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Fruit Cake

Haggises

Haggises

Every year about the beginning of December I get the urge to make a good old British Christmas fruit cake.
And then I remember that that if I was going to do that I should have started two months prior.
Maybe in 2016 I'll set an alarm.

Now I'm craving one of these.
proxy.php
 
eightysixCJ

eightysixCJ

Every year I look forward to a couple of fruitcakes from my great aunts in Tennessee (there used to be more of both and I miss them). This year I brought one of the to the office party and several folks commented "I hate fruitcake but this is great!" They serve it dry but I think it is better with a cognac sauce.

Tom
 
BSAGuy

BSAGuy

Well, I got up my nerve and tried my mother's fruitcake recipe for the first time. It turned out about 85% as I remember hers, so I am happy for my first attempt.

Here is recipe with my mother's comments asterisked:

Ingredients
  • 1 cup corn oil
  • 1½ cups brown sugar (firmly packed)
  • 4 eggs
  • 3 cups sifted flour (plain)
  • 5½ cups your favorite candied fruits*
  • 3 cups chopped pecans**
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. allspice
  • 1 tsp. cloves
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1-2 oz. dark rum

*As I remember, we use 1 c. white raisins, 1+ candied cherries, 1+ candied pineapple, 1 candied dates, ½ c lemon peel, ½ c. orange peel, 1/2 c. citron. Mrs. Tucker put figs in her cake, but figs are not on my favorite list.

** I use more pecans, because we liked the nuttiness.

Directions

  • Soak the fruit overnight in the orange juice and rum and drain. Save the juice.
  • Combine oil, sugar, and eggs.
  • In large bowl combine 1 cup flour with the fruits and nuts, being sure to coat them completely.
  • Sift remaining flour with baking powder, salt, and spices. Stir into oil mixture alternately with the orange juice.
  • Pour batter over fruit mixture and blend well.
  • Bake in greased and floured tube pan for 2 ½ to 3 hours at 275 (or 250) degrees over pan of hot water. Pour apple brandy over hot cake, remove from pan, add more brandy, and cool. Put parchment paper in bottom of pan.

Here are some pics of fruit, mixed and soaking, batter, in pan, and finished product.

Not so visually appealing, but pretty tasty. Maybe next year I will dust with powdered sugar.

$FC1.png$FC2.png$FC3.png$FC4.png$FC5.png
 
Shakey-and-twitchy

Shakey-and-twitchy

I. Have been looking at fruit cake recipes. They say to refrigerate.
my grandmother just wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in a large Mr. Peanut jar.
are your recipes refrigerated or pantry stored?
 
BubblesTGB

BubblesTGB

Hi David,

Welcome to the mess hall, I don't remember seeing your name around, but sometimes I'm not very observant.

My grandmother did the same. Just wrapped and stored in a tin or the proverbial bread box, not refrigerated.

I have to admit that I read your post quickly and, at first pass, I saw that you were going to refrigerate your grandmother wrapped in foil. This will teach me to read more slowly.

Chris
 
Shakey-and-twitchy

Shakey-and-twitchy

BubblesTGB said:
Hi David,

Welcome to the mess hall, I don't remember seeing your name around, but sometimes I'm not very observant.

My grandmother did the same. Just wrapped and stored in a tin or the proverbial bread box, not refrigerated.

I have to admit that I read your post quickly and, at first pass, I saw that you were going to refrigerate your grandmother wrapped in foil. This will teach me to read more slowly.

Chris
Click to expand...
My grandmother was a great looking woman, someone should have thought of that. When Xmas came around she had me in the pantry grinding up nuts and suet. She was verry easy to be a scullery maid for.
when I get to my wife's computer I will post a picture of my grandmothers stove.
my grandfather managed dairy farms for well to do gentlemen that kept dairy to cut down on taxes.
she told me that she used to fry donuts for breakfast after my grandfather had been working for a couple of hours.
the only thing I ever remember her frying was corn fritters.
so my grandmother wraped fruitcake in aluminum foil.
to Serve Man, it's a cookbook, wrapping nana will be in the next edition.
 
Shakey-and-twitchy

Shakey-and-twitchy

Haggises said:
Every year about the beginning of December I get the urge to make a good old British Christmas fruit cake.
And then I remember that that if I was going to do that I should have started two months prior.
Maybe in 2016 I'll set an alarm.

