DOES ANYONE REALLY LIKE FRUITCAKE?
Nov. 9th, 2009 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
menupleaseCalvin Trillin says there is really only one fruitcake in the world and it is circulated every Christmas from person to person in the ultimate recycling program.
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Google "does anyone EAT fruitcake" and read the comments in the forums. There seem to be two main objections: "too much stuff and not enough cake" and "those little bright green, plasticky thingoes that look like miniature marbles chopped in half." Occasionally someone will recall their Great-aunt Harriet who liked fruitcake (mainly because it was a vehicle for alcohol), or their grandmother who loved to make it and give it away as the gift that keeps on giving - but almost no one will cop to personally liking it.
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For many years M. de Joie fell into the fruitcake hater category. In particular she hated the weird little unnaturally-colored and nasty-flavored chewy bits of "candied fruit" (especially the green ones) and the cheap liquor taste. Together they reminded her of the morning after a misspent night at the Tropics. But then a trusted friend, whose cooking would raise the dead, passed along her recipe, and a whole new world opened up. The secrets, it seems, are twofold. One: use liquor that tastes good. Someone out there likes the taste of whiskey, but it ain't Femme de Joie, babe. Two: skip the technicolor candied fruit that appears at this time every year, and get some plain dried fruit instead. (Buy these in bulk for the best price - Winco, Moore's Flour Mill, and Orchard Nutrition all have good selections.)
Here's the recipe. If you don't like Amaretto, use another liquor you do like. It doesn't have to be a premium brand, but it should be something you actually like the taste of. Same with the fruit. If you aren't wild about cherries, substitute something else. Before starting, rinse dried fruit with very hot water to remove any sulpher.
CHERRY-AMARETTO CAKE
2 cups dried cherries
2 cups white (golden) raisins
2 cups Amaretto
1 pound butter, softened
2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups white sugar
8 eggs, separated
5 cups flour
5 cups pecans
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Combine cherries, raisins, and Amaretto, and let sit, covered, overnight in the refrigerator.
Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sugars gradually and beat until well blended. Then add the egg yolks and beat until well combined.
Toss 1/4 cup of the flour with the pecans and set aside. Stir the baking powder, salt, and nutmeg into the remaining flour.
Drain the Amaretto from the fruit. Add the Amaretto and the flour, alternately, to the butter-sugar mixture, ending with the flour, beating well after each addition. Add the pecan-flour mixture to the batter. Then add the drained fruit and mix well.
Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold gently but thoroughly into the batter.
Grease a 10" tube cake pan, line the pan with waxed paper, and grease and flour the paper. (Alternatively, you can use four bread pans, prepped the same way.) Scrape batter into pan to within 1" of the top. Bake in preheated 275-degree oven 4 hours for tube pan, 2 hours for bread pans. Remove cake from oven. Let cool on rack for two to three hours. Remove cake from pan and peel off the waxed paper.
Wrap cake in several layers of cheesecloth. Set the wrapped cake on a length of aluminum foil to act as a basin, then pour about 1/2 cup of Amaretto evenly over the cake. Wrap cake completely with foil and store in a tightly-covered container. Every ten days or so, open foil and moisten the cake with additional Amaretto.
Fruitcake will be ready to eat in about two to three weeks. Slice thinly and serve with butter or cream cheese.
- Femme de Joie
.
.
Google "does anyone EAT fruitcake" and read the comments in the forums. There seem to be two main objections: "too much stuff and not enough cake" and "those little bright green, plasticky thingoes that look like miniature marbles chopped in half." Occasionally someone will recall their Great-aunt Harriet who liked fruitcake (mainly because it was a vehicle for alcohol), or their grandmother who loved to make it and give it away as the gift that keeps on giving - but almost no one will cop to personally liking it.
.
.
For many years M. de Joie fell into the fruitcake hater category. In particular she hated the weird little unnaturally-colored and nasty-flavored chewy bits of "candied fruit" (especially the green ones) and the cheap liquor taste. Together they reminded her of the morning after a misspent night at the Tropics. But then a trusted friend, whose cooking would raise the dead, passed along her recipe, and a whole new world opened up. The secrets, it seems, are twofold. One: use liquor that tastes good. Someone out there likes the taste of whiskey, but it ain't Femme de Joie, babe. Two: skip the technicolor candied fruit that appears at this time every year, and get some plain dried fruit instead. (Buy these in bulk for the best price - Winco, Moore's Flour Mill, and Orchard Nutrition all have good selections.)
Here's the recipe. If you don't like Amaretto, use another liquor you do like. It doesn't have to be a premium brand, but it should be something you actually like the taste of. Same with the fruit. If you aren't wild about cherries, substitute something else. Before starting, rinse dried fruit with very hot water to remove any sulpher.
CHERRY-AMARETTO CAKE
2 cups dried cherries
2 cups white (golden) raisins
2 cups Amaretto
1 pound butter, softened
2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups white sugar
8 eggs, separated
5 cups flour
5 cups pecans
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Combine cherries, raisins, and Amaretto, and let sit, covered, overnight in the refrigerator.
Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sugars gradually and beat until well blended. Then add the egg yolks and beat until well combined.
Toss 1/4 cup of the flour with the pecans and set aside. Stir the baking powder, salt, and nutmeg into the remaining flour.
Drain the Amaretto from the fruit. Add the Amaretto and the flour, alternately, to the butter-sugar mixture, ending with the flour, beating well after each addition. Add the pecan-flour mixture to the batter. Then add the drained fruit and mix well.
Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold gently but thoroughly into the batter.
Grease a 10" tube cake pan, line the pan with waxed paper, and grease and flour the paper. (Alternatively, you can use four bread pans, prepped the same way.) Scrape batter into pan to within 1" of the top. Bake in preheated 275-degree oven 4 hours for tube pan, 2 hours for bread pans. Remove cake from oven. Let cool on rack for two to three hours. Remove cake from pan and peel off the waxed paper.
Wrap cake in several layers of cheesecloth. Set the wrapped cake on a length of aluminum foil to act as a basin, then pour about 1/2 cup of Amaretto evenly over the cake. Wrap cake completely with foil and store in a tightly-covered container. Every ten days or so, open foil and moisten the cake with additional Amaretto.
Fruitcake will be ready to eat in about two to three weeks. Slice thinly and serve with butter or cream cheese.
- Femme de Joie
