I don't really care for fruitcakes. But Art and his sister really love them. They'll even buy a fruitcake when they're traveling if they find what looks like a good possibility, but have come out dry so far. I thought I'd try making some after seeing what looked like an easy to follow recipe on Jalna's blog.
Let me preface all this by telling you I'm neither a good baker or cook. However, I thought I might be able to follow this recipe. Thank goodness I have a stand mixer! It was very helpful. Art was glad I finally made use of it. I've tried recipes before that I've seen on blogs or newspaper articles and it's never quite been as wonderful as it looked.
It was not easy finding candied fruit but it did look pretty in the dough.
Instead of putting the dough into two large loaf pans, I opted to make smaller cakes. OK... To be honest, I don't have big loaf pans.
Anyway, they probably came out drier than the fruitcake Jalna's husband made.
Mom and Art tried one and said it was quite tasty. Mom wanted a SECOND piece! Seriously?
SUCCESS!
OK... So we've come this far.
Art wanted to try soaking it with liquor. Some websites suggested brandy. Some said rum and some said whisky.
We are really crazy. Art wanted to experiment to see which liquor would be best to soak the fruitcake with.
We've had the same bottle of scotch whisky for the last 10 years which I use for my turkey stuffing at Thanksgiving, but we had to go out and buy a bottle of rum and brandy. I didn't have cheesecloth so I cut up an old bed sheet soaked it in liquor and wrapped each small loaf with it. Then I drizzled more on each one and labeled what kind of liquor was used for that loaf.
We'll do a taste test in a week and then maybe a month to find out what it's like. If it's good enough, I'll make more to bring to my sister-in-law's place in March. If not, I'll have bottles of brandy and rum that will keep company with my bottle of 10 year old scotch.
After two weeks, we decided to try the fruitcakes.
The cut up sheets worked very well. The fruitcakes didn't stick to the cloth and were nicely moist.
We were going to try the fruitcake loaves, but my son said we really should do a blind taste test.
It was hard to come up with a verdict. They were all moist and tasty. I'm not a fruitcake fan, but I have to say these were very good.
The votes came in at:
Brandy 2
Rum 2
Scotch 1
I don't have a good sense of taste so I thought the Scotch was good because I could taste something. Everyone else felt the brandy and rum had a much smoother taste was the superior fruitcake.
This was a fun experiment. Now I can make Art a fruitcake, anytime he's got a craving for it.
Thank you, Wendell and Jalna!
Let me preface all this by telling you I'm neither a good baker or cook. However, I thought I might be able to follow this recipe. Thank goodness I have a stand mixer! It was very helpful. Art was glad I finally made use of it. I've tried recipes before that I've seen on blogs or newspaper articles and it's never quite been as wonderful as it looked.
Instead of putting the dough into two large loaf pans, I opted to make smaller cakes. OK... To be honest, I don't have big loaf pans.
Anyway, they probably came out drier than the fruitcake Jalna's husband made.
Mom and Art tried one and said it was quite tasty. Mom wanted a SECOND piece! Seriously?
SUCCESS!
OK... So we've come this far.
Art wanted to try soaking it with liquor. Some websites suggested brandy. Some said rum and some said whisky.
We've had the same bottle of scotch whisky for the last 10 years which I use for my turkey stuffing at Thanksgiving, but we had to go out and buy a bottle of rum and brandy. I didn't have cheesecloth so I cut up an old bed sheet soaked it in liquor and wrapped each small loaf with it. Then I drizzled more on each one and labeled what kind of liquor was used for that loaf.
We'll do a taste test in a week and then maybe a month to find out what it's like. If it's good enough, I'll make more to bring to my sister-in-law's place in March. If not, I'll have bottles of brandy and rum that will keep company with my bottle of 10 year old scotch.
After two weeks, we decided to try the fruitcakes.
The cut up sheets worked very well. The fruitcakes didn't stick to the cloth and were nicely moist.
We were going to try the fruitcake loaves, but my son said we really should do a blind taste test.
It was hard to come up with a verdict. They were all moist and tasty. I'm not a fruitcake fan, but I have to say these were very good.
The votes came in at:
Brandy 2
Rum 2
Scotch 1
I don't have a good sense of taste so I thought the Scotch was good because I could taste something. Everyone else felt the brandy and rum had a much smoother taste was the superior fruitcake.
This was a fun experiment. Now I can make Art a fruitcake, anytime he's got a craving for it.
Thank you, Wendell and Jalna!
Oh the lengths you will go for an interesting blog post. LOL Congratulations on making good fruit cake.
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful! I'm not a fruitcake fan either but a homemade one might be different. I'm glad it worked out so well.
ReplyDeletegood for you to make these for art and your mom! glad they worked.
ReplyDeleteWhat a success this was, I tried a Jamaican version in December and I saw flames int the oven I don't think I soaked the fruit in liquor for long enough, in fact not at all.
