Torta Di Panettone Christmas Cake Food

HOLIDAY PANETTONE

Steps:

• Empty the Holiday Panettone mix (recipe follows) into a bowl. Heat 1 cup whole milk, 1 stick butter, 1/4 cup honey and 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest to 120 degrees in a saucepan; stir into the mix. Mix in 2 lightly beaten eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Butter two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans or two empty 10-ounce coffee cans and line with parchment paper. Add the dough; cover and let rise 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool before slicing.

CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla, lime juice, and lime zest. Add the eggs 1 at a time, and incorporate well. Combine bread crumbs, flour, all the spices, baking powder, and salt. Combine rum and port. Add flour mixture alternately with rum/port mixture into the batter. Fold in the chopped marinated fruit.
• Prepare 1 (9-inch) cake pan or 2 spring form pans by lining bottom and sides with parchment paper. Fill the pan 3/4 of the way and bake until a skewer comes out of the center of the cake clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
• Put raisins, prunes, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla beans in a glass jar and cover with mixture of equal parts Jamaican white rum, Jamaican spiced rum, and Port. Cover with a tight fitting lid, label, and date the jar. Put in a cool, dry cupboard. From time to time, check the fruits to see if more liquor is needed, as the fruits will plump and soak up the liquid.
• Keep the fruit covered in liquor. It is best to allow the fruit to marinate for at least 1 month for best flavor.