Baking With Dorie: Pierre Hermé’S Fruit And Spice Loaf Cake Recipe

• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
• 10 pieces star anise
• 1/3 cup honey
• 5 1/2 tablespoons (2 3/4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup rye flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup sliced blanched almonds, toasted
• 13 pitted, moist prunes, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 13 moist, plump dried apricots, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• Zest of 1 lemon-removed with a zester and finely chopped
• Zest of 1 orange-removed with a zester and finely chopped

1. Place the water and star anise in a saucepan over high heat, or in a microwave-safe container in the microwave oven, and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, cover and infuse for 1 hour.
2. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Very lightly spray an 8 x 4 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray and then line the pan with parchment paper; set aside until needed. Prepare an insulating layer for the cake by stacking two baking sheets, one on top of the other, or use an insulated (air-cushioned) baking sheet.
3. Stir the honey and melted butter together in a medium bowl, then strain the star anise-infused water into the bowl (discard the star anise). Stir to blend and then set the bowl aside.
4. Sift the all-purpose flour, rye flour, baking powder and spices together into a large bowl. In another bowl, stir together the nuts, dried fruits and zests. Add 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients to the nuts and fruits and toss to coat the ingredients lightly with the flour.
5. Pour the honey mixture into the bowl with the flour and spices and stir gently with a wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Treat this batter as you would a quick bread or muffin mixture-stir it only until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the nuts and fruits and lightly stir them into the batter-thoroughness isn't important here. (The batter will be very thick, more like a quick bread dough than a cake batter.)
6. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deeply into the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and unmold it, then invert it to cool to room temperature right side up. When the cake is absolutely cool-this can take a couple of hours-wrap it in a double thickness of plastic wrap and allow it to "ripen" for a day before slicing and serving in very thin slices. (Of course, you can eat it now, if you want to.)
7. Wrapped airtight, the cake will keep for about 4 days at room temperature or for up to 2 months in the freezer.

water, anise, honey, unsalted butter, flour, rye flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, freshly ground black pepper, ground coriander, ground cardamom, nutmeg, walnuts, blanched almonds, prunes, lemon, orangeuremoved with a zester

Taken from www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/12/baking-with-dorie-pierre-hermes-fruit-and-spice-loaf-cake-recipe.html (may not work)