[Sca-cooks] Fruitcakes

[Micaylah]

> Sad, but true:
>
> I am one of the 4 people on Earth that like fruitcake.
> Another is my mother, whom I blame.
>
> Yes, I realize that this statement is a blatant admission of
> apallingly bad taste, but making this announcement on this
> list, before the world, as it were, is strangely liberating.
>
> So there it is. I'm out of the closet. I like fruitcake!
>
> Berelinde

I love fruitcake. We don't buy ours, we make it. In my family, in one
variation or another, we have been making it for 100+ years. In the
depression my Mothers family was fortunate enough not to feel the pinch too
much. What they did for Christmas was make wonking amounts of cake at the
end of October (when all fruitcake should be made to allow the flavours to
marry), and then distributed it to the poorer folks of Winnipeg. This was
an annual tradition for them.

When I was little, I remember taking my turn with the "stirring of the
cake". Which was no mean feat considering my Mother made 25lbs of both dark
and light Christmas cake. She then mailed it to friends and relatives who
counted on her to do so. We still bake the cakes in 60 yr old 2 piece tins,
lined with shortening lard and thick brown paper.

Things are a little different now. Quantities have diminished and my Mother
and I now share the baking. I make the dark cake as its a much heavier
cake, and I cant see my 80+ yr old Mother stirring this. Too funny. Anyway,
I can also be more boozy than with the light cake. lol

I think there are lots of people out there that like fruitcake. Every year
I watch my fruitcake disappear at any holiday entertaining I do. I also
bring it to camping events and have no problems sharing it then either. I
believe its more of a traditional North American cultural thingy to joke
about and dislike fruitcake. I also imagine that dried out commercial cakes
which use inferior ingredients is what gives Fruitcake a bad rap. Make your
own and try it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised what "real"
fruitcake tastes like.

Micaylah