Who is baking a fruit cake this holiday season?

Shermie

Well-known member
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I want to try doing it, as I've never done one before!

I've always wanted to try it, but never did. :eating2:
 

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JoeV

Dough Boy
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Go for it, Sherm. Lots of folks like fruit cake, and lots don't. I like about one bite of a good run soaked fruitcake, and I'm good for another 12 months. My brother can eat a whole one all by himself. I sometimes wonder if we came from the same parents. :yum:
 

chilefarmer

New member
I love a good fruit cake. My mom made hers in January each year. Wrapped in a cloth, poured rum or brandy over it about (ever so often). Come Christmas time they were good. I to have never made one. But I do remember her saying make just enough cake to hold the fruit and nuts together. CF
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Fruitcake has booze in it????

Hmmmmm, I'd like to make one without any of that candied fruit! LOL!

Lee
 

lifesaver91958

Queen of the Jungle
Gold Site Supporter
I love fruit cake but have never made one. I usually order mine from the, Swiss Colony, once a year (At Christmas).
 

lifesaver91958

Queen of the Jungle
Gold Site Supporter
Go for it, Sherm. Lots of folks like fruit cake, and lots don't. I like about one bite of a good run soaked fruitcake, and I'm good for another 12 months. My brother can eat a whole one all by himself. I sometimes wonder if we came from the same parents. :yum:


:yum::yum::yum:
 

Ian M.

New member
Sherman - Did you bake those cakes in the photo? They're beautiful!! Many, many years ago when I was just a little kid, my Mum used to make fruit cakes according to an old recipe she had that required no baking - everything was just packed tightly into a spring form pan and stored in the cold cellar seemed like forever. Periodically drenched with a good stiff rum or brandy but otherwise - left to do it's thing all on it's own. I always meant to get that recipe from her but unfortunately never got it and nobody in the family seems to know whatever happened to it. If anyone out there has a recipe like this (a no-bake cake) could you share it here on the forum? I'd give anything to have that recipe once again and try Mum's wonderful fruit cake. There's a fruitcake that I pick up every Christmas in the supermarket - just a small brick of a cake - a single little slab of fruit cake about six inches long and maybe two inches wide. I can't recall who makes them but they sure are good and if you slice them fairly thin they're wonderful with a cup of hot tea or coffee. Makes an excellent little nibble or snack any time you feel peckish.

Ian
 

Shermie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Sherman - Did you bake those cakes in the photo? They're beautiful!! Many, many years ago when I was just a little kid, my Mum used to make fruit cakes according to an old recipe she had that required no baking - everything was just packed tightly into a spring form pan and stored in the cold cellar seemed like forever. Periodically drenched with a good stiff rum or brandy but otherwise - left to do it's thing all on it's own. I always meant to get that recipe from her but unfortunately never got it and nobody in the family seems to know whatever happened to it. If anyone out there has a recipe like this (a no-bake cake) could you share it here on the forum? I'd give anything to have that recipe once again and try Mum's wonderful fruit cake. There's a fruitcake that I pick up every Christmas in the supermarket - just a small brick of a cake - a single little slab of fruit cake about six inches long and maybe two inches wide. I can't recall who makes them but they sure are good and if you slice them fairly thin they're wonderful with a cup of hot tea or coffee. Makes an excellent little nibble or snack any time you feel peckish.

Ian


No.

I just Googled and copied a pic from there.

That would be too many for me, and I don't have that much room in the freezer. :bonk:
 

Shermie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Fruitcake has booze in it????

Hmmmmm, I'd like to make one without any of that candied fruit! LOL!

Lee



Then it wouldn't be called a fruit cake.

It DOES require a lot of candied fruit & nuts.

I'll start working on getting the stuff for it at the end of the month. :eating2:
 

LADawg

New member
I've never cooked a fruit cake, but I made something I call Holiday Lizzies. I haven't cooked these in 4 or 5 years. Might make a batch this year.

