[Sca-cooks] fruit cake - OOP

[Daniel Myers]

On Friday, November 1, 2002, at 11:04 AM, Pixel, Goddess and Queen
wrote:
>
> For that matter, my grandfather's fruitcake recipe, and my uncle's
> recipe,
> are both quite tasty. My grandfather's is much like a pound cake with
> spices and fruits added, while my uncle's has fewer spices and is thus
> lighter in color.
>
> It's not *all* American fruitcakes that are frightening, it's the
> commercially produced ones. I understand from various of my relations
> that
> British fruitcake is similar to the recipe my grandfather used in the
> bakery, or perhaps that should be the other way 'round. Anyway, if you
> have a good cake recipe to start with, and quality ingredients, a
> fruitcake needn't be the compressed brick of cheap sugary candied
> fruit in
> cellophane that you find on the shelf at Wal-Mart.
>
> The other problem, I think, is one of perceptions. When most Americans
> hear "cake", they immediately think of your everyday butter or oil cake
> that you make with the boxed mix. Fruitcake is a trifle more dense than
> that. Also, there isn't a huge tradition in this country of
> fruit-filled
> bakery goods where the fruit isn't a puree or paste (like in sweet
> rolls).
> Oatmeal cookies and cinnamon rolls can have raisins in them, but you
> really don't find a whole lot of fruit-filled breads or cakes the same
> way
> you do in Europe.
>
> Anybody have a theory on that?

My wife insists (and wisely, I agree) that the reason most American
fruitcakes are so nasty is that they contain walnuts and citron.  These
add a bitter, nasty flavor that puts the whole thing off.

Then there's the brandy ... got to use lots of brandy ... and it has to
be the good stuff.

- Doc


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  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.medievalcookery.com/
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