FruitCake

[lbyh2os]

Re: FruitCake

I don't like fruitcake but I LOVE The Fruitcake Lady

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmfeJqEgPzo&NR=1

[2K2BIRD]

Re: FruitCake

Anyone that doesn't like fruitcake has never had one of my mother's. She has converted many a fruitcake hater over the years.

She always makes a large one for family Christmas gatherings and then makes a smaller one for us to bring home afterward.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of one this year.

Her secret is to not use the citrus based (lemon, lime) fruit in it. Her's only has the candied pineapple, cherries (red and green colored), dates and lots of pecans. She tops it with pineapple rings, cherries and pecan halves. It's beautiful and tastes even better.

[5bird7]

Re: FruitCake

Interestings stats so far. From all the anti-fruitcake jokes and comments one hears at this time of year, you'd think the stats would be skewed even more than they are. No wonder fruitcake is still a tradition - there's still a lot that like it.

[Sealy]

Re: FruitCake

My Mom used to make a mean fruitcake - batches of 100 or so for my Dad's clients and select friends and relatives. Many happy memories of time spent in the kitchen (where all happy Italian memories come from). Major PIA getting them all baked and ready for distribution - but a great time with her.

[MObird]

Re: FruitCake

I love them! My mom made them and my sister still does using mom's recipe; smells great baking! There's a monastery near here in Ava, MO, that produces wonderful fruitcakes.

[2FAST4U]

Re: FruitCake

As a kid, my mom always bought a "POM" fruit cake and I loved it...now, 58 years later, I still buy the same cake and nothing else!
Claude.
Link: http://www.multimarques.com/pom/en/p...n/holiday.html

[Skip]

Re: FruitCake

Makes a dandy doorstop!!!!

My thought as well. Or to prop up wobbly furniture, etc.

[pinkilee]

Re: FruitCake

My Mom used to make a mean fruitcake - batches of 100 or so for my Dad's clients and select friends and relatives. Many happy memories of time spent in the kitchen (where all happy Italian memories come from). Major PIA getting them all baked and ready for distribution - but a great time with her.

Yup, nothing really nice about 'em.

[SixPac]

Re: FruitCake

Post could be seen as a bad post, so I deleted it. Still don't like fruit cake.

[Chuck]

Re: FruitCake

Thanks to all that posted. I’m looking for the traditional round one although some of the square / rectangle ones look really good. I was very surprised that the Neiman Marcus one seemed reasonably priced, probably weighs a ½ pound. At this point it’s a tossup for what I am looking for – The Harry & Davis one or the one that I saw on the History channel from Swiss Colony. Very surprised I didn’t get much abuse although there were a few posts edited.

[Bird03]

Re: FruitCake

Fruitcake is not popular in the US. From Wikipedia:

<<In the United States, the fruitcake has been a ridiculed dessert. Some blame the beginning of this trend with Tonight Show host Johnny Carson. He would joke that there really is only one fruitcake in the world, passed from family to family. After Carson's death, the tradition continued with "The Fruitcake Lady" (Marie Rudisill), who made appearances on the Tonight Show and offered her "fruitcake" opinions.
Since 1995, Manitou Springs, Colorado, has hosted the Great Fruitcake Toss on the first Saturday of every January. "We encourage the use of recycled fruitcakes," says Leslie Lewis of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce. The all-time Great Fruitcake Toss record is 1,420 feet, set in January 2007 by a group of eight Boeing engineers who built the "Omega 380," a mock artillery piece fueled by compressed air pumped by an exercise bike.>>

I'm not fond of traditional mass produced American fruitcakes as they lack the one ingredient that makes a fruitcake delicious-----Alcohol!!!

If you travel in the Caribbean, you can find great fruitcakes made with fruit that has been soaked for months in rum, port wine, or Madeira wine prior to baking. One version is called "Black Cake" and looks like a chocolate cake with fruit inside, but it actually gets its color from using burnt sugar stirred into the batter. I can't find any online suppliers, but you might find something at a Jamaican or West Indies bakery in Hartford.

I found this online about how to save a fruitcake for next year:

<<As I was putting stuff into the refrigerator, I realized that I had a 9/12 inch Fruit Cake from last year. I save each year at least one cake for the next year. This is a custom in the family and I am told it is also practiced in the UK. We save the cake in a tin but the cake is wrapped in several layers of fine muslin that has been soaked in rum and every month you add more rum into the cake. I drizzle lots of it all over the cake and then wrap the cake again and drizzle more over the already soaking muslin cloth. I then sprinkle confectioners sugar and wrap the muslin in Saran wrap and then place in the box, use another layer of Saran wrap and seal the box securely.>>

You could substitute your favorite liquor. I'm thinking I might try this with Southern Comfort.

[JAB02LHS]

Re: FruitCake

I'm not fond of traditional mass produced American fruitcakes as they lack the one ingredient that makes a fruitcake delicious-----Alcohol!!!

I can't find any online suppliers, but you might find something at a Jamaican or West Indies bakery in Hartford.

I You could substitute your favorite liquor. I'm thinking I might try this with Southern Comfort.

Cakes are dipped in grape brandy and aged for 3 to 6 months


How to Age a Fruitcake With Brandy

[islandtime]

Re: FruitCake

I'm sure y'all have seen this before, but it bears repeating at this time of year!

Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup water
8oz. mixed nuts
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
2 cups dried fruit
4 large eggs
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp baking powder

Method

Sample the bourbon to check quality.
Take a large bowl.
Re-sample the bourbon to ensure it is of the highest quality.
Pour one cup and drink. Repeat.
Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
Add one tsp sugar and beat again.
Make sure the bourbon is still okay. Cry another tup.
Turn on the mixerer.
Break two eggs and add to the bowl, chuck in the dried fruit.
Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it loos with a drewscriver.
Sample the bourbon to check for tonsiscency.
Next sift two cups of salt, or something. Who cares?
Check the bourbon.
Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever you can find.
Grease the oven.
Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees.
Don't forget to beat off the turnerer.
Throw the bowl out of the window, check the bourbon again and go to bed.

[Mintgrn]

Re: FruitCake

Elle, I think yours is the best recipe. I will try that one.

[Bill Brown]

Re: FruitCake

Collins Street every year. Feels like we are life time members there.