Fruitcake That Won’t End Up As A Doorstop

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Japanese Fruitcake

Japanese Fruitcake.

Though Appalachia’s apple stack cake tends to get most of the attention, many Southern holiday spreads wouldn’t be complete without an old-fashioned Japanese fruitcake, a layered spice cake with coconut filling or icing. 

Food historians point to Southern Appalachia as the nexus of this more delicious—albeit unusually named—descendant of the maligned fruitcake.

According to Bill Neal’s classic Southern cookbook, Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, “Japanese fruitcake is an exotically named, typically Southern dessert cake, especially popular in the 20th century. This same cake was once called Oriental cake, but there is nothing of the Far East about it, except the spices, none of which is Japanese in origin. Like Lane Cake and Lady Baltimore, Japanese fruitcake is one of the Edwardian dessert extravaganzas with its rich fruit and nut fillings hidden under mounds of fluffy white icing.”

Japanese Fruitcake

Serves 8 to 10

You WIll Need:

For the cake:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped raisins or whole currants
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 cup milk

For the Lemon-coconut filling:

• 1 cup water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• About 3 ½ cups freshly grated coconut, or sweetened, shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ½ cup cold water

To Make:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and flour four round cake pans. 

2) Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in one medium bowl. In another, combine the raisins, pecans, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Use a big spoon to stir the flour mixture well, and then to mix the raisins, nuts, and spices together.

3) In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar, then beat with a mixer at high speed to combine them well. 

4) Add the eggs one at a time, beating to make a smooth, fluffy mixture. Stir the vanilla into the milk. 

5) Add about half the flour mixture, and then half the milk, beating at low speed after each addition only to mix everything together well. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk.

6) Divide half the batter between two of the pans, and set them aside. Stir the raisins, nuts, and spices into the remaining batter. Divide this spiced batter between the two remaining pans, and set all four cake pans in the oven. 

7) Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the layers are golden brown, pulling away from the sides of the pans, and spring back when touched lightly in the center. Cool the layers on a wire rack or a folded kitchen towel for ten minutes, and then turn them out onto the wire racks or onto plates to cool completely, top side up.

8) While the cake is baking, make the filling. In a heavy medium saucepan, bring one cup of water to a boil over medium heat. Stir in the sugar, lemon juice and zest, and coconut, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle boil, and cook for seven minutes, stirring now and then. 

9) Mix the cornstarch into the cold water, stir well, and then add the mixture to the pan, mixing to dissolve it into the filling. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for three to four minutes, stirring often, until the filling is thickened and clear. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl, and cool to room temperature, stirring now and then. 

10) To complete the cake, place a plain, unspiced layer, top side down, on a cake stand or serving plate, and poke small holes all over it so that some of the filling will penetrate the cake. Spread about one-fourth of the cooled filling over the layer all the way to the edges. Place a spiced layer over the filling, poke holes all over, and spread with another quarter of the filling. Repeat with the remaining layers and filling, placing the final spiced layer top side up and pouring all the remaining filling over the layer so that a little cascades down the sides of the cake. 

11) Let stand for several hours to firm up, and cover and chill overnight. If possible, remove the cake from the refrigerator an hour or so in advance of serving time, to return to room temperature.

—Recipe courtesy of Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations, by North Carolina food writer Nancie McDermott