ANSWER: Wonderful Holiday Traditions, Extra Sales, Higher Profits!
This holiday season capture the magic of traditional, flavorful, and decorative fruitcakes straight from your bakery’s oven. “Fruitcake,” you may ask? The answer is a resounding, YES!!
3-Step Fruitcake
Here is one recipe that is a proven winner. Substitute water for light Rum if you’d like, but most of the alcoholic content evaporates during baking and leaves the wonderful flavor in the fruits:
Ingredients
Instructions
Quantity
Water 1 lb
Westco Ultra Rich Crème Cake Mix 5 lb
Whole Eggs 1 lb (12oz)
Soft or Melted Butter 2 lb
Steps
- In one pint of light rum, soak overnight in a closed container
- Glacè Fruit (any / colorful), White Raisins, Craisins, Date Chunks, etc.
- At 300°F for 15 minutes, lightly roast 3 lbs. nuts (whole or pieces)
- Cashews, walnuts, and pecans are preferred
- Scale and mix in low speed for 5 minutes (add the liquids to the bowl first)
- Additional flavors can also be added to the batter if desired.
- By hand, fold Step # 1 into Step # 2.
- Scale into desired pans.
- Bake at 300 ºF for 45 minutes.
- Garnish with additional fruit & nuts if desired.
- Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until a probe comes out cleanly.
- Glaze with undiluted and melted Westco Apri-Glo*.
*Westco Apri-Glo will dry to a tack-free shine that can be overwrapped or packaged without melting or dissolving. It also works well with Danish Pastries, Cinnamon Rolls, and Coffee Cakes adding extra shine and extending shelf life by several days
Some Fruitcake Background
The tradition of holiday fruitcakes dates back to the colonists in and around the time of the American Revolution. Because it is so rich in healthy carbohydrates, the fruitcake was considered to be a tried-and-true “energy bar” by colonial troops giving them strength and endurance. When they returned home from the battlefield for the holidays, the soldiers brought with them a demand for the delicious fruitcake they remember. They renewed that demand year-after-year, and a tradition was born.
How Fruitcake is Made
There’s no set recipe for fruitcake, and the baker (you) are free to create customized masterpieces with ingredients you like. Three things are constant: 1) A fruitcake is PACKED with fruits and nuts; 2) BakeMark Cake Mixes (Ultra Riche Crème Cake Mix) provide time saving, quality mixes to bind the ingredients together; 3) You’ll create a delicious and beautiful tradition for your customers who will remember and demand your fruitcake year after year. Ho, Ho, Ho!
Premium Product – Premium Pricing
Fruitcake enjoys the perception of a premium baked good. Because fruits and nuts are around 70% of the product ingredients, fruitcake is heavier than almost any other bread or pastry. And the extra attention you provide to glazing and placing decorative ingredients, you can price each masterpiece as a work of art. Higher price? Added demand? Extra profits!!!
There’s No Time to Waste
For a cake with alcoholic ingredients, you should some time (maybe a month or so?) in refrigeration so the tannins in the alcohol will mellow and soften with age. We’ve provided a tried-and-true recipe here, but your BakeMark Sales Representative will be able to guide you to a baked masterpiece that will provide extra traditional holiday sales and profits and put your Salesclerks, Bakers, and Customers in the holiday spirit. Ask him or her for additional ideas about production, packaging, presentation, marketing and ways to unlock the potential of fruitcake for your shop.
Happy fruitcake-filled holidays!
