Fruitcake...it's that time of the year!

quote:

Originally posted by bcory

Any Fruitcake can be made better by drowning it in Rum and or Brandy!

Almost anything can be improved by adding rum.

quote:

Originally posted by mr chips

quote:

Originally posted by bcory

Any Fruitcake can be made better by drowning it in Rum and or Brandy!

Almost anything can be improved by adding rum.

Except my in-laws.

Mamaw Smith makes a mean fruit cake which I generally enjoy one slice a year with some coffee that is spiked.

She makes it about a week before Thanksgiving and adds a healthy covering of rum, butter and sugar.

It is potent.

Regarding Mamaw Smith, she is in therapy three times a week trying to regain motion in her crushed arm. Unfortunately it was her right arm and she has very limited use. She has yet to regain enough strength to start her car and has had to rely on her next door neighbor for all transporation. That is me. I am glad to be able to do it.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

Mamaw Smith makes a mean fruit cake which I generally enjoy one slice a year with some coffee that is spiked.

She makes it about a week before Thanksgiving and adds a healthy covering of rum, butter and sugar.

It is potent.

Regarding Mamaw Smith, she is in therapy three times a week trying to regain motion in her crushed arm. Unfortunately it was her right arm and she has very limited use. She has yet to regain enough strength to start her car and has had to rely on her next door neighbor for all transporation. That is me. I am glad to be able to do it.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Hi, Paul- Mamaw Smith's fruitcake sounds heavenly. I'm sorry to read that she was injured. It is good that you're her next door neighbor. It is a privilege to be of help to someone you care for and respect. Best wishes to you both.

Sandy

I love a good Fruitcake, however here in Kansas you can't buy one with the necessary preservatives. It all has to do with a stupid state law outlawing the use of alcohol in food. So, about six years ago I did some serious research (i.e. recipe testing) and found this recipe on Mastercook that makes a very good fruitcake.

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/2 c Butter, softened
1 pk Confectioner's sugar
Flour
6 lg Eggs
1 c Bourbon (or rum)
4 T Vanilla extract
1 lb Golden raisins
1 lb Glace cherries
1 lb Glace pineapple
1/3 lb Glace citron (or more,
-up to a pound)
1/4 lb Candied orange peel
1/4 lb Candied lemon peel
1 qt Pecan halves
14 oz Coconut, flaked

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
Chop coarsely the raisins, cherries, pineapple, citron, orange peel, lemon peel and pecan halves.

In large bowl, soften the 3 sticks of butter. Cream in a box of
confectioner's sugar, then fill box to the same level with flour. Pour
half of the flour over the fruit and nuts; mix thoroughly so all are
well-floured.

Add six eggs to butter/sugar, one at a time, while beating. Add vanilla
extract and fold in flour. Stir in fruits and nuts; fold in liquor. Pour
into 8 inch decorated cake tins and bake approximately 2 hours. Let cool. Pour one cup of your favorite bourbon, rum, or brandy over the top and seal the container. Let marinate for at least three weeks.

I'll take a Black Cake as it's known in the Caribbean, a friend from Guyana gives me one every Christmas. The fruits are put through a grinder, lots of rum, after the cake is baked, it is continues to be embalmed lovingly with lots of rum for days (maybe weeks or more.

I will be making fruitcakes on Sunday from my stepfather's mom's recipe. They consist of pecan halves, candied cherries and pineapple, with just enough batter to hold them together and a monthlong soak in Makers Mark bourbon. Those who like fruitcake really like them and those who don't won't miss not getting one.

RubyRose, that recipe sounds similar to one my Mom used to make, except she also added chopped dates to her fruitcake, and there's no liquor in it. (I've never cared for booze in my sweets anyway.) They were very moist and delicious and so pretty when sliced since they were so full of fruit. I think she stopped making them a few years ago, so maybe it's time I took over the tradition.

OK, I even like the bad ones. But the best I have had are Collin St Bakery in Texas and my sister-in-law's mom's. Oh man, it's moist and chewy, and full of nuts and dried fruit but not the fluorescent kind. I'm salivating on my laptop.

quote:

Originally posted by Diner-Lover

RubyRose, that recipe sounds similar to one my Mom used to make, except she also added chopped dates to her fruitcake, and there's no liquor in it. (I've never cared for booze in my sweets anyway.) They were very moist and delicious and so pretty when sliced since they were so full of fruit. I think she stopped making them a few years ago, so maybe it's time I took over the tradition.

I forgot to type it in but the 3rd fruit in mine is halved dates so maybe it's the same recipe. I don't add the bourbon to the batter but pour it over the hot cakes while they're still in the pans and it seeps into the spaces between the nuts and fruit.

Poverty Pete


I always liked the ones from Collin St. Bakery, even if they DO have radioactively-colored ingredients.

It just would not be Christmas Season for me with out my Collin Street Bakery fruit cake. I discovered them when I first moved to Irving TX in 1967. I don't believe I have missed one since. We traveled to my son's home in SC for the past two Christmas Holidays and he HATES fruit cakes. So I just have one shipped to his home for his Mama and I and then we bring what is left home with us. He is big on both Pecan Pie like his Daddy and Pumpkin Pie like his Mama so he makes out like a bandit. Of course his Mama home cooks the traditional Turkey with all the fixins.
 
Life is good down South 

Diner-Lover


RubyRose, that recipe sounds similar to one my Mom used to make, except she also added chopped dates to her fruitcake, and there's no liquor in it. (I've never cared for booze in my sweets anyway.) They were very moist and delicious and so pretty when sliced since they were so full of fruit. I think she stopped making them a few years ago, so maybe it's time I took over the tradition.

 
When I was a kid growing up  on a farm in Arkansas, my Mama always made a huge fruit cake then soaked it inside a wrapping towel. She would use Welch grape juice since she was a good WCTU teetotaling Baptist Lady. When I was about 16 or so, I talked her into using Mogen David wine instead of grape juice. I told her that our Jewish friends used MD and that it  was a religious thing and that since Jesus was Jewish and all, that I thought we should use it too.
 
I was  her baby boy and I could sweet talk her into just about anything. After that first time she always used MD on her cake for as long as she was able to cook and bake. That was the only thing alcoholic that she allowed in her home.
 
I would give a fortune to once again taste my Mama's fruit cake. 

alb


OK, I even like the bad ones. But the best I have had are Collin St Bakery in Texas and my sister-in-law's mom's. Oh man, it's moist and chewy, and full of nuts and dried fruit but not the fluorescent kind. I'm salivating on my laptop.

Same here. I stumbled upon Collin St. Bakery when I moved to Texas. I've always gone to the bakery to get mine - this year is the first I've had to order it.

My family would get the Collin Street Bakery fruitcake every year.

I miss it at this time of year. Unfortunately, I know that if I were to order one of those fruitcakes, I'd probably only enjoy about a sixth of it over the holiday.

I guess I ought to find a great fruitcake recipe, make several mini-loaves, and share all but one with friends and neighbors.