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Coffeecake with fruit

(recipe, Amy Halloran)

Introduction

I based this on Bert Greene's Pumpkin Fruitcake, but couldn't bear to call it a fruitcake on Christmas. Instead, I advertised it as a coffeecake with fruit, and unbundled from their prejudices, people loved it.

Ingredients

  1. 1 cup black beauty or regular raisins
  2. ¼ cup good rum
  3. 1 cup chopped & pitted dates
  4. ½ cup chopped dried bing cherries
  5. ½ cup chopped candied ginger
  6. 3½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
  7. 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  8. 2 cups sugar
  9. 4 eggs
  10. 1 cup butternut or acorn squash, cooked and pureed
  11. 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  12. 1 tsp. ground ginger
  13. 1 tsp. baking powder
  14. ½ tsp. salt
  15. 1 tsp. baking soda
  16. 1¼ cups yogurt
  17. 1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Steps

  1. 1) Place the raisins and cherries in a jar with the rum. Cover and let stand overnight.
  2. 2) Butter and flour 2 tube pans. Preheat oven to 325 Farenheit.
  3. 3) Beat butter in a stand mixer until even and smooth. Gradually add 2 cups of sugar, and mix on medium for ages, or seven to ten minutes, whichever comes first.
  4. 4) Add eggs one at at time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
  5. 5) Add squash, cinnamon and ginger.
  6. 6) Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Combine yogurt and baking soda. Stir these mixtures into butter-egg-squash mixture alternately with a spoon, beginning with the flour mixture.
  7. 7) Stir in the raisins, rum and cherries. Stir in dates and walnuts. Pour half of batter into each pan, and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, from 1 and a quarter to 1 and a half hours. Cool on racks for 5-10 minutes and unmold onto serving plates.