Irish Whiskey Fruitcake Packed in a Holiday Tin

Recipe from Jeanne Benedict's Sophisticated Entertaining. My mother receives an Irish Whiskey cake every Christmas from some saucy relative. The cake is wrapped in a whiskey-laced cloth and packed in a holiday tin making it a great baked good to send through the mail.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup unsalted butter
• 1 Cup brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 Cup Jameson's Irish Whiskey
• 1/4 Cup orange juice
• 1 Teaspoon orange zest
• 1 Teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons finely minced crystallized ginger
• 1/4 Cup finely minced dried apricots
• 1/4 Cup finely minced pitted dates
• 1/2 Cup black dried currants
• 1/2 Cup golden raisins
• 1 Cup chopped pecans, plus 6 whole pecans for top

Directions

• Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Grease a 12-cup tube pan or Bundt cake pan with vegetable shortening.
• Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add whiskey, orange juice, and zest and beat well. Sift together dry ingredients and toss with dried fruit and nuts until coated. Stir floured fruit into mixture and mix until completely blended. Pour into prepared pan and arrange 6 remaining whole pecans on top for garnish. Bake for 1 hour or until knife inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes and invert cake on to wire rack.
• Cut an 18-inch square of clean food-grade cheesecloth or muslin. Place cake in center of cloth and sprinkle cake with 2 to 4 tablespoons whiskey. Wrap cloth around cake and then wrap cake in aluminum foil. Place cake in a large holiday-themed tin with a lid. Place lid on tin and pack in a box with padding around the tin to send through the mail or a delivery service. I recommend a shipping speed to where the baked good arrives on the 3rd day at the latest.

  Makes about 12 servings