Fruit cake - let's hear it:

[hedgehog]

[2theleft]

1. Blech n/t

[hedgehog]

3. You haven't tasted mine - I make it with dried fruit soaked in whiskey,

add whiskey to the batter, then soak it in whiskey. Who knows, maybe it's awful, but with all that whiskey, who can remember!

[2theleft]

4. My mom is "famous" for her fruit cakes...

Bourbon, some other liquor, then cheesecloths soaked in blackberry wine that she wraps them in. Then she puts them in the sealed tins for a week or so before she gives them out. Sounds a lot like yours!!

I think it's a texture thing...those jellied fruits kind of ick me out. But I have serious texture issues when it comes to food...

I'm sure yours are divine. I just can't eat them!!! I wish I liked them. They smell amazing.

[Phentex]

12. Sounds like the ones my mom makes...

she claims people love them. I am not so sure.

I have never liked fruitcake of any kind!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I've always enjoyed it, my dear hedgehog...

Esp. when it's been well aged with some brandy!

Haven't had any in a long time, though.

[csziggy]

5. Dave Barry's fruitcake story

The rest of this column is fun, too, but the subject here is fruitcake.

Every year, some people we knew thoughtfully sent us a fruitcake that was approximately the same density as the Hoover Dam. And every year, my mom -- who was, take my word for it, the funniest person who ever lived -- would declare, in her brightest June Cleaver voice: ``Look, Davey!''

(She called me Davey.) ``The fruitcake has arrived!''

And I'd say: ''Hurrah! I hope we don't accidentally leave it in the kitchen doorway, like last year!'' Then I'd open the kitchen door and place the fruitcake on the sill.

''UH-oh!'' my mom would say. ''It's getting drafty! I had best close the kitchen door!'' And she'd give the door a mighty slam. Usually the first slam would barely dent the fruitcake, so my mom would give it a few more, the two of us cackling like maniacs. This is still one of my fondest Christmas memories.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/12/14/794625/away-in-a-mangy-strip-club.html#storylink=cpy

[winter is coming]

6. Some are good. Some are hideous.

Some aren't meant to be eaten a day or two after baking, and really taste better 2-4 weeks later, whether or not you booze 'em up.

[Warpy]

7. It's good for making sure the wheels don't roll

when you have to change a tire on a hill.

[Lugnut]

8. Three decades ago I ordered a fruitcake from some place in Texas.

I never kept the information about them including the name of the company that made them. The darned fruitcake was delicious! It didn't have that sticky gooey fruit in it. The fruit had a fresher taste and was edible. I've never eaten a better fruitcake.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

9. The late Robert Farrar Capon wrote an excellent piece for the New York Times

Entitled "Fruitcakes: Solid Evidence Of Christmas" in which he bemoans the modern commercial fruitcake:

It is with fruitcakes that the tendency has gotten completely out of hand. Putatively, they originated from some cook's playful desire either to bake a plum pudding or to elaborate a plain raisin cake. Shortly after that the mischief began. Not content with such reasonable additions as candied orange, lemon and citron peel, misguided souls began tossing in apricots, cherries (both the repulsive red and the alarming green varieties) and, finally, pineapple (available in an entire palette of unnatural hues).

Nor was that the end. The thought of adding nuts - substances that are almost as subject to abuse as fruits - was more of a temptation than humankind could bear. So in they went, walnuts first, to establish the beachhead, and then the whole unrestrainable horde: pecans, almonds, brazils, macadamias, cashews, even pignolis.

Needless to say, this omnium gatherum approach created a problem. Since the public would be unwilling to purchase fruitcakes of a size large enough to contain all of these ingredients - and since making them smaller would raise the probability that a given fruit or nut might not find its way into a given cake - the purveyors of fruitcakes found themselves forced to choose between the two basic components of their product. The cake, of course, lost, giving rise to the now omnipresent and unavoidable holiday gift: the fruit brick.

In recent studies by the physics departments of major universities, the atomic weight of this remarkable confection has been calculated to be just below that of uranium.

He end with a good recipe for a home-made fruitcake:

1 pound butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup Cognac
1 box (15 1/2 ounces, 2 1/2 cups) seedless raisins
1 box (10 ounces, 2 cups) dried currants
1/2 cup candied orange peel
1/2 cup candied lemon peel
1/2 cup candied citron peel.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and fold into mixture. Add vanilla, Cognac and all fruits and mix well.

3. Pour into well-buttered tube pan or into small loaf pans and bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until inserted cake tester comes out clean.

4. Allow to cool somewhat and remove from pan. Glaze while still warm with confectioners' sugar-and- water icing to which a little grated lemon rind has been added.

Yield: 1 large fruitcake or 6 small loaf cakes.

[azurnoir]

10. best fruit cake recipe I've ever had

2½ cups dried apricots (not with added sugar), cut into 1cm pieces
2 cups dried peaches, cut into 1cm pieces
¾ cup sultanas
¼ cup chopped glace pineapple
2 tablespoons finely chopped uncrystallised ginger
½ cup Grand Marnier

180g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1½ cups flour
1/3 cup SR flour
¾ cup CADBURY White Chocolate Baking Chips
Finely grated rind and juice 1 orange
Finely grated rind 1 lemon

21/2 cups nuts ( e.g. almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, macadamia), for decorating
1-2 tablespoons honey, for brushing


make it

COMBINE the fruit and Grand Marnier, cover and stand overnight but up to 1 month.
CREAM together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, beating well between each addition. Add the sifted flours and stir until combined. Stir through the fruit mixture, chocolate, rinds and juice. Spoon the mixture into a greased and lined 23cm square cake pan. (Ensure paper extends 5cm above the top of the pan.) Stud the top of the cake with almonds.
BAKE in a moderately slow oven 160°C for 1½ - 1¾ hours or until cooked when tested. Brush nuts with honey. Cool in pan on a wire rack before turning out. Store in baking papers, well wrapped in an airtight container until required.

TIP: Line the pan with 2 layers of paper, and make sure the paper stands 5cm above the top of the pan. Place a piece of foil on top of the paper during baking if the nuts are browning too quickly.

http://www.cadburykitchen.com.au/recipes/view/blonde-chocolate-chip-fruit-cake/2/

really yummy and an excuse to purchase a small bottle of Grand Marnier, how can you go wrong

[hedgehog]

11. I buy alcohol once a year - all for Christmas baking!

Although now that my son has moved in and taken over some of the cooking, I've been buying some Bully Hill red and white wines for him to use.

[azurnoir]

14. good idea

the closest I've come to the all year thing us a couple of ventures into box wines that have given me a lifetime supply of cooking wine

[Phentex]

13. No. There are just so many things I'd rather eat...

like chocolate for instance.

[Callalily]

15. YUK! 'nuf said! ;-)

[Paladin]

16. Kind of like mincemeat pie, in my opinion.

One slice a year during the holidays pretty much does it for me.....