Fruitcake Lovers Unite!

[mawilson 2,133]

I love fruitcake - at least the real, dark, rich, moist kind soaked with rum or brandy:-)

Sounds like Christmas Pudding to me, except that pudding is steamed and fruitcake is baked?

Edited December 20, 2006 by mawilson

[SoL. 0]

I never had fruitcake before because all the horror stories flying around. (I have also been scared to try it) Funny but, if it's thaaaaaat bad, how it can keep on selling for so long LOL

[melly 0]

Thanks for looking that up.

I can't tell from reading the ingredients how it would taste but it's worth a try.

I was actually very excited this year as I wanted to make some fruitcake!

However, upon reading several recipes, I found that they all included alcohol which made it a no go for me.

If anyone knows of any fruitcake recipes that don't have alcohol that would be great.

I did make some bread using the dried fruit stuff that goes into fruitcake but it wasn't the greatest tasting bread I've ever made.

I found this one online.... it looks like it could be good...

Fruit Cake

Ingredients

3 cups Mixed dried fruit or

(1 cup Raisins,sultanas,currants)

1/2 cup Glace cherries

1/2 cup Peel

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 cup Water/ orange juice

2 cups Wholemeal self raising flour

1/2 cup Milk

1 Egg (beaten)

Preparation

place fruit, cinnamon and water in saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 3 min.

Allow to cool for 30 min

add rest of ingredients , mix and pour in an oiled tin.

Bake at 200C for 45 min.

[Mary Lou 682]

I love fruitcake - at least the real, dark, rich, moist kind soaked with rum or brandy:-)

Sounds like Christmas Pudding to me, except that pudding is steamed and fruitcake is baked?

Except fruitcake weighs like a brick in your stomach

[broma25 2]

For those of you who *do* like fruitcake, this recipe sounds pretty good. (aside from all the icky fruit chunks in the bread... ) I stumbled upon it on a different site I go to...here it is:

Applesauce Fruitcake

"Fruitcake made with applesauce and maraschino cherries." Original recipe yield: 1 - 10 inch bundt pan.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1 1/2 cups raisins

1 1/2 cups dates, pitted and chopped

1/2 cup maraschino cherries, coarsely chopped

2 cups applesauce

6 maraschino cherries, halved

6 pecan halves

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Grease a 10 inch tube pan. Line bottom with parchment paper and grease again.

In large bowl, cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add eggs and blend well.

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Combine 1/2 cup of flour with nuts, raisins, dates and 1/2 cup cherries, stir until coated. Set aside.

Add remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and salt to egg mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened, then beat 2 minutes on medium speed.

Fold fruit and nut mixture and applesauce into batter. Pour batter into a 10 inch tube pan. Arrange cherry halves and pecans on top.

Bake at 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) for 1hour and 15 to 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes clean. Cool upright in pan 5 minutes. Turn upright onto wire rack and remove pan and parchment paper. Cool completely.

(In fact, I thought I might try it with different types of nuts...walnuts, pecans, etc...instead of fruit in it. I would think it should still turn out...)

Michelle

substituting the fruit for other nuts might not work as the fruit adds to the moistness of the cake. Maybe you could add some fruits that you do like.

[eric&gen 0]

We are all fruitcakes lol.

[ya falaha! 0]

My aunt makes a "white" fruitcake that is yummy. It doesn't contain those weird candied green cherries (or the red ones). It's made with raisins, dates, nuts and maraschino cherries. No alchohol either. I've never had a store bought fruit cake. They look scary.

[MichelleandCraig 1]

That's true on the nuts thing, E...I dunno. Didn't think of that, but it's a good point. Maybe I'll just forget it and make something I *do* like...I love fruit, but I don't really like *any* of it in my bread, chocolate, etc. etc! M.

ETA: maybe I could add just a bit more applesauce for moisture..that might work. I really like the spice-bread aspect of it...cin./ etc..

Edited December 21, 2006 by MichelleandCraig

[Aymerlu 3]

[ceriserose 1]

Both CAPS and I like fruitcake and this year I made it for the first time, from scratch.

It will be ready on December 24th. Just in time!

And it's done. The verdict is...awesome.

Homemade is much much better than store bought.