While I of course thanks the neighbor profusely for this almost $30 with shipping, not quite 2 lb, monument to bland, and I would never want to her to think we didn't enjoy it, probably most of it will go to my chickens.

I find it rather curious that commercial fruitcakes are always SO bad. At least, every one I've ever tried has been. Generally flavorless, often with an overly dry, almost sawdusty texture. Perhaps out there somewhere, a commercial bakery is making wonderful fruitcakes, but if so, I haven't come across one. No wonder fruitcake has such a terrible reputation in this country.

So, who makes their own fruitcake? I do, and quite often I even make the candied fruits myself. Many times, I've used various citrus peels, carefully cleaned, scraped of pith, boiled first to remove the bitterness, rinsed, and then candied in sugar syrup, plus various other dried and candied fruits -- raisins, figs, dates, cherries, pineapple, apricots, prunes, papaya, mango, even cranberries and dried sliced kiwi. And, usually as many kinds of nuts as I can get my hands on, pretty much anything except for peanuts (too common) or chestnuts (wrong type of nut, starchy, not oily, really more like a potato functionally).

I've made various kind of batters over the years, both dark and light, and various flavorings. The "classic" light but still noticeable nutmeg/clove/cinnamon/ginger/allspice blend is my favorite, but other mixes work as well. I did a white "tropical" fruitcake once that included papaya, mango, pineapple, cherries, coconut, macadamias, Brazil nuts, and ginger/cardamom as the predominant spices that was very nice.

If you make a great fruitcake, or even know of one commercially made, please share.

It is packed with fruit but limited to 4 pounds of candied apricots, 1 pound of candied pineapple and 2 pounds of toasted pecans.

Carol

Sometimes called golden syrup.

Used to be the only syrup in the Isles or colonies.

Commercial Ginger Bread Houses are worse. I have had some sit there for 5 years or more and even the bugs will not eat them. They look like new after sitting out in the open for years. well in the house of course. And you need a hammer and hatchet to chop them up to try to eat them after saying prayers that your teeth do not break!

Memories of the Good Ole Days

I can make a delicious home made fruit cake, but it's almost impossible to get anyone to taste it, because fruit cake is so universally loathed.

If you really want to make one, you start a couple of months before you'll want the cake.

Make a good recipe of all butter pound cake. Mix lots of dried fruit and nuts into the batter.

Bake into loaves, cool, and then soak cheese cloth in either rum or brandy, and don't use the cheap stuff or you'll ruin your cakes.

Wrap the cakes in the soaked cheese cloth, then plastic wrap, and then aluminum foil. Refrigerate and let them cure.

I unwrap and re-soak the cheese cloth about once a month. I've cured cakes for as long as 6 month. The longer they cure, the better they get.

I hate citron, so don't use it. I use dried apricots, a few candied pineapples and candied red cherries for color. I like pecans, but any nut or combnation is good.

You can make an "Hawaiian" cake with dried pineapple, macadamia nuts, and large flake coconut, soaked in rum.

It's beyond me, with the endless jokes about how awful fruit cake is and how everybody hates it, why anyone would give fruit cake as a gift, but apparently, it is a huge seller.

All that fruit cake going into the garbage every year is such a waste.

I have had excellent commercial fruitcake (though very seldom). There's a monastery here which makes a very good one. I still prefer mine, but that's just a personal preference, as the monks' is a dark liquor-soaked cake and I prefer what is essentially a fruited poundcake without alcohol.

I've never had anyone refuse to try my fruitcake (barring very young children who are inclined to reject any new food). But people trust if I offer something it will be good.

Carol

I will come back online later (perhaps tomorrow) and post the recipe. If you don't have cane syrup that's fine. The original recipe called for corn syrup and you can actually do without it entirely, as its addition to the batter was originally an accident! (But a fortuitous one.)

Carol

Betty King's Fruit Cake

This recipe came from an old friend (Betty King) of my husband's mother who got it from Mrs. Durant, so now it's at least three generations old.

I get the candied fruit at Sheridan Fruit Company in Portland in the fall. They carry it in bulk in barrels and it's much better than the pre-packaged kind.

The most important thing with this cake is not to overbake it.

This recipe yields 5 8 1/2x5 loaves or 12 3 1/2x5 or a mixed group of 8 3 1/2x5 loaves, 9 petite loaves and 1 8 1/2x5 (18 loaves of varying sizes). Total yield is 11 1/2 pounds of fruitcake. Recipe can be halved.

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 pound butter
2 cups sugar
10 eggs
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pound candied fruit -- (pineapple green)
1 pound candied cherries -- (red)
1 pound candied cherries -- (green)
a little candied fruit -- (pineapple yellow)
4 cups pecans (toasted)
4 cups walnuts (toasted)
1 box dates (8 oz. but I use 1 lb. Medjool dates, also from Sheridan Fruit)
1 box golden raisins
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup light corn syrup

Original recipe just says combine all ingredients and bake. Grease loaf pans and line bottoms with brown paper (I use parchment paper; brown paper bags are recycled
now and contain chemicals). Spray with Pam or grease paper.

