Fruitcakes!
 

Who else likes and enjoys baking their own Christmas fruitcake? Which recipe?
I always do it from a cookbook I have had since late seventies. I started my home/kitchen in 1981 and have baked same the Light Fruit cake ( for a smaller 20 cm )1/2 recipe by Tess Mallos - Cooking in Colour cookbook.

I have a recipe for fruitcake that's to die for. My Mom makes it every year. It's loaded with fruit and not that stuff I don't like (citrin or something)
Let me get it out and I'll post it. It's marvelous.

I've tried different recipes and non was as good as my mothers. Unfortunately, the recipe has been lost to the family for years.

I like a darker fruitcake. My friend recommended the Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, TX deluxe fruitcake. That fruitcake is the only thing I have bought from Collins Street Bakery and it is the best I have ever found. I like as many pecans in the cake as there is fruit. The Deluxe Fruitcake is just right. I continue in my mother's tradition of adding a little bit of Apricot Brandy for some additional flavoring. Well, okay, sometimes I soak the fruitcake in the brandy, but only a couple of pieces at a time. Both enhance each other beautifully.

I've made Christmas Cake since I was married in 1974.
First was a recipe that my Mom found and thought would be good.
It was a darker more traditional cake and yes, was quite good.

Just a few years after, I found one through the old Farm Wife News magazines.
All whole fruit and nuts, so that when you slice it, it is like a stained glass window.
It's a lighter cake than the 1st, but with very little batter.
In fact the 1st yr I made it, I had it ready for the oven and got all teary-eyed.
We didn't have a lot of money at the time, and I was sure it was going to be a flop.
There was so little batter ... but it did stick together and was a hit! Money was not wasted.

For a few years I made both, but soon discovered that the 2nd recipe was always the first eaten.
Now, only the one gets made ... two 9"x13" cakes the end of October to let it age.
One more is baked in early December, so I am not tempted to give it away, and leaves me with "leftovers" to enjoy all winter long! :) No, not the least selfish, am I? :)

I love fruitcake and so does my daughter. We've made it a couple of times for the holidays, but we found that we were the only people in our clan that likes it, hence we were getting too fat eating it all ourselves. :) I'd love to see some other people's recipes.

~ C

When I was a child a family friend made a Brazil Nut cake, I loved it. But she got dementia and could not remember where the recipe was when I asked about it. Her family had tossed her old recipes.

25 years ago I found a recipe for an apricot and coconut fruit cake. It was so good, but I love the recipe and although I have checked the magazine's website, the recipe has never reappeared.

I do not make it anymore, I limit my Christmas baking to a few staples that everyone enjoys.

My son and I worked on the list last night:

Nanaimo Bars
Brown Sugar Fudge
Almond Rocha
Butter Tarts
Mince Tarts

I buy shortbread from a local bakery. I do not need a whole batch of it and I am the only one who enjoys it.

I have looked at their ads and wondered if the fruitcake was worth it. I like fruitcake, and my husband loves it. I may order one this year. Thanks for the info.

My mother in law made the best fruit cake ever, she made them for each family. We would go to a few stores for just the right nuts, fruit etc. She would not buy anything till she was sure it was the best. I never cared for fruit cake till I had Viola's it was so good. Everyone waited on there fruit cake reach year. I really miss that fruit cake.

Oops! I l also miss my mother in law Viola too!

I love this post!

Daffy

I absolutely hate candied fruit, but do love that dark moistness of fruitcake. After years of looking for a suitable Holiday cake; I found the perfect one -- moist, dark with a variety of spices, containing cranberries and chopped pecans, with a hint of orange. And only gets better with age.

I love fruitcake, too, but no one else in my family seems to. So I just make a little bit for me to enjoy. One year I bought King Arthur Flour's "fruit for fruitcake," and I used it in a traditional recipe (no alcohol). This year I'm going to try their fruitcake mix. So many of their mixes are really good, so I have high hopes.

M.Elizabeth - 30 years ago my supervisor was gifted a Christmas cake by Collins Street Bakery. He did not like fruit cake so gave it to me. I NEVER forgot how good that cake was, so you can order one with confidence.....

OK ladies, my mouth is watering. I need recipes! Please, Please Please.