HOLIDAY LIZZIES

4 Tablespoons Butter
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Egg Well Beaten
3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Pound Chopped Dates
1/4 Pound Candied Pineapple
1/2 Pound Candied Cherries (half red, and half green)
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 Teaspoon Milk
2 Tablespoons Bourbon
1 Cup Pecan Halves (one half pound)
 
Cut the Candied Cherries in half or quarters. Cut the Candied Pineapple into small pieces.
Place all of the Fruit including the Dates in a large mixing bowl. Add half of the All Purpose Flour a little at a time to the fruit while stirring. Stir until all of the Fruit has a light coating of Flour.
In a second large mixing bowl cream together the Butter, and Sugar. Add the well beaten Egg, and the remaining half of the All Purpose Flour. Add the Baking Soda, Milk and Bourbon. Mix well. Add the Flour coated Fruit and the Pecans. Stir to mix.
Using an ice tea spoon drop a spoonful of the batter onto a greased baking sheet. Place in a preheated 300° to 325° oven, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, and place Lizzies on a wire cooling rack to cool. Place in an air tight container.
Note: These are best when eaten 2 or 3 days after baking when they become soft.
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
I'm a fruit cake lover . . .

this is my usual - booze in fruitcake? this one starts with soaking the dried/candied fruit two days in bourbon.
then I brush it down every other day for a week with bourbon. it's hi-test (g)

I can post the recipe if anyone wants it - it's long&complicated and really good - makes 10+ pounds of fruit cake batter - hence the two pans....

Final.jpg
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
so this year I went looking for a smaller recipe.

this one does one 9x5 loaf pan - it's a little un-typical for a fruitcake - the taste is a bit more of a cross between a stollen and a fruit cake - quick to prep and quite tasty. sprinkle with powdered sugar on service; whipped cream never hurt....

came up with this one from
The Good Housekeeping Cook Book
seventh edition 1944(?)
page 707 Holiday Fruit Cake

1/2 c / 115 g shortening - I used unsalted butter
1 c / 200 g gran sugar
3 beaten eggs
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1 tbsp grated orange rind
2.5 c / 390 g sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 c / 180 g chopped raisins
1 c / 100 g chopped walnuts
1/2 c / 90 g cut up candied cherries
1/2 c / 80 g candied citron
not original to recipe but added 60 g macadamia chopped nuts
1/4 c orange juice

cream butter/shortening & sugar; add eggs orange & lemon
add flour, salt, baking powder
>>dust fruit with some of the flour mix
add flour + oj
add fruit mix

wet weight 1420 g
bake 325'F / 165'C 90 minutes in greased/floured 9x5x3


DSC_2549.jpg



DSC_2550.jpg
 

Shermie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I'm a fruit cake lover . . .

this is my usual - booze in fruitcake? this one starts with soaking the dried/candied fruit two days in bourbon.
then I brush it down every other day for a week with bourbon. it's hi-test (g)

I can post the recipe if anyone wants it - it's long&complicated and really good - makes 10+ pounds of fruit cake batter - hence the two pans....

Final.jpg



Thanks, Chowderman!!

I might use your recipe. :eating2:
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
old timey fruitcake
this I've been doing on and off since the late seventies.
it is very flexible with regard to what kinds of fruits and nuts you want to use.
makes about 11 to 12 pounds of cakes in whatever shapes you choose.

the fruit
chop and macerate the dried fruit - use candied or glazed
1 cup each:
pineapple
apricot
dates
2 cups cherries
2.5 cups golden raisins
2.5 cups regular raisins
0.5 cup currants
(I prefer to make fresh) 0.5 cup each
candied lemon peel
candied orange peel

bring slowly to a simmer in a heavy pot adding in total 2-2.5 cups of liquid:
apricot nectar
booze of choice - brandy / whiskey / bourbon / rum are the usual suspects
simmer 10 minutes; allow to stand overnight not refrigerated
should not have free liquid - some heavy syrup okay - but if you push the fruit to one side no juice should “run out” of the mix - if too liquid, reduce over low heat and allow to thoroughly cool - overnight to 48 hr - before use.

