OT - It's Christmas fruit cake baking time

I wish I could join you! :) I thought I was the only one on the planet who actually liked fruitcake, but I see there's two of us. :) Christmas wouldn't seem like Christmas without the fruitcake...and I believe a large part of that is the ritual of actually making it. Enjoy!

Nancy in NS

DH loves it (without the alcohol) Make it for his HB (Oct 25) and its usually gone before Christmas :) No, I don't make a 2nd one.

Butterfly (IF we moved when planned and find the cookbooks he will STILL get one this year)

Howdy!

One of the (former) RCTQers is part of this site:

As the best fruitcake is made just an hour's drive south of here I skip the baking and get right to the ritual of eating fruit cake : And those attractive tins are great for stashing scraps andother quilting goodies. Cheers! Ragmop/Sandy -- always looking for more time to quilt ;-)

Hi Sunny,

There is a trick to baking that kind of fruitcake. My mom made sure I knew her cooking tricks before she let me move away from home.

You need glass or light metal pans, VERY HEAVY brown paper, lots of Crisco, and the oven has to be happy at 275-300'F.

Line pans with 2 layers of that paper. No, I tried, 4 layers of cheap stuff does not work the same. Grease the heck out of the inside as thick as you can make it, so the cake does not stick.

Then you slowly bake so that the crust is as thin as possible but the cake inside cooks right. A pan of water in the oven does not make a difference. Takes a couple of hours.

Yeah--then a day after it's cold, you dose it with a tablespoon and the liquor of choice. Keep it in the basement, NOT the fridge, it soaks up more booze that way. Put the stuff on all sides, and keep tightly covered (tins do the best job). Dose every 10 days.

You will be amazed at how much the cakes will hold. You will know that they have had the right dose when visiting old gentlemen giggle after their cuppa and slice of cake.--Irene (who bakes the light batter fruitcakes).

Not sure what Christmas will actually be like - they had a move a couple of years ago and as the house didn't sell quickly they rented it out. Now they are moving back where they were before, and have had to get a court order to get the tenants out. Apparently their 4 unhousetrained cats have ruined all the carpets, skirting boards are a mess, kitchen floor covering had to be thrown away (large hole cut in middle, the kitchen is damaged and the front door doesn't work and they have to use the living room door onto the garden. And its dirty.

Also one of the 4 cats who is pregnant was left behind. Fortunately a neighbour has taken her in.

So Christmas should be interesting. However, it will involve meeting Jeremy and Jemima, Kiwi and Mias little brother and sister. (Kiwi and Mia, together with Hodge will be in the Kitty hotel).

Will take my Christmas Quilts and if we use candles we won't notice the bare floorboards (unless they get carpets sorted before then, which I doubt). Knowing DD though, everything will be clean by then. She actually scrubs floors on her hands and knees - something I have never advocated!! She must take after my mother who used to do that too. I am obviously the rebel of the family! She also goes to the Gym nearly everyday, and is beautifully slim. I just join slimming clubs but am secretly rebelling against slimness!!

Nope -- I *love* fruitcake, if it's *good* fruitcake. I make my own, too. Here's a URL for some really interesting stuff: .

Ooooh I did! I haven't unearthed the fruitcake from it's tin yet but let me tell you - the muffins were ooh so good!

Pulled up from the google archives! Enjoy aplenty

With many thanks to Safeway/Woolworths (a supermarket chain) here it is. I have included the recipe as I made it.. Please note all measurements are non-accurate (a bit more or less will not kill the cake) and substitutions are possible. Generic or supermarket brand goods work just as well as the fancy-shmancy top of the range goods. There is a website which does conversions for temperatures and weights but I can't remember it at the mo.

Sharon's version of the Safeway Christmas Cake

4 cups mixed dried fruit 200gram pack of glace cherries (red or green but I prefer red) half cup of dried pineapple bits 4 eggs (I use the big ones) 100grams dark chocolate, melted and cooled just a bit 2 tablespoons strawberry jam 2 cups plain flour good whoosh of cinnamon 250grams butter chopped and room temperature one and a half cups brown sugar good splash of vanilla 125gram pack of slivered almonds half cup to three-quarters of alcohol of your choice (or a mixture if you can't make up your mind)

1. Take a slurp of the alcohol mix to make sure it tastes okay. Remember you'll be stewing with this so it'd better!

1. combine mixed fruit and cherries and pineapple in a bowl and pour over the alcohol. Stir it good and have a small spoonful to see if it's okay. Cover and leave to soak from anywhere from one hour to one month. Stir whenever you remember.
2. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line base and sides of 23cm deep round cake pan with a double layer of brown and baking paper. (**I only had a 20cm springform tin - the one where the sides come off - so used that and a clean large 800g tin that used to hold tomatos which I'd used in soup earlier. Washed out and lined it was perfect for a mini-cake).
3. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until light and creamy then add eggs one at a time beating after each one. Beat in the melted chocolate and jam.
4. Add creamy butter mixture to the fruit mixture. Add in flour, cinnamon and almonds and mix well. Taste the mix. If you think it needs anything else chuck it in and mix again.
5. Spoon mix evenly into prepared pan. Bake 2.5 to 3 hours (if you make a little one like I did, it will only take 1.5 hours) or until a skewer/cake tester/prongy thing stuck into the cake comes out clean. Cover cake with a clean dishtowel and leave to cool in pan overnight.
6. Remove cake from pan and spend 15 minutes peeling paper off cake. This can be fun because you get to eat all the crumbs as they fall off.
7. Decorate as preferred. They recommend chocolate stars (melt chocolate, spread onto baking paper/foil, wait til almost set then cut stars with a cookie cutter) but mine kept breaking.
8. If not gutsing into it straight away, wrap securely in foil and place in airtight container where it will keep for 8 weeks. Nigella Lawson recommends unwrapping weekly and pouring a whoosh more alcohol over it to keep it moist. Personal preference I suppose.

Most of all enjoy and if it works for you I'll take the credit, if it doesn't the credit is all yours!!!

But....but....baking and licking out the bowl is the true start of christmas!

yeah! the sound of kids bickering over the bowl on the floor is the perfect accompaniment to the Christmas carols

What a super site! Thanks for sharing this -- I can't wait to study some of the recipes. I usually make the light fruitcake my Mom has made for eons, but I'm always up for trying something new. :)

The Collin Street goods make me drool!

Nancy in NS

Count me and DH in as fruit cake eaters. He is happy with one or two slices, but give me a whole one please. I don't make them though. Best USA store bought is Benson's. DH's mom made a lovely ice box fruit cake, sadly we will not be able to have any more made by her. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Frui cake is like chocolate: a food group on its own. Put them together and add marzipan and you are in heaven. See recipe for chocolate Christmas cake on my web site...