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There is no hard and fast rule about what fruits can be used in a fruitcake. Generally any candied fruit or nut can be baked into a fruitcake, although some taste better baked into a cake than others. The earliest known type of fruitcake was made by the Romans and contained pomegranate seeds, raisins, and pine nuts mixed into a loose barley cake.
When the Crusaders came home from the Middle East they brought exotic fruits like dried and candied cherries, figs, plugs, dates, lemon, oranges, and plums. They also brought spices like clove, cinnamon, and allspice. Traditionally a fruitcake will contain at least a few of those dried fruits and spices, nuts, and spirits of some kind. Raisins, prunes and other fruits can also be baked into fruitcake if you prefer those types of fruits.
To make a traditional fruitcake you should pick your favorite candied fruits and a variety of nuts and bake them into a cake mixed with wine, brandy or rum. A wine glaze or a heavy fruit glaze on top fo the finished fruitcake is delicious and will help preserve the cake. Placing more nuts and sugared fruits on the top of the cake will make the cake look prettier and will provide a nice balance between sweetness and crunch. In some European countries it's traditional to cover an alcohol soaked fruitcake with almond paste, heavy vanilla frosting, and then an apricot or sweet fruit glaze on top of the frosting.
A great fruitcake doesn't have to be overloaded with different kinds of fruits and spices. A simple cake that is well made combined with carefully selected fruits and a delicate spice blend can be a wonderful dessert, especially for a wedding or a bridal shower. Start with high quality ingredients and even the most simple cake can have a very rich, layered flavor that guests will love. When you're choosing a fruitcake as a gift for someone make sure to choose the fruits and nuts that are in the cake carefully in case the person that will be receiving the fruitcake has allergies. Because of the wide range of fruits and nuts in most fruitcakes people with allergies may need to have the ingredients of the cake listed on the cake. When you wrap the cake it's a good idea to place a label or sticker on the fruitcake listing the ingredients, just in case.
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