I love good fruit cake with very little batter, lots of pecans and cherries. I used to wrap mine in cheesecloth and soak it in rum once a week. Guess I’ll be buying some stuff now, you all have me fixed on it.

Hi everyone and Daffy, I have a sister named Daphney who is also called daffy by me! For over 30 years, I was the baker in the family except for moms Christmas fruitcake. When mom starting Aging noticeably, and forgot how to make it, I went on a search for that recipe. She remembered that it had mincemeat and I found a jar made or packaged by kraft foods. I wrote to them and they sent me the recipe. Daffy now has the recipe and makes our Christmas cakes. She called me last weekend to tell me that her house smelled like home, so I’ll have fruitcakes for Christmas (appropriately doused in brandy) and cakes to gift and freeze.

I have a wonderful recipe...and everyone loves it...It's called a White Christmas cake...

Christmas White Cake...
4 cups pecans..
1 pound of cherries, (red and green mixed)
1 pound of pineapple (candied)
1-3/4 cups of flour
1/2 pound of butter
1 cup of sugar
5 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
3 Tablespoon lemon extract
3 Tablespoon Vanilla
Heat over to 250...Grease 10"pan, line with wax paper, grease again...
Chop nuts and fruits, dredge with 1/4 cup of flour - 1-1/2 cup flour left for cake
Sift flour and baking powder...set aside.
Cream butter and sugar till fluffy..Add eggs 1 at a time on low speed..
Add lemon extract and vanilla
Fold in flour mixture, mix well...by hand fold in nuts and fruits.
Pour into pan
Bake 3 hours.....after cooled. take off wax paper, wrap in plastic wrap..
and store in refrigerator..

I hope you enjoy...it is a wonderful...
I have 3 or these to make for family...

I have been making Fruit Bars from Meta Given's Encyclopedia of Cooking (1951) for years and years. They taste like Fruit Cake, they have the same ingredients, but they bake for only 20 minutes. Then I glaze them with corn syrup glaze and decorate with red and green cherries. A good seller at Christmas bake sales.

Copied the recipie and will give it a try. I love fruit cake, particularly those loaded with nuts! Yummmmmm.

Just a few years after, I found one through the old Farm Wife News magazines.
All whole fruit and nuts, so that when you slice it, it is like a stained glass window.
It's a lighter cake than the 1st, but with very little batter.
In fact the 1st yr I made it, I had it ready for the oven and got all teary-eyed.
We didn't have a lot of money at the time, and I was sure it was going to be a flop.
There was so little batter ... but it did stick together and was a hit! Money was not wasted.

This sounds just like the fruitcake we love, please share the recipe.

Would you post the recipes please. Thank you

I would love to have a copy of your fruitcake recipe. Thanks for sharing

we got some sly cooks here, no share recipes :)

Rob aunt was the best 'old home' cook, but when someone asked for her recipes she cheerfully shared...less one or two ingredients :)

what does it actually entail to soak in whatever beverage? Do you put a shotglass worth over the top or wrap the cake in soaked towels?

Soak some cheese cloth in your fav bourbon or whisky. Wring it out a little. Wrap the cake in it. Seal it in tin foil and store in a cool place. You can poke some holes in it too if you want to but it may get too soggy with the booze. I love Jim Beam myself.

I have a great recipe for fruitcake that I will share as soon as I find it. I also buy the Dark fruitcake from Harry & David when I dont feel like baking one. Also, Assumption Abbey Bakery in SW Missouri has wonderful Dark fruitcake! The Monks bake them for their fundraising. I love their fruitcake and the postcards they send to remind their customers to order. They have a website and a FB page. Do is soon tho. They SELL OUT!
Sandy

I love a good fruitcake. not some of those store bought ones. Someone my DH knew from the doctors office where he goes used to send us one every year. I believe it was from a bakery in Philadelphia somewhere. He has long since passed away. We ordered our own for a few years. The bakery closed years ago.The one we loved was a light colored fruitcake. I would love to try some of the recipes talked about on here.

