Fruit Cake: Way or No Way?
Honestly, I haven't tasted one I really liked. They've been dry and I don't like the fruit at all, except for the raisins. I used to make one with gum drops, but that was dry, too. Rum or bourbon or whatever soaked has never made any or enough improvement to my taste buds. I picked a bunch up somewhere - Grand Cayman maybe? that everyone raved about. Didn't sway me.
If you love it and have a great recipe - please share!
Me: No Way
(unless you convince me otherwise)
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33 Comments:
i like fruitcake, but i do not have a recipe to share for it. i've only eaten others. from what i understand, it's a pretty lengthy process.
gastronomeg at 11:39AM on 12/12/08
Fruitcake .....No Way!!
Markbb at 11:45AM on 12/12/08
Love it! I've never made it so I don't have a recipe - sorry. It doesn't matter what kind of fruits they put in there, even radioactive glowy types, I love it, as long as they're moist. I don't recall where my husband buys them, but we always eat at least 6-7 blocks of moist yumminess each year. I'll pass the company along, when he gets them...
Cassaendra at 11:50AM on 12/12/08
I would kill for one of those Caymen Island rum cakes! I would never put them in the fruit cake category. No fruit, just all that liquory goodness. I hate those "mystery" fruits found in fruitcakes - hard pineapple thingies, citron(?), ugh. I'd give making one a shot if I had a decent recipe without the gunk fillers.
Josdean at 11:56AM on 12/12/08
Totally way. I love fruitcake. ((Shrugs)) Don't know why. Maybe it's because I was always exposed to great fruitcake and not the mythic aging doorstop that purportedly circulates.
I love light or dark fruitcake - Either is fine. I've had light fruitcake that featured macadamias that was outstanding.
Here's a recipe by Alton Brown. (Sorry, I have to send you to the dreaded TVFN website.) It does say that the fruitcake can be made 2 weeks in advance and "basted" with liquor but I'm sure it would be great even if it did not include the alcohol baste and was eaten fresh.
therealchiffonade at 12:00PM on 12/12/08
My father is a fruitcake eater. I buy the Claxton brand in Georgia for him. They sell it many places during the holidays but you got to see the bakery if you ever go that way. Claxton is the fruitcake capital of the world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claxton,_Georgia
It is right of Rt 301.
This is perhaps the most recognized name in fruitcake. My father likes it and since I hate candied cherries especially the green ones, I buy it.
JerzeeTomato at 12:06PM on 12/12/08
NO WAY!!
izatryt at 12:18PM on 12/12/08
I can't say no way, for certain, but like @PerkyMac, i have just never really had one that I have liked. Now, part of that is probably due to the fact that I find fruit bits in bread to be a little unsavory (unlike banana bread, which has everything blended together), but like you, they have just been all so dry. No matter what. Oh well. There are still plenty of other holiday treats to tempt me!
Traveller at 12:21PM on 12/12/08
Nope. And I may never forget the horror of waking up one morning and finding SIX fruitcakes in my kitchen.
dbcurrie at 12:25PM on 12/12/08
I just remembered that I bought ~10 of the Gethsemani Farms fruitcakes for miscellaneous coworkers ~5 years ago. The Trappist monks there make an awesome Kentucky bourbon fruit cake. I haven't had them since because I forgot all about it until this thread...they don't sell your soul and send you junk mail once you've bought stuff from them. :P
Cassaendra at 12:35PM on 12/12/08
No way, by definition - no cooked, dried or candied fruit for me, whether on their own or in anything.
Strangely, I've just learnt to like blueberry muffins this year, but the blueberries don't really get "cooked" there and still have that fresh taste, so maybe that's why.
brooke29 at 12:39PM on 12/12/08
@brooke - how do you feel about applesauce?
