Art and his sister love fruitcake. On the other hand, my brother and I are well... not fans. The only problem was that we were having a terrible time finding candied fruit which is what the recipe called for.
The funny thing is when Art went looking for fruitcake at a few different markets, he asked two different young workers where the candied fruit was and they had no idea what he was talking about. He explained it was for fruitcake, but they had no idea what fruitcake was. 🙄
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So I decided to soak some dried fruit in mango-orange juice + a little added sugar.
I did eventually order the candied fruit on Amazon.
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And guess what. It turned out just fine, but Art suggested I add more soaked dried fruit.
I think I'm going to have to do this more scientifically and actually measure how MUCH fruit I'm adding so I can duplicate it more accurately. AND I think I'll do it with just the soaked dried fruit next year.
By the way, it turned out that LOTS of friends and relatives LOVE fruitcake so yes, we did share quite a few of them.
I like fruit cake. either on its own or with cheese. it can even pass as dessert with custard or cream. Yours sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteLin Floyd says I too hate fruitcake-always too sweet and my mom always made it. I don't.
ReplyDeleteIt all depends on the type of fruit cake. My mom made one with candy orange slices. It was amazing.
ReplyDeleteI like fruit cake but only a few slices. Since I am the only one in my family that will eat it, any fruit cake generally gets tossed in the trash with a few slices missing.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you mention your trouble finding the fruit you needed last year? Or was it how you didn't like the cake but baked it anyway? That was a lot of baking.
ReplyDeleteLooks good. I cut back on eating fruit cake these days unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not for me.
ReplyDeleteGood for you Kay!
ReplyDeleteKay, this is impressive. Why don't you come up with a more tropical version, and sell Kay's Hawaiian Fruitcakes online over the holidays? The catchphrase could be "Approved by Art" and I'll draw a caricature of him. And all your blogging friends could showcase 'em on their blogs!
ReplyDeleteActually, I had (soaked) dried pineapple and dried papayas that we got from a health food store in these fruitcakes. As for making more fruitcake... yiiikes! I actually ended up making 32 loaves this year. And that's all until next year! You are the BEST caricaturist, Doug!
DeleteDeginitely not a fan... mainly because I don't like candied fruit. DH does however... but it is hard to find a good fruitcake even to his liking. Our dear friend who passed away several years ago made a really good one. She didn't use a lot of candied fruit, but lots of nut and soaked it in rum or bourbon. I even ate that one.
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to be 'definitely'...(ha!)
DeleteI made fruitcake this year and had enough candied fruit and nuts left over that I decided to do an experiment. I bought a cakemix and added eggs, butter, spices to the batter and then stirred in the remaining fruits and nuts. I gave away both types of cake to those of my friends who love fruitcake, and they thought the cake mix cake had a better texture. Mmmm...
ReplyDeleteI keep adding more soaked dried fruit which each batch. A friend of mine said the last batch with a LOT more fruit was the best yet. Hmmm....
DeleteI don't like candied fruits at all, but I would probably like the cake by itself. Probably like a spice cake? Good for you for going to the effort of making them when you don't care for the dessert yourself.
ReplyDeleteI found a fruitcake recipe a long time ago in a flyer in my electric bill and have made it every year since. I has 6 cups of fruit and nuts, I use candied green and red cherries, candied pineapple, golden raisins, walnuts and hazelnuts. The recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups brandied mincemeat, a cup of honey, an egg, and one cup of flour. It is aged in brandy soaked cheesecloth in a plastic bag. The emphasis here is on fruit and not cake.
ReplyDeleteNot many people I know like fruitcake, but Jill does, so I continued making it for us and her, but I'm thinking this might be the last year that I make it. Tom and I don't need it hanging around in our pantry.
Fruitcake is a hard sell in my family, still, both my Grandmothers seemed to love it and made it every year. I would try the one dkzody mentioned with the cake mix.
ReplyDeleteI have lovely memories of my dear mum and the fabulous fruit cake she used to make ...
ReplyDeleteI love fruit cake and miss it as we don't make it anymore. Very few people make it. Of course, my Mom's fruit cakes were the best.
ReplyDeleteI never liked it but Sue does although she doesn’t get it anymore. I think it was mostly a British thing, and both of us had British gr diaper tent (supposed to be grandparents, but I like the autocorrect).
ReplyDeleteLove your sense of humor.
DeleteI’m not a fan but my grandmother was, and always made it. You are so nice to have made so much to share! We had a factory (Paradise) in my town that made the dried fruits but it sold out a couple of years ago. Joyce
ReplyDeleteHeeey... I used the Paradise candied fruit! What fun!
DeleteI too am not a fan of fruitcake. The ones you baked look good though.
ReplyDeleteI like fruitcake too. My mom used to make a really good one.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother always, always made a fruitcake for Christmas time. My opinion was that they made a good doorstop.
ReplyDeleteMy mom loved fruitcake, and used to make them every year. One year she couldn't find candied fruits and used a recipe that uses dried and fresh fruits. This post reminded me of that time...
ReplyDelete