the nuts - I prefer unsalted where available
3 cups rough chopped pecans
1 cup rough chopped macadamia
2 cups rough chopped cashews
1 cup roasted sunflower seeds

the batter
6 cups sifted (780 gr) AP flour
of the six cups reserve 1 cup AP flour
sift / mix into remaining 5 cups
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
0.5 tsp ground clove
0.25 tsp cardamom
2 tsp cinnamon
0.5 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt

cream one pound butter with two cups white granulated sugar
add ten whole large eggs
add 1.5 tablespoon vanilla
slowly add in flour and mix until smooth

in a really really big bowl - mine is barely adequate at 12” diameter
add nuts to batter
add reserved cup of flour and mix in well

add scoops of fruit & fold into batter -
I use the fold technique as “stirring” is hardly possible

butter two ten inch tube pans
I _always_ use wax paper on the bottom!
split the mix between the pans - I just a big spatula to scoop into pans
tap to get out any entrapped air pockets

bake at 300’F for 3 - 3.5 hrs - clean tooth pick routine although I use a wooden skewer to get to the middles.

remove from oven - allow to stand on rack in pans for 30 minutes
do not shortchange the cooling period - the cakes can easily break apart if handled when still too warm.
invert and hope they fall out nicely - if not knife down the sides to release.

the cake on the right has a simple syrup glaze with deco pecans; brought to soft ball (295’F)
it has problems. the glaze is sticky - cheese cloth & wax paper stick excessively to glaze.
I’ve hit it with powder sugar - we’ll see.
not a recommended glaze finish; hard ball might work better

the cake on the left is happier.
 

Shermie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
There are so many recipes and ways to do a fruit cake.

Overwhelming, but the possiblitis are endless!! :eating2:
 

David C

New member
I make a rich fruit cake for Christmas every year, normally in September to give it enough time to mature. Each week I then add about 20ml of brandy to the base and allow to soak in. The cake is wrapped in cooking foil and stored in a container with a tight fitting lid. We cut into the cake on Christmas day for tea @ about 4.00pm. We will often have som cheese with it as well. A mild crumbly cheese such as our Wensleydale is very good with it. I will post the recipe for the cake if anyone is interested.
 

David C

New member
Christmas Cake (makes 2x 4lb cakes)

1lb Butter
8oz Dark soft brown sugar
8oz Light soft brown sugar
1oz Glycerine
1lb Egg
1lb 2oz General purpose flour
1level tsp Mixed spice
1/4oz Salt
4oz Ground Almonds
4oz Chopped Almonds
2lb Currants
1lb Sultanas
8oz Seedless Raisins
4oz Chopped mixed peel
8oz Glace Cherries, cut washed and dried
Zest and juice of ½ lemon and ½ orange

Method

Cream the butter, sugars and glycerine
Add the egg a little at a time mixing well
Add the flour, spice, salt and ground almonds and mix in lightly
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well

Line 2 deep 7inch cake tin with a double thickness of greaseproof paper (bottom and sides) or 1x10inch tin

Fill with the cake mixture and smooth the top with a large spoon dipped in water.

Tie a thick layer of newspaper around the tin and place on a baking tray lined with a thick layer of paper.

Bake for 1 hour @ 140oC the further 31/2 hours @ 120oC or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a cake wire before removing all the paper. Wrap in foil and store top down. Feed with spirit every week as required. This improves the flavour, although it may be eaten without keeping.


Hope you all enjoy:chef:
 

Ian M.

New member
David - That sounds like a lovely fruit cake!! Enjoy a piece for me. My Mum was born and grew up in Truro in Cornwall. Know it? As I'm quite sure you do........a lovely southern part of the country. As a kid we spent a lot of time there during the summer months. As to the cake, I'm wondering where one might get some of the ingredients (ie - glycerine) here. If somebody know, could you please clue me in? Maybe I know it by another name?

Ian
 
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