I'd always thought I would like a freshly-homemade fruitcake. I'm not fond of packaged ones, but that's because I don't like walnuts. But if it was MY fruitcake, I could substitute...I like the macadamia nut idea...sounds deliciously evil. =)
akk328 at 12:49PM on 12/12/08
Way!!!! Try this one: http://www.monasteryfruitcake.org/
And try their "Fraters" which are slices of their fruitcake dipped in chocolate. I send some to my Dad every year. They are great if you are a "Way" person.
robincat at 2:05PM on 12/12/08
Half and half, me. The glow-in-the-dark fruit stuff is the nightmare of my life, although Mr. Meatloaf and his dear, now dead, gastronome mom, are/were big fans of ANY fruitcake. I have two recipes for good fruitcake that involve things like apricots and currants, that sort of thing, one light cake and one dark. But about 15 minutes ago I put into the oven two Caribbean black cakes, the heavily alcohol-laced fruitcakes that the late Laurie Colwin wrote about so winningly. Her recipe didn't work for me about 10 years ago, but I found another one and this year decided to try it again. And I have to say, it was a great beater-licking experience, even before it was baked. Rum, port, a little Madeira, cherries, pineapple, raisins, a few leftover cranberries, all along with raisins and currants. Results TF, as we say.
lemons at 2:34PM on 12/12/08
nope I can't stand the S@#t. My mother made every year and she doused the thing in so much liquer that it asted forever. If an the world came to an end , wiped every living thing off this planet but 3 things, my mother's fruit cake, cockroach's and Keith Richards.
pjracz10 at 2:38PM on 12/12/08
@akk328 - funny you should ask. I actually make my own applesauce (have about 15 quart jars in my cupboard). I use it for the most part in baking and pancakes (OH is lactose intolerant, so I have to be creative and make pancakes with applesauce or blended fruit as a base instead of yoghurt or buttermilk), and this way, I don't mind it at all as I can't really taste it. My issues with cooked/dried/candied fruit are mostly texture-related, so I suppose I could eat a teaspoon of applesauce on its own. I never do though.
brooke29 at 2:40PM on 12/12/08
WAY!
I heart fruitcake. Like others said, all kinds..light and dark. I prefer really boozy dark ones overall, but so long as they are chock full of fruit and nuts I am thrilled. I am the one that gets those unwanted fruitcakes foisted off on me, so I get to enjoy them for months. Yum.
When I make my own, it is hard to resist just eating up all the fruits, whether I am using good dried fruits soaked in rum or the sticky day-glo candied ones. The cherries are the best! My sis and I used to fight over who got the slices with big hunks of the red and green cherries!
I love the really dark molasses wine and rum cakes best, with really good fruits. When I am making them, I try to age mine about a year. I bake them in January and cure them til the next X-mas. Did not get around to it last year nor will I this one though.
Darn.
sadiepix at 2:44PM on 12/12/08
I'll second the vote for Gethsemani Farms fruitcakes.....they really are on a whole different level than most other fruitcakes. We ordered ours early in November and requested it be sent in time for Thanksgiving. It showed up a few days early (and with free shipping) and we've been enjoying it ever since! It really is the best I have ever had and their customer service is wonderful.
elderberry44 at 3:04PM on 12/12/08
Depends. I think Jamaican black cake and other similar Caribbean fruit/liquor cakes are great. I also really love this recipe, though it's not a traditional fruit cake by any means.
emmab at 3:23PM on 12/12/08
Go away. long long way away.
beth1 at 3:42PM on 12/12/08
Fruitcakes make good doorstops!
dhorst at 4:03PM on 12/12/08
no way
dearrie at 5:34PM on 12/12/08
Can't say i've ever enjoyed it, however my dad is a huge fan. His favorite is the one from Swiss Colony.(traditional) Yes, over the trappist monks and Gethesemani Farms fruitcakes he just adores and looks forward to this one each and every year.
donnie at 5:54PM on 12/12/08
I love it! Always have! It's particularly yummy sliced, toasted, and buttered for breakfast.