Now I'm craving one of these.
proxy.php
Click to expand...

What is the garish on the frosting?
i am drooling.
 
BubblesTGB

BubblesTGB

Shakey-and-twitchy said:
View attachment 666302View attachment 666303with three woman in the house i usually stayed out of kitchen. now i have a wife that can cook anything i am still the scullery maid.
Click to expand...

Very cool stove! My Grandmother had a Cape Cod style home in Massachusetts. There was a main floor, a basement and an upstairs where my Mom's and aunt's bedrooms were. My grandmother (Nana) was old school. After my mom and aunt moved out, she redecorated the main floor and upstairs.I'm talking about plastic on the couch kind of redecorating. She had a GE stove that was very similar to the one in your picture but she used it maybe 3x per year. Her kitchen was pristine - almost never used. She basically lived in her basement, which had a bathroom and all that she needed. The stove down there was what she used primarily. It was an old wood fired cast iron thing, but she chose to use that over the real kitchen upstairs. I wish I had that old stove. It was mint green and in perfect condition. She was a hoot. It's nice to have great memories of the grandparents.

Unlike your wife, mine can barely make a bowl of cereal. But she's good looking so I keep her around (This is a joke - I'm not trying to offend anyone. She is good looking though) and I like to do the cooking anyway. So she cleans, I cook and it all works out.
 
Last edited:
Shakey-and-twitchy

Shakey-and-twitchy

BubblesTGB said:
Very cool stove! My Grandmother had a Cape Cod style home in Massachusetts. There was a main floor, a basement and an upstairs where my Mom's and aunt's bedrooms were. My grandmother (Nana) was old school. After my mom and aunt moved out, she redecorated the main floor and upstairs.I'm talking about plastic on the couch kind of redecorating. She had a GE stove that was very similar to the one in your picture but she used it maybe 3x per year. Her kitchen was pristine - almost never used. She basically lived in her basement, which had a bathroom and all that she needed. The stove down there was what she used primarily. It was an old wood fired cast iron thing, but she chose to use that over the real kitchen upstairs. I wish I had that old stove. It was mint green and in perfect condition. She was a hoot. It's nice to have great memories of the grandparents.

Unlike your wife, mine can barely make a bowl of cereal. But she's good looking so I keep her around (This is a joke - I'm not trying to offend anyone. She is good looking though) and I like to do the cooking anyway. So she cleans, I cook and it all works out.
Click to expand...

The house I lived in was in Medway Ma. Built in the 1830s. The house I lived in when I was born was 1790s. The first modern building I lived in was in basic training at fort Dix.
My grandmother also told me that a large cast iron stove was far superior for baking.
lace tablecloths all over the house. Roll down window shades and curtains that looked like mosquito netting. Those roll down window shades kept the house much warmer at night. She had the roll around cloths washer in the corner of the kitchen and wheeled it to the sink to to do the washing. After dinner I would take the garbage out to behind the garage and step on the lever that raised the lid. Weekly garbage location by the local pig farm. Those old houses did have walk in pantries. What was your Nanas heating system? She probably was the warmest person in the house.
my grandmother always had pies in the house. ALWAYS. She must have made 20 different types. Allways made shells with bacon grease.
it took me 25 years to get my wife to try lard for pastry. 25 years she said it was a pain to make shells. First time she used lard it was perfect.
 
I

Ivanhoe64

Haggises said:
Every year about the beginning of December I get the urge to make a good old British Christmas fruit cake.
And then I remember that that if I was going to do that I should have started two months prior.
Maybe in 2016 I'll set an alarm.

Now I'm craving one of these.
proxy.php
Click to expand...
[MENTION=52454]Haggises[/MENTION], is that a Dundee cake under that frosting? I have a recipe somewhere for Dundee cake. I know people who don't like fruit cake, but who will eat Dundee cake.
 
M

MichaeltheRomanHistorian

I love fruit cake! I've always loved it as a kid in the States and then as an adult living in England. I'll eat the good stuff, the mediocre stuff, and the doorstop stuff (so long as it is soaked in enough brandy!). I may try to bake one this year based on the recipe in this thread or Alton Brown's recipe.
 
KeenDogg

KeenDogg

Slays On Fleek - For Rizz
I love Collins Street Bakery. I have to have some traditional fruitcake every Christmas. I know people that don't like fruitcake and have said it was good.

Cordially,
Adam
 
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