Sorry Sue, no fond memories of fruit cake here!

Growing up Nan always made the steamed fruit pudding with caramel/rum/brown sugar sauce. Does anyone remember that?

I used to make a jeweled fruit cake similar to the one in the photo. Very moist and very fruity. I haven't made it in years though. The one in the picture is not mine.

I love it with lots of nuts and no black raisins. Good with a cup of tea.

I love it !

My SIL makes a delicous rum soaked cake with lots of assorted dried fruits, never the candied things which so many people associate with fruit cake. She would make batches of the cakes by early October for giving away in December.

I asked her to take me off her list several years ago, but still remember that cake, it was really special.

No. I never liked it or basically any of the components of it.

Most fruitcakes....no. I do like one that is called Cherry Pineapple Cake. It is just cherries, pineapple and nuts.

I haven't had the old heavy fruitcake in years but I'm on the like side. I do make stolen for Christmas and love, love, love them.

My husband has always loved fruitcake but not me. One day I thought to myself you should give it a try, so I did and I found it was very tasty and good. Now I probably will not have a steady diet of fruit cake and I don't know if all the fruitcakes taste the same or have the same ingredients but I would buy another one just to see if I still enjoy it.

Well, there is Fruit Cake, and then there is Fruit Cake. 'Way back when, the best ever was ordered from Sears Roebuck. They were made in Claxton, Georgia and came in beautiful tins. When I was growing up we always had them for Christmas. I don't know if they are still available or not.

My mom used to make steamed carrot pudding with lemon sauce, which I loved but she can't do it anymore. I tried to duplicate it last year and I just don;t have the touch. It went in the garbage. It makes me sad.

I do like fruit cake with marzipan but am the only one who does. Given that i will no longer get steamed pudding I'm going to go to the local bakery and see if they make any in-house.

Does anyone have a recipe to share?

Sue

I love it, but haven't had/made it since going gluten free and low-sugar 3 years ago. I would keep a secret loaf in the freezer (marked LIVER) and would enjoy a slice occasionally with a cup of tea, and would nurse the last loaf for as long as possible. I never boozed it. I like it just plain.

I made both dark and white fruit cake for years. People who swore they didn't like fruit cake would eat what I made not realizing it was fruit cake (LOL). Sorry it has gotten such a bad reputation over the years. People who hate it have probably never had a "good" one. My sister-in-law was convinced the green bits would kill her. I explained how you didn't need to use the commercial fruit, and how much better it was if you did your own fruit.

Hubby helped make dark fruit cake one year, and he said how easy it was to make, when he always assumed it was difficult. I pointed out how years ago they grated the sugar cone on a fine grater to make fine sugar, picked the seeds out of the raisins, cracked the nuts and chopped them for the nutmeat, and sugared citrus peel and dried dates and other fruits used in recipes long before you ever made it; and it had to "ripen" for several weeks before eating. THAT explained why our recipe was essentially mix and bake compared to years ago.

I have a traditional Irish cake --Porter Cake-- that uses glace cherries, light and dark raisins, chopped mixed candied peels, and chopped almonds, and it's very good, too. I would buy the glace cherries after Christmas, when they were marked down, and store them to use in March for St. Patrick's Day. I bake nearly as much for St. Patrick's Day as I do Christmas.

Carrot Fruit Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups finely grated carrots
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup candied cherries, halved
• 1 cup candied mixed fruit
• 1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan.
2. Beat the vegetable oil with the
   white and brown sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the
   grated carrots. Add the 2/12 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder,
   ground cinnamon, and salt. Stir until just moistened.
3. Toss the raisins, candied cherries,
   candied mixed fruit, chopped dates, and the chopped walnuts with the
   remaining 1/2 cup flour. Stir to coat. Add fruit and nut mixture to the
   batter and stir until combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 1 1/2 hours.

Sorry, no. I can't stand the thought of those too-sweet preserved fruits. Worse than eating a jelly bean.

The only fruit cake I've ever liked was made like rhizo's SIL's cake -- light batter with nuts and dried fruits, but no candied fruit. rhizo, does your SIL share her recipe???

grainlady, that's so funny about labeling it 'LIVER'. lol!

Try this one and you will love them forever. Collin street bakery.

We like fruitcake if it isn't filled with citron and other dried fruits. I have a recipe for white fruitcake that I've made in years past and we really enjoyed it.

I don't love them but I may have a little bit. My mother in law has always made a no bake fruit cake that my husband absolutely loves. I have her recipe and have made it for him. That one is actually pretty good not a typical one. If anyone wants the recipe I will post it.

Jeweled Fruitcake

If you'd like, brush occasionally with brandy,rum or bourbon during storage. The recipe says it adds a rich mellow flavor to the fruitcake. I skipped this part though.

2 cups dried apricots (11 ounces)

2 cups pitted dates (12 ounces

1 and 1/2 cups brazil nuts (8 ounces) I used walnuts instead.

1 cup red and green candied pineapple, chopped (7 ounces)

1 cup red and green maraschino cherries, drained (12 ounces)

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

3 large eggs.

Heat oven to 300º. Line loaf pan 9 x 5 x3 with aluminum foil, grease foil with shortening.

Mix all ingredients, spread in pan.

Bake about 1 hour 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. If necessary, cover with aluminum foil during last 30 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning.

Remove fruitcake from pan (with foil) to wire rack. For a glossy top immediately brush with light corn syrup. Cool completely. Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator no longer than 2 months.

