Chocolate Cherry Chunk Fruitcake

Created by the real-life Janet Kragen

Ingredients:

One 16-ounce package candied cherries (about 2 rounded cups)

Bottle of crème de cacao

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup Ghirardelli ground chocolate/cocoa

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 1/2 cups softened butter (no margarine!)

1 3/4 cups sugar

6 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

One 10 oz. package of Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet
chocolate chips

One 11 oz. package of Ghirardelli classic white chocolate chips

(Or buy the weights and chop the bars in order to have some irregularity in the chocolate pieces.)

1 to 1 1/2 cup shelled roasted pistachios (green)

Directions:

Combine cherries and ⅓ cup crème de cacao in a bowl and soak several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease and flour pans: one batch fills one large Bundt pan or 2 large bread loaf pans. Sift flour, baking powder, cocoa and cardamom on waxed paper. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in eggs.

Stir in flour mixture alternately with milk and vanilla, beating until smooth after each addition.

Stir in fruit mixture, nuts and chocolate chunks with a spoon. Bake for two hours in a Bundt pan and for 1 hour and 45 minutes in two loaf pans. Test with a knife. Make sure the fruitcake is completely baked! Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool.

Wrap cooled cake in cheesecloth. Use pastry brush to coat whole cake liberally with crème de cacao. Wrap in foil.

Store 3 to 4 weeks—or much longer—in refrigerator or unheated garage in wintertime.

Check every week or so, and re-soak cloth if it dries out. Use a pastry brush to add more crème de cacao.

Heat before serving. Serve with whipped cream. Add a little crème de cacao to the cream before whipping it—don’t add anything else!