I have two recipes I use. If I want traditional-style fruitcake (albeit with dried fruits instead of the candied ones), I use Alton Brown's recipe. Some years, I go with my Great-Aunt Ivynella's German Stollen recipe. Not technically what most people think of as a fruitcake, but it's REALLY good.
trillian42 at 5:57PM on 12/12/08
store bought fruitcakes NO WAY my homemade fruit cake way. I took my great grandmas recipe and turned it upside down and inside out till I had a dark moist spicy cake with rasins and pineapple and cherries, mind you the fruit is fresh not canned or dried neon "citron" I have used candided orange and lemon peel that i made myself. So while it's not the fruitcake that will last forever, it doesnt need to because it is eaten as soon as its made. Last year I added mashed banannas to the mix and it made the cake more blended and less spicy, will make both this year. Oh and lots and lots of walnuts and pecans.
huneybumper at 6:41PM on 12/12/08
I have never tried fruitcake. I don't know that I've ever seen one in person.
nightowl at 7:23PM on 12/12/08
@nightowl ~ that's because there's really only one that circles the world. You haven't heard that? ;0
I have to quibble with Stollen being compared to fruitcake. Ours is a bread, not a cake in any sense of the word. I imagine there are a million recipes for it, so maybe yours is different trillian42. Curious if any others think of Stollen as a fruitcake.
PerkyMac at 7:39PM on 12/12/08
@perky--I generally think of Stollen being closer to Pannetone than to a fruitcake.
beth1 at 12:29AM on 12/13/08
I love fruitcake. Not the ponderous dark weighty, marzipan, royal icing, cement blocks of my youth, which you needed a hatchet to cut. I have a basic recipe which includes the fruits that I love...apricots, cherries, golden raisins, pineapple, and tons of pecans, soaked in Grand Marnier.
lamora at 2:11AM on 12/13/08
Truly homemade fruit cake - without the weird fluorescent candied fruit - are a delight in my world. The nasty store-bought things, or their Sandra Lee "semi-homemade" counterparts are revolting.
jenilowrance at 2:31AM on 12/13/08
I have a recipe for a "newer version" its mostly all mixed nuts and the fruit isnt that funny green and yellow stuff, dried cherries instead. Let me know if anyone wants it.
joanpieroni2 at 7:28AM on 12/13/08
As a kid, I loved the candied cherries and green cherries--looked like candy in a cake to me, and I always used to demand the most cherry-stocked piece.
I haven't had it since I was 13, though.
HeartofGlass at 9:41AM on 12/13/08
Made my fruitcake for christmas and it was fantastic. I have a recipe here that been in my family for years. I have made my own adjustments so that it comes out lighter and not so sweet. Here goes:
***measure all the igredients as suggested and use everything at room temperature****
Ingredients:
- 1 lb fruits
(I like raisins, sultanas, prunes and sometimes dried cheeries and dried, chopped dates) ***The important and best thing is to have the fruits soaking in an airtight glass jar for a while (mine is usually a year because I fill up the jar with fruits and wine everyttime I make cake.) If that is not possible, a simple method is explained below.)
- 1lb margarine (do not use butter)
- 1lb white sugar (I use 1+3/4 cups because the fruits and wine are already sweet)
- 1lb eggs (yes, a pound because depending on the size of the egg it could be anywhere from 8 - 10 eggs. This year I used 10.)
- 3 tsp of all suggested spices and flavorings: cinnamon, ground nutmeg, (2tsp mace), vanilla and almond essences, lime rind, (2tsp ground cloves).
- 1 lb flour (which might not all be used depending on temperature of the environment)
- 1tsp baking powder
- 2bottles of grape wine (I use the blackberry wine from Manischewitz. Home we used Ruby Rich wine but that is not available in US.)
- 1 bottle cream sherry
Utensils:
- Mixer
- Big round bowl
- big wooden spoon
- grater for lime rind, and nutmeg (fresh is best)
- small bowl for cracked eggs
Method:
First:
Prepare fruits if fruits are not already soaking. Place all fruit in a pot and cover with wine. Put on medium heat but shut off heat at soon as the wine begins to boil. Leave to soak for about 2 hours or until the fruit is soft and the mixture is cool (I suggest putting it too cool outside during winter).
Once the fruits are cool put the butter and sugar in your mixer and whip until it reaches the consistency of whipped cream.
Crack all your eggs into small bowl and lightly beat with the lime rind. On the lowest speed, add the egg mix little by little. Please bear in mind that by the time all the eggs are in the butter mixture, it
In your large
Fruitcakelover at 11:15AM on 12/30/08