FRUITCAKE TOSS DAY

Did you know that January 3rd is the Fruitcake toss day? While I do not feel comfortable tossing the cake I've always wondered whether the fruitcake could be incorporated into other dishes.
This year my father-in-law ended up buying way too many cakes giving me a chance to make a fruitcake pudding with eggnog sauce.

Since fruitcakes come in all shapes, sizes, and textures you might want to adapt the quantities of the recipe depending on the cake you have.  My fruitcake was very moist; I tried drying it in the oven but instead of drying up it fell apart.  If your cake does not have a lot of fruit try toasting it before using (the same way you dry bread before making bread pudding).
I did not need to use any extra sugar or spices in my pudding, since the cake was quite sweet and spicy to begin with.  In fact I decided to add a tart green apple to compensate for the cake sweetness.  If you want your pudding to have more flavour add some nutmeg and cinnamon to the egg mix.
Finally, I made my pudding in a loaf pan.  I needed about 3 cups of crumbled cake to fill the third of the dish.  The recipe could easily be doubled or tripled for a bigger pudding.

What you need:

Pudding

3 cups crumbled fruitcake

1 green apple (peeled, cored, and cubed)

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

2 tbsp brandy or rum (could be replaced with rum essence)

Eggnog sauce

1 1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup cream

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tbsp brandy or rum (could be replaced with rum essence)

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

What to do:

Pudding

• In a medium bowl lightly whisk egg and sugar (if using any).  Add milk and butter, mix well.  Add brandy.

• In the buttered baking dish (loaf pan) mix crumbled fruitcake and apple.  Pour egg mix over.  The egg mix should cover the fruitcake completely.  Let stand for at least 30 minutes.  You can leave the custard-cake mix overnight

• Preheat oven to 350F.  Fill a deep baking sheet with water.  Place it on the oven rack and put the loaf pan in it.  Cooking the pudding this way will prevent it from burning and overcooking at the bottom.  Cook for an hour or until the pudding is firm and no custard comes out when you press on it.  You can cover the pudding with foil if the top gets too dark.

 Eggnog sauce

• In a small sauce bowl combine milk, cream, sugar, and spices.  Heat up over medium heat, stirring frequently until light simmer.

• Prepare a cornstarch slurry by mixing cornstarch with 2-3 tablespoons of cold milk.  Slowly pour the slurry into the sauce, mixing constantly.  Add the alcohol and let the mix simmer for 2-3 minutes or until it reaches desired consistency.

The fruitcake pudding could be served as a dessert.  Personally I think it makes for a great breakfast so I am adding it to my BREAKFAST CLUB collection!
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A year ago: JANUARY "TO DO" LIST
Two years ago: CREAMY PARSNIP SOUP