*if using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt.

For Petite Jeweled Fruitcakes: Use 24 medium muffin cups 2 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches, with foil liners. 1/3 cup batter each . Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Follow same cooling instructions.

We really liked this fruitcake but it all depends on what your likes are.

Snidely you have described my favorite fruitcake. Hard to find the perfect one. My mom made hers the weekend of Thanksgiving and kept moisting it with rum till Christmas. It was very yummy and weighed at least 10 pounds. Glad we never knew the nutritional info. I don't make it because it would be calling to me till last crumb was gone.

Here is my recipe for Cherry Pineapple Cake. I got the recipe off of the candied fruit container, but I have also seen this recipe listed as White Fruit Cake and I have seen different recipes for White Fruitcake....but this is good. Everyone who tries it, likes it.

Cherry Pineapple Cake

4 cups chopped nuts. (I use pecans or walnuts)
1 lb. candied pineapple
1 lb. candied cherries...I use half red, half green
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
5 large eggs
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. pure lemon extract

Chop
fruit and nuts and dredge with flour (I cut the cherries in half and
cut the pineapple wedges in half.) Dredge with 1/4 cup of flour.
(This takes a humongous bowl...even my largest pyrex bowl isn't big
enough, but I have an extra, extra large glass mixing bowl that I use.)

Cream
butter and sugar, and add eggs one at a time, beating after each.
Combine remaining 1 1/2 cups flour and baking powder and add to butter,
sugar, and egg mixture. Stir in the vanilla and lemon extracts. Stir
in fruit and nuts.

Pour into greased 10" tube pan or two loaf
pans and put in cold oven, set at 250* and bake for two hours if using a
tube pan and an hour and a half if using loaf pans.

(I have made this cake many times and it always takes longer to bake than two hours...so bake until it tests done.)

Called SIL and she said that she used the King Arthur's Flour recipe, with a few adjustments. I don't recall any candied fruit all all, for example, just rum soaked dried apricots, golden raisins, cranberries, and dates. She unwrapped the cakes every couple of weeks to give them another brush with rum or sugar syrup.

Sue_va, the Claxton fruitcakes are still available everywhere. Those are the types of cakes that are the objects of so many jokes and cartoons. ;-) Packed full of those wierd little candied citrons.

Best fruitcake I ever had was when we had a KT gathering at Buzzard's in Fredricksburg, Tx. Annie bought an apricot fruitcake from town, and she and I practically ate the whole thing ourselves.

Snidely,Marcopolo and I can share a whole fruitcake. We agree. :-D

I order DH one from here once a year: https://www.gethsemanifarms.org/productDetail.aspx?id=49

I tend towards those made with dried fruit, but not candied. So I guess I can be in the like or dislike camp depending upon which type.

I found 12oz Claxton fruitcake in Walmart this afternoon for $2.68. Says it has 3 servings, I think 6 servings would be OK as dense as it is. That is a WOW price. It was in the display with Christmas treats. Bet it was marked wrong and will not be there next visit. My good luck.

I never could understand why no one in the family liked them except me. My mother would make a large one each year and I would get 95% of it. She's gone now and I couldn't burn that many calories if I had to.

Anyone ever tried graham cracker fruitcake? Co worker used to make them, and I really enjoyed. Here's a recipe, don't know if it is like her recipe, and saw other variations as well in a search.

graham cracker fruit cake

Never met a fruitcake that I liked. I keep trying but can't stand the candied fruit. Yuck! If it was made with dried fruit, maybe I would like it.

That is the same or very similar to mother in laws no bake fruit cake. I will warn not to try to do a double batch. We did it once it's very hard to mix up that much.

Does anyone have that fruit cake recipe from the KT at Buzzards?

The apricot fruitcake was store bought, and it was delicious! Maybe you can find a recipe on line.

I don't have time to look right now, but I think Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, TX makes an apricot fruitcake. I like their traditional fruitcake fairly well....but not as much as the cherry pineapple cake I make.

I like a good, fruity, fruitcake

This is a copy of my mother in laws no bake fruit cake

Lucille’s Unbaked Fruit Cake:

1lb. graham crakers(or box of crumbs)

1/2lb. raisins

1/2lb. chopped dates

1 lb. mixed candied fruit

1/2 cup candied orange rind(optional)

1or2 sm.cont.maraschino cherries(if you
really like cherries add 2)

2 cups nuts(or more if you have it and
no need to chop)

1 tsp.cinnamon

1 tsp.allspice

1 large can evaporated milk

1lb. mini marshmellows(1bag)

Crush crackers and add chopped fruits.

Heat milk and add marshmellows. Do not
allow to melt completely.

Pour this over dry ingredients.

Mix well and pack firmly into loaf
pans.

Store in refrigerator a few days before
serving.

*If you want to flavor with rum or
bourbon poke holes in top with toothpick and slowly pour a jigger
over top(just one!). These do have to "age" in the fridge
so don't rush it. And they freeze well.

I dislike fruit cake. There are so many better ways to serve rum!!

When I was in college, my father used to receive many many fruitcakes from his work associates. No one in the family ate fruitcake. I'd have to fit as many as possible into my suitcase to take back out to college to give away to classmates. Most of whom didn't like fruitcake, either.

(I dislike candied fruit, I don't like most tree nuts, and the few I do like, don't like my gut very well...)

My mother used to make that Unbaked Fruitcake, Raven. Back in the '50's.