ReplyDeleteThey look yummy
ReplyDeleteYou need to try this on coffee. The difference is amazing.
ReplyDeletewow i never liked fruitcake and haven't had it for years. never heard about soaking it in liquor...lol!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun.
ReplyDeleteThe trick is to unwrap them several times over many months, and pour on more booze. That's the way my grandma did it. :)
Happy new year to you all. :)
Great fun!!!! Maybe Wendell will try soaking in liquor now, too!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great. I'll be right over for a taste. Fruit cakes are my favorite and I know they're hard to make.
ReplyDeleteBrandy is the best for soaking, said the woman who has made a lot of fruitcakes. I didn't make any this year. Too much work to make them and I didn't have the time. Plus, no one around here eats them except me! I can't even give them away except to those who really love fruit cake, and those are few and far between.
ReplyDeleteFruitcake gets a bad rep, but yours sounds good. My daughter and granddaughter made a lot of lilikoi (passion fruit) jam to take back to the mainland with them. The liklikoi were all from our yard.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait. That's jelly, of course!
ReplyDeleteI grew up with fruit cakes though it's different from the Western world fruitcake.
ReplyDeleteRed sweet wine is best for fruit cakes
YOURS sounds delish!
ReplyDeleteI never did like fruitcake but my good friend Wanda insisted I try hers, and brought over a small slice. A couple of days after she left, I ate a bite, then another, then the whole thing. I liked it! It was a white fruitcake and she had it soaking in brandy in the refrigerator for months.
ReplyDeleteShe brought over a bigger piece for the family, and no one wanted to eat it because it was a FRUITCAKE, yuck yuck. Then my food connoisseur daughter tried it because there was nothing else on the table, and she liked it too!
I still prefer chocolate chip cookies and glazed donuts, but now that I also like fruitcake, I feel more like a grown up. Maybe I'll try Jalna's recipe, too.
I think I would like fruit cake if it didn't have that candied fruit in it -- maybe with raisins and nuts. Raisins are fruit.
ReplyDeleteI love fruit cake and have been known to buy those nasty slices in truck stops. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteI've never had one
ReplyDeleteI think or fruitcakes as a British thing. I can say that as both Sue and i come from British stock.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are so funny. The science of fruitcake!
ReplyDeleteI usually make fruitcake for Christmas, but haven't the last two years. I miss it, but hardly anyone eats it. I always made mine right after Thanksgiving and wrapped it in rum or brandy soaked cheese cloth and then plastic wrap and a plastic bag. I got my recipe out of a little newsletter in an electric bill a long time ago. It has six cups of candied fruit and nuts, mincemeat, honey, and one cup of flour for two large loaves. Oh, now I'm hungry for some fruitcake!
I am NOT a fan of fruitcake. But I would have been willing to taste test yours. Love that picture of the three ruminating over them. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother made wonderful fruitcakes which everyone loved. She made a dark fruit cake and a white fruitcake, about six or eight weeks before Christmas. They were wrapped in waxed paper and then layers of newspaper and stored on a shelf extending over the stairs to the basement. Once a week she unwapped each loaf, sprinkled each with boubon and rewrapped each and replaced them. So delicious. However, sad to say, no one has her recipe!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE fruit cake, even those that will last a millennium that you get in the supermarket. Really liked that you made individual ones. Way to go Kay.
ReplyDeleteIn our household, only Mom liked fruitcake. The rest of us always felt that if someone gave us fruitcake as a gift, that meant that they didn't really like us!
ReplyDeleteWe used to get that fruitcake every year too. I don't know who ate it. Not me.
DeleteDid you ever see that little movie with Geraldine Paige about Truman's Copote's childhood in the South when he and his cousin (Geraldine) make fruitcake? It's a treasure. If I ever remember the name of it, I'll send it to you. My grandma Olive sent me many fruitcakes for Christmas. After about three years of regarding each new one with fear, the fourth year, I tried it. I LOVED it! But they can be very dry if not properly "moistened". I do admire your dedication. Would love to be there helping you taste-test. Kathie in WA State.
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't seen it. I'd love to though. I can see where you have to keep it "moistened." Thank you so much for your visit and wonderful comment.
DeleteI enjoyed reading about your fruitcake adventure. Many years ago I tasted the only fruitcake I've ever liked -- made in Texas. Company subsequently purchased by others, ingredients have become more expensive so to keep the cake priced at lower price, tho it's not cheap, the content has decreased. It's still good, just not as rich, can see cake, fewer pecans. A good cake for me is one made only with light batter -- not the dark cake. Also important there be no citron. Original cake was moist, solid candied fruits, pecans -- could hardly find sight of any cake. Certainly could be enhanced wrapped in any of the brews you mentioned -- I would probably prefer brandy or rum - but never felt the need to wrap it. My MIL made a really rich Sausage Cake she wrapped in brandy -- delicious.
ReplyDelete