To make cake I prep all fruits. Toast nuts in the oven at 325 degrees 6-7 minutes. Don't overdo it. Cream butter and sugar then add eggs a little at a time. This is too much for any but a heavy-duty mixer.

Add vanilla to the batter. Corn syrup can be added to the batter (which I do) or reserved and used for a glaze. To glaze heat syrup to boiling and brush over the baked cakes. Let sit overnight. (Originally the corn syrup was the glaze but Betty accidentally added it to the batter one year and liked the results so well she continued to do that. I use Lyle's Golden Syrup now but have used corn syrup in the past and it's just fine.

Then I add all but 1 cup of the flour to the batter. I reserve the last cup and toss the fruits and nuts in it. Then I stir these in by hand in a giant bowl (or dishpan).

Fill pans about 2/3 full. I smack pans down after filling to remove air and settle the batter.

I bake at 250 degrees (oven not pre-heated) anywhere from 60 minutes for petite pans to as much as 2 hours and 30-35 minutes for a large pan. I rotate pans partway through.

This cake suffers if baked too long. Under-baked is better than over-baked. I remove when a few crumbs stick to a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean it's overdone.

All you can do is monitor and make notes of times for your oven and your pans. It's not necessary, but I keep this cake in the fridge. The texture is better. It also freezes well.

Now I halve the batter. Half gets the mixed fruit original version and half gets the apricot-pineapple-pecan combination (2 pounds candied apricots, 8 ounces candied pineapple, 1 pound toasted pecans).

Carol

1. What do you mean by "prep the fruit" (I thought candied fruit came in small pieces)?

2. Do you ever bake this in a larger (like a Bundt) pan, or is it best in small pans? Looking for fancier presentation. I even have a Bundt "cupcake" type pan but those would be more like individual servings.

Not that I'll have time to make this in the next couple of days. I'll dig out Ray's recipe and post it after the holidays, no one will be making that soon since it needs to age.

I have made this cake in a large pan (angel food), though it's been years. And I've also applied large fruits to the top after and glazed (syrup or honey glaze). All it is is more baking time.

Carol

Could honey be subbed for the cane/corn syrup?

Carol

Carla in Sac

Just wondering, though, why don't you just do you own. It's really pretty simple. Citrus peels need to be washed to remove wax and pesticides (organic is better), boiled to loosed the white pith (except for lime, lemon, and mandarin orange, which are so thin it's not necessary), the pith is scraped off, and then rinsed and boiled in the sugar syrup.

Other fruits just get boiled in sugar syrup.

Not only is it easy, it's actually a LOT cheaper. You can even cheat and use canned fruit to start, saving the washing/peeling/slicing/cutting steps.

Soak chopped up dried citrus peal, say from Penzy's, in one of those orange liqueurs like Cointreux.

Its a whole other animal.

I might be tempted to order from Rosetti's because there's no way I would go to the trouble of making one.

I was just given a little one pound fruitcake made in a little town not far from me. I haven't opened it yet, because we have so many sweets already, but the ingredients are:Pecans,glace pineapple and cherries, pure honey, brown sugar, fresh eggs, enriched wheat flour, dates, coconut, pure butter,dark rum, baking powder, spices and salt.
Is glace pineapple and cherries the same thing as candied?

jude

Everyone will have different tastes. We prefer fruitcake that is extremely full of fruit and nuts, with just enough cake batter to make it hold together.

I made Carol's recipe on Christmas Eve and it turned out great! Instead of using the prepared fruits, I created my own candied fruit and it really didn't take that long. I parboiled the pieces of fruit in sugar water then dehydrated them partially. I used apples, pears, mangoes, pineapple, oranges and lemons. Drying them to the right consistency took about 3 hours.

I did not add any maraschino cherries because of the red food dye. I didn't have any other cherries but know that Trader Joe's has then dried so I'll use them next time.

The cakes baked for two hours and turned out very nice.

Thanks, Carol!!

Cindy

I actually have some candied dark sweet cherries in syrup sitting in the freezer. I always thought they would go well in this recipe.

For those ordering fruits online, be sure you look at the ingredient list. I buy my candied apricots (Australian and wonderful but hideously expensive) from a supplier who sells fruits candied in pure cane sugar syrup. But looking online I saw several brands that were candied in glucose and corn syrup with various preservatives. Clearly there are considerable differences.

I do candy my own fruit but the Australian apricots are better unless we are fortunate enough to get a shipment of really good fruit. Sometimes commercial is the best quality item.

Carol

The "freerange fruitcake" he makes on there is AWESOME. Full of lovely dried fruits: apricots, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, and raisins.

Add to that rum, brandy, pecans, and spices!

I've made it every Xmas since I first saw that episode. In fact, I have some in the house right now. Now I'm craving it. I think I'll have some.

You can see their recipe at the link. I also recommend the Clear Creek Cranberry Liqueur. I have plans for that in a Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake.

Carol

Cindy

I can't wait for next summer so I can glace fresh apricots. In fact, if I find Chilean ones in winter, I'm going to try it again.

thank you for posting the recipe Carol.

irene

P.S. I am going to try the Alton Brown and the Clear Creek ones next.