Kitchen

[Zita]

I, and a couple of my daughters, really like fruitcake. My son has bought me one made by the Benedictine monks that was really delicious. Hope he comes through again this year!

[sktchy]

Whole Foods used to carry a killer fruitcake.  It was so good I used to have to make a special trip to bring back several for my Senior neighbors who really enjoy a good fruitcake.

[NickNack]

I love fruitcake.  My grandmother used to make fruitcake cookies every year.  They were delicious.  I just ordered a fruitcake from Collin Street Bakery.  I can't wait to get it!

[lbwshop]

My grandmother made her own dark cakes every year when I was little.  When I was a relative newlywed, my girlfriend and I made a batch from a modified Joy of Cooking book.  The batter was delicious, and the finished cakes were wonderful!!  They do need to season a few weeks before eating, and were quite expensive to make, but I'll never taste one as good as those were.  NO CITRON!!

[JeanLouiseFinch]

Years ago I used to make a version of a fruit cake.  It was really called Friendship Cake.  I received a loaf and a jar of starter from a friend.  The following year I began making them.  Using the starter, you had to add various fruits and sugar at certain times over a month and then make the bread/cake.  Then carry on the tradition of giving jars of starter with the bread.  It was a very tasty cake, but after a few years I gave it up.  I think I might even have a jar of starter still in the back of the fridge.  I can only imagine how fermented that must be by now.

Last week I tried making the Beekman 1802 Generous Fruitcake recipe from their website.  There was a little bit of a process to that one, too, but only soaking the fruit in rum overnight.  I used a gluten free flour blend and it didn't work so well - the loaves sunk down the center.  The recipe made 2 large loaves.   When I tried to turn one out, half the loaf stuck in the pan and the other plopped out on my board.  It was too expensive to pitch so DH and I have been picking at it.  The flavor is great, but next time I'll try it with regular flour.  The second loaf looked a little better and stayed in one piece.  I brought it to my sister's house when we visited.  

My specialty, though, is a Swedish version of fruitcake called Julekake.  It's a traditional thing in our family.  It's a sweet yeast bread with ground cardamom and assorted candied fruits, currants, and golden raisins.  Fresh, it's delish, but if it's around long enough to begin drying out, it makes awesome toast.   

[Dorothy11]

I love fruitcake - made with good ingredients. I have made them in years past. If you have a Trader Joes nearby, they have lots of dried fruits and nuts at good prices. Instead of bright red and green cherries, you can make it with dried apricots, montmorency cherries, cranberries, candied ginger, golden raisins.... 

Another similar and even better treat is Stollen. It's a yeast dough with candied fruits. It's easy to make and keeps well.

Happy Holidays!!!

[CinNC]

I just finished a cozy mystery called "White Colander Crime" The main character does a lot of baking and a recipe for "no bake fruitcake" was included at the end of the book

Makes one 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf

48 (3/4 lb) marshmallows

3/4 cup undiluted evaporated milk

1/3 cup apple juice

4 3/4 cups (roughly 14.5 oz) crushed vanilla wafers

2.5 cups (7.5 oz) crushed gingersnaps

2 cups broken walnuts or pecans

1 cup dried sweetened cranberries or raisons

1 cup mixed candied fruit

1 cup halved candied cherries

cut marshmallows into quarters, pour evaporated milk and apple juice over them and let stand for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

combine vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, nuts, cranberries, fruit and cherries in a bowl

add marshmallow mixture and mix well

pack firmly into a foil-lined loaf pan, cover top with foike and store covered in the refrigeratore for several days. 

you can turn loaf out on a platter and top with slivered almonds and additional candied cherries if you like. 

Recipe may appear too crumbly and you will be tempted to add more liquid.........DON'T DO IT. After a few days in the refrigerator, it will turn into a slightly sticky but moist fruitcake.

[Witchy Woman]

Thanks to all for their contributions and memories.  My mother was Italian and used to make a cookie filled with dried figs and other dried fruit with a delicate dough over all of it.  Then, she would slice through the dough to make little decorative designs.  They reminded me of fruitcake, so I think that is why, now, I enjoy it.

I may try to bake one....next year!

[Tigriss]

I baked one of Alton Brown's once thinking that by using real dried fruits of my choice and not that prepackaged fruitcake mix of neon colored candied fruit it would taste better.  It didn't plus it was expensive to buy all that dried fruit and macerate it in liquor.  I did have some icebox fruit cake at a friend's grandmother's house that I liked.  I haven't been able to get the recipe because she died when I was in college and even thought about baking fruit cake.

[Campion]

I don't bake fruitcake per se--but I bake Christmas Cake. I was thinking of baking one, in fact, but I have to go to the farm stand to buy enough currants (it takes a pound of currants plus sultanas and some peel.)  It's a British recipe and it also used to be the top most layer of wedding cakes--the one that would keep, wrapped in cheesecloth and drenched in brandy, covered in royal icing to be eaten a year after the wedding (it keeps due to all the dried fruit and liquor.)

It's also called Dundee cake and it's really delicious. People who don't like candied fruit in cake usually like it because it's mostly currants. 

• 150g / 5½ oz butter, slightly softened
• 150g/5½ oz soft, dark brown sugar
• 3 large free-range eggs
• Grated zest of 1 large orange
• 225g/ 8oz plain flour or all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp pie spice 
• 450g/1 lb dried fruit - sultanas, currants and raisins
• 55g /2oz candied peel, chopped
• 55g /2 oz glace cherries, halved (optional)
• 1 tbsp malt whisky (or Brandy if you prefer)
• 115g / 4 oz whole blanched almonds

Cream butter and sugar, add flour and eggs and dry ingredients, fold in the fruit and add the whisky or brandy.Bake at 150 in a lined tin   1 ½ hours, then arrange the blanched almonds into circles on the top and return the cake to the oven. Cook for another hour or until the cake is a deep, golden brown. I'm allergic to nuts so I leave them off.