, ovenproof 2-cup baking dish.
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Bake both cakes as in step 5. (The small top tier will bake in 35 minutes.)
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Putting the cake together:
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. The day before the wedding, prepare Apricot Glaze and Rich Butter Cream Frosting. Trim tops of layers so they will stack evenly. Trim square layer off slightly on two parallel sides to fit bottom tier evenly; split layer.
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. Brush tops and sides of all layers and the fruitcake with Apricot Glaze. Let glaze set. Stack the matching layers.
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. Frost sides and top of bottom tier smoothly with Rich Butter Cream Frosting. Center the stacked 8-inch tier on bottom tier; frost. Center fruit-cake on top; frost. Smooth frosting with a metal spatula dipped in water.
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. Mark off lattice design in frosting (with a wooden pick). Make several throwaway cones from wax paper. Tear off a 12-inch square of wax paper. Fold to a triangle. Holding each end of the longest side, curve both ends toward the remaining point, pulling around until all three corners meet. The point of the cone should be tightly closed. Tape seam. Fill cone with frosting; cut 1/8-inch off point for opening. Pipe frosting in lattice design, as pictured. Discard cone as it wears thin; squeeze any frosting into another cone.
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For border: Cut tip of new cone in an inverted “V” triangle. Fill cone with frosting. Make overlapping leaf design. Decorate top tier with little garlands and leaves. Shortly before serving, decorate with fresh daisies and cornflowers. Cut stems short. Wrap stems in wet cotton and foil to keep fresh.
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Apricot Glaze:
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combine apricot preserves, sugar and water in a saucepan. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Sieve into a small bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup rum or brandy. Brush glaze over warm cakes.
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Rich Butter Cream Frosting:
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Beat butter with egg yolk until soft in a large bowl. Beat in confectioners’ sugar alternately with orange liqueur until mixture is smooth.