[Sca-cooks] My fruitcake

[Christine Seelye-King]

Yes, I am making fruitcake this year.  I went to a party for the Health Food
Store I've been working for and helped bring home the excess goods that were
donated.  One of the many things I scarfed was a bunch of bags of 'partially
rehydrated dried fruit'.  It was the strangest stuff you've ever eaten, just
a really weird texture.  I ate a few pieces of it and thought, hmm, maybe
I'll make fruitcake.  (This isn't something I usually do, but hey, life gave
me lemons, or in this case, strange fruit ;)
I am using a recipe posted here:
"ENGLISH FRUITCAKE
My mother has been cooking this fruitcake since around 1967, it was her own
wedding cake in 1968 and most of the rest of the family's
Wedding/christening/Xmas/Easter cakes ever since.
Louise Smithson
(recipe snipped)"

I soaked the fruit along with currants, sultanas, candied lemon peel (but no
other candied fruits), in a mixture of a combination of alcoholic beverages
I've collected over the years (we hardly ever drink, but I have a very
interesting collection of alcohol) including Remy Martin Brandy that had
figs from the back yard soaked in it, blueberry brandy, blueberry cordial
(made with vodka), and cinnamon pear cordial (vodka).  I added walnuts
(couldn't find the right form of almonds and was not in the mood to squib a
bunch of them), and followed the recipe from there.  I have sprinkled them
with some Hennessey Cognac when they came out of the oven, but want to try
Alton Brown's method with a spray bottle when I re-dose them.  The cakes are
just wonderful.  I never liked the candied green and red colored fruit
variety, but these are delicious.  Soaking the strange fruit in alcohol for
several days took care of the whole texture thing, and they have made some
really yummy fruitcakes.  They are dense with fruit, but there is almost not
enough cake to hold them together so they aren't dense like a brick.  I've
made several and have one more batch to go today (plus I may try that
guiness cake, hmmm...).  They will only have a couple of weeks to age before
being distributed at our Christmas Revel (oops, now you local folks know
what's coming your way!) but we've been snacking on them right out of the
oven, so the immature variety is great, no need to wait for the aging
process!
Here's hoping none are left in 125+ years!
Christianna