In defence of fruitcake

[vilakins]

When you are old(er), what do you think children will ask you to tell stories about?
I have no idea. Maybe about when I lived in Israel, if I start the ball rolling with a funny story or two.

This one is mainly for North Americans (I think this lot of questions comes from Canada).

January 3 is Fruitcake Toss Day. Do you like fruitcake? Why does it get such a bad rap?
I have no idea, you weird lot - I love it! Fruitcake is delicious - rich, moist, and so good! Fruitcake is not just for Christmas, but for all year round. It is also the traditional wedding cake here with marzipan and royal icing, unlike those pale, light, sweet sponges you lot seem to have with loads of creamy icing, sorry, frosting - according to TV, anyway. You couldn't post a piece of that to absent family.
Or are your fruitcakes really horrible, hard, dry things? If so, why do people still make and sell them?

Comments

[siliconshaman]

I think it's an American thing, you're not the only one that loves fruitcake! (can't stand Marzipan though, horrible stuff. But that's ok, my Imzadi loves it so I pass it to her.)

Besides, how can you have a proper wedding cake without it? I mean, you need a good solid foundation to build on, right?!

[vilakins]

Exactly! I'm amazed those spongy confections hold up under fancy icing and decorations and little figurines etc. I made my own wedding cake (including marzipan*) from my favourite fruit cake recipe, but did get a professional to do the icing.

* I love marzipan! It has to be proper marzipan made of ground almonds though, not yellow almond-flavoured plastic icing bought in the supermarket. :-P

[siliconshaman]

Not a big fan of almonds, but definitely not liking plastic fake marzipan that the closest it got to an almond is the picture on the packet...

Also, I think those daft fluffy frou-frou cakes are mostly held up by the icing, given that it tends to be like half-inch thick armour steel! Mostly hollow shell full of flavoured sproingy air they are... whereas a good solid fruit cake should stop bullets... small arms fire at least, although if it's got royal icing it could probably at least slow a .50 cal. (there are youtube videos of people shooting all manner of things. I think that was one.)

[vilakins]

[nods to all that, and there'd be a serious lack of flavour too, apart from all the sugar.

Ha! I would watch that! Given Americans' liking for firearms, they probably shoot at the fruitcakes when they toss them.

[watervole]

I love a good fruit cake, but you're right - they should be properly moist.

[vilakins]

Soaking the fruit in brandy overnight works really well. :D

[gwendraith]

I love everything about fruit cake; the royal icing and the marzipan. It has to be moist though, there's nothing as awful as dry fruit cake. I quite like it with cheddar cheese as well.

[vilakins]

Ooh, nice icon, though I'd make the marzipan layer thicker. :) I'll have to try cheese. I've heard it goes well with fruit pies too. I do love a good strong cheese with slices of fresh fruit or quince paste, so I can see the combo would work well.

[executrix]

US fruitcakes generally do not have either marzipan or royal icing. Perhaps the definition of a tradition is something that people do even if they can't remember why!--hence continuing to manufacture unpopular fruitcakes. However, my boyfriend LOVES fruitcake and was unable to buy his annual Christmas fruitcake because the monastery where he buys them sold out their whole production run.

I have seen a very believable explanation that actually people don't dislike fruitcake as such, they dislike the candied citron included in Basic fruitcake mixture.

West Indian Black Cake, a super-dark fruitcake, is often made with Manischewitz Passover wine!

[vilakins]

I've heard people don't like citrus peel in cakes, but I do if it's properly bitter, like in fruitcakes here, and panettone, biscotti etc. I think Americans dry citrus slices just to use as decorations? While on the subject of edible decor, do people actually eat those candy canes? My teeth ache just thinking about it.

Traditional fruitcake (for weddings etc) is very dark here, but that black cake sounds seriously delicious. We always used brandy to soak the fruit overnight before mixing, which I did for my wedding cake, but I should try that recipe sometime.

[executrix]

It is not unknown to bake USian fruitcakes in a bundt pan, and put nuts and/or more candied fruit on top, and I can defniitely see a candied slice on top as a decoration.

As for candy canes 'fraid so.

There's also Black Bun which is a BlackCake enclosed in pastry! I think that was supposed to be kept for months at a time. And of course lots of people just keep slurping more booze on fruitcakes for loooong storage.

Some traditions have a light (in color and texture) Bride's Cake, with the dark, heavy, boozy fruitcake as the Groom's Cake,which doesn't actually strike me as propitious for the marriage!

[vilakins]

I've seen pics of dried citrus slices used as decorations on US tables with small pine branches, and first saw that here this year at an end-of-year dinner. Is that a thing over there?

Mum used to poke skewers into the cake for a few days before icing and pour more brandy in. The cake would have lasted for months except for us lot scoffing it over the summer holidays.

You have two different cakes? How sexist! NZ (AU and UK?) tradition is one dark one (I made mine), or two or three in a decreasing stack. My niece is marrying a past NZ masterchef winner in April so I'll be interested to see what they have for a wedding cake.

[executrix]

Having two cakes it traditional but these days it's usually just one gigantic layer cake kind of thing. Or, depending on circumstances, one gigantic styrofoam *sculpture* with the caterer serving actual slices of cake. There have also been fads for serving towers of cupcakes rather than a cake as such. Your niece's wedding cake will, I'm sure, be a lollapalooza.

[vilakins]

I suppose it depends on whether he makes it himself. I'm sure the food in general will be catered but he'd choose people he knows who'll be excellent. ey, there's got to be a good side to having to fly to Tauranga in a prop plane and a mask...

The best wedding I went to, with regards to food, was a friend of Greg's who married a Malaysian Indian - there were stations of different ethnic food (Indian, Malaysian, Chinese, Thai, Korean, trad English) round the room. So good!

[executrix]

I bet even if he doesn't bake it, he'll draw up the blueprints!

[vilakins]

Doubtless! I'll be having a small breakfast that morning.

[imhilien]

I don't like fruitcake unfortunately, I find it too hard to digest, especially in the summer. This is awkward when I've been to pre-Christmas events and there's only fruit cake and fruit mince pies (also a no for me) to eat.

On a cold winter's day I can have a bite of it, but no more.

[vilakins]

That's a pity. I do find mince pies too rich though, so I'm with you there.