<hanging my head in shame> O.K., I admit it. I like fruitcake. A good
fruitcake is sweet and liquorish. I'm not big on those neon red and
green cherries, but if you leave them out, the dried fruit is nice.


My story about fruit cakes goes back 25 years. I do NOT come from a
cooking tradition. My mother can bearly get by even now. She's a
college professor, not a homemaker. One grandmother baked a little.
The other was as bad (or good?) as my mother when it came to cooking.
I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much (rebellion?), but everything I've
learned, I've learned from fearless experimentation and cookbooks. The
cookbook said to wrap the fruitcakes in several layers of cheesecloth.
What's cheesecloth? I've got old clean t-shirts, why not use
them? How different could it be? I wrapped the fruitcake in cotton
knit, didn't understand why it took a whole bottle of brandy to soak in
instead of the one cup the recipe called for and waited the requisite 6
weeks. Still not all absorbed so I waited another 6 months.
Eventually I ended up with the most potent fruitcake on the planet! Who
said fruitcake tastes terrible? These were as solid as a brick and
probably 50 proof. Very popular with my college crowd. It must have
been 10 years before I saw cheesecloth in the grocery store and
understood.


--Lia

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
news:Njywb.296907$Fm2.315358@attbi_s04...
> <hanging my head in shame> O.K., I admit it. I like fruitcake. A good
> fruitcake is sweet and liquorish. I'm not big on those neon red and
> green cherries, but if you leave them out, the dried fruit is nice.
>
>
> My story about fruit cakes goes back 25 years. I do NOT come from a
> cooking tradition. My mother can bearly get by even now. She's a
> college professor, not a homemaker. One grandmother baked a little.
> The other was as bad (or good?) as my mother when it came to cooking.
> I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much (rebellion?), but everything I've
> learned, I've learned from fearless experimentation and cookbooks. The
> cookbook said to wrap the fruitcakes in several layers of cheesecloth.
> What's cheesecloth? I've got old clean t-shirts, why not use
> them? How different could it be? I wrapped the fruitcake in cotton
> knit, didn't understand why it took a whole bottle of brandy to soak in
> instead of the one cup the recipe called for and waited the requisite 6
> weeks. Still not all absorbed so I waited another 6 months.
> Eventually I ended up with the most potent fruitcake on the planet! Who
> said fruitcake tastes terrible? These were as solid as a brick and
> probably 50 proof. Very popular with my college crowd. It must have
> been 10 years before I saw cheesecloth in the grocery store and
> understood.
>
>
> --Lia
>

Well your story reminds me when we were kids my girl friend and I decided we
would make angel food cake. The recipe called for cream of tarter so we
substituted tarter sauce not knowing any better. Our batter made 2 cakes in
loaf pans. She would take one home to parents and I would give one to my
parents.
Well when they were done and cooled they were like bricks literally! We
spent the afternoon throwing the cakes at the back of our ( brick ) garage
trying to get them to break We had most of the neighborhood kids in on it
and I just remember how much fun we all had!
As far as Fruitcake goes, I trick or treated for unicef when I was a kid
and had this old lady invite me in for a piece of cake.... guess what kind
it was? She probably had it for 10 years.

peace,
Barbara

> probably 50 proof. Very popular with my college crowd. It must have
> been 10 years before I saw cheesecloth in the grocery store and
> understood.

Lia, this story was a hoot, thanks for the laugh.

I add a Glaze to my cakes.

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup liquor

In a saucepan, add butter, water and sugar. Bring to a boil over
medium heat and continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring most of the
time. Remove from heat and stir in liquor.

Spoon the glaze over the cake while the cake and the glaze is still
warm.

Becca

In article <Njywb.296907$Fm2.315358@attbi_s04>,
Julia Altshuler > wrote:
><hanging my head in shame> O.K., I admit it. I like fruitcake. A good
>fruitcake is sweet and liquorish. I'm not big on those neon red and
>green cherries, but if you leave them out, the dried fruit is nice.

I *love* fruitcake. A good fruitcake with plenty of nuts and
booze in it topped with marscapone cheese.... Oh, man.

--
Mark Shaw contact info at homepage --> http://www.panix.com/~mshaw
================================================== ======================
"[The Blues] is the kind of music that doesn't
mince words -- it gets right to it." -Bonnie Raitt

(Mark Shaw) wrote in message >...
> In article <Njywb.296907$Fm2.315358@attbi_s04>,
> Julia Altshuler > wrote:
> ><hanging my head in shame> O.K., I admit it. I like fruitcake. A good
> >fruitcake is sweet and liquorish. I'm not big on those neon red and
> >green cherries, but if you leave them out, the dried fruit is nice.
>
> I *love* fruitcake. A good fruitcake with plenty of nuts and
> booze in it topped with marscapone cheese.... Oh, man.

I made this a few years ago and got compliments from fruitcake
haters:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci...6_8157,00.html

Beth

Elizabeth Reid > wrote:
> (Mark Shaw) wrote in message >...
> >
> > I *love* fruitcake. A good fruitcake with plenty of nuts and
> > booze in it topped with marscapone cheese.... Oh, man.

> I made this a few years ago and got compliments from fruitcake
> haters:

> http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci...6_8157,00.html

Yep, that's the one to make, all right. Good eats!

--
Mark Shaw anti-spam: change 'bang' to 'not' to email me
================================================== ======================
"This time I think the Americans are serious. Bush is not like Clinton.
I think this is the end." - Uday Hussein, April 2003