Don't Boooooooo and Humbug me off this thread........NONE of my family likes fruitcake. So I treat myself to a very small loaf of store bought cake. I just bought some tonight and had 2 slices. This should last me through new years, LOL
I did get a recipe for fruitcake cookies from one of the ladies I use to work with, but NoBody likes that either and I won't make it for just me.
However, when I was in highschool for home ec my project was a homemade fruitcake that I aged in rum for our class.
Apparently my teacher thought it was Over saturated with the rum and wouldn't let the other students have any. :rolleyes: I never knew you could over do rum. but waaaaaaaaay back then I suppose they had stricter rules then they do now. |But we were minors.

ok, I jumped online for a recipe and baked 6 little loaves this morning.
Didn't have half the stuff it called for but I shopped my own kitchen stash and made it anyway :)

I know now why those little loaf pans were clear back behind everything else, the batter sticks like mad.
The crumbles off the pans went to my little chickens
Still waiting to taste and pass judgement for myself. I used a cup of Kuluah for the rum called for in the mix, but have golden rum out for drizzling.

Well see...

Oh yeah, Collins Street Bakery fruitcake has got to be the best ever. Love, love, love:)

I won't bake anything in a pan that's not sprayed with Baker's Joy first. Pam's Happy Baking spray has a vanilla scent to it which smells great.

My family will not touch a fruitcake. I guess it's the color and look of it. I haven't had a slice of one in years. So I'm waiting for the recipes to be posted.

I wadded up my recipe and threw it away, even though I only used it as a guideline.
Toooo gooood to be legal.

Nope, can't go there, not making any more!

Have you posted it and I missed it.

this is the one I chose to try
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...recipe-1926833
but not really fair as I made so many changes based on what I had in my own cupboards

I tried it because at had all 5 star reviews, a Lot of them.

QuiltE, would you post your recipe? It sounds a lot like the one I use to get at a family owned bakery, that they closed due to health reasons, I sure do miss their Christmas cake, except theirs didn't have a lot of fruit, mainly it was walnuts, a little bit of cake and that's about it

I would like to post the Light Fruit Cake Tess Mallos recipe but I am not sure about copyright as its from a book. I try to see if Amazon has the cookbook so people can view some sample pages but there is no to view copy. Tried google books no luck.
So if its allowed to post I will write it up here?

I'm not home but when I return I will post my Mom's recipe

My Dad used to make a few of them every year. I remember them being heavy and reeking of rum......lol

Recipes can't be copyrighted.

I just saw a great recipe on King Arthur Flour.com, FREE , called Quick Fruitcake. I printed it off but will double the nuts and cut down on the candied fruits when I make it................IF I get brave enough.

Light Fruit Cake recipe - Tess Mallos - Cooking in Colour.
Cooking ( baking) time 3- 3.5 hours.
Oven temperature 150-160C (300-325F)
250 gr ( 8 oz) butter
1/2 scant cup caster sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
5 eggs, beaten
2.5 cups plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup currants
2 cups sultanas
1 cup dried chopped apricots
1 tablespoon sherry or brandy
2 tablespoons slivered almonds
Line a fruitcake tin with baking paper.( Book says 1brown paper and 1greaseproof paper but I used baking paper)
Beat the butter with the sugars and the lemon rind until very creamy.
Add the well beaten eggs gradually, beating after each addition.
Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder alternately with the prepared fruits and the sherry or brandy, mix well.
Spoon carefully into the prepared tin to avoid air-holes. ( You can lift tin and drop slightly to avoid air pockets)
Sprinkle top with almonds. ( I stir in almonds with batter so the nuts do not burn on top))
Bake in a slow oven for 3 to 3.5 hours. Cool for 15 minutes before turning out of tin.
Note:For a more economical light fruitcake use 3 eggs and 1/2 cup milk)
Things/text in (....) is my own. (Also I use a 20 cm baking tin as mentioned in book but I only do 1/2 recipe using 2 or 3 eggs depends if I have big or small eggs)( I am not sure if what is mentioned the 20 cm tin would fit a full recipe) ( I add a little cap of baking paper so cake top does not bake too dark as I have an electric oven)
( test with wooden skewer to see that cake is baked) ( add sherry once a week and I keep it in fridge covered) Enjoy!
(just before serving I add a simple frosting of icing sugar mixed with juice of a mandarin gives a pale peach frosting) (you can change part of the dried fruits to others every year I do slightly different mix:)) ( I bake half recipe and is less baking time in my oven 1.5 hrs.)

The book says note:For a more economical cake use 3 eggs and 1/2 cup milk, I think she means regular full fat milk.