My dad always loved fruit cake, so I do, too! I have never made one, but maybe i will give it a shot this year with the recipe you shared. Your two look wonderful-perfect bake!

If I could have fruitcake without the alcohol, I'd like it better. I don't like the taste of alcohol in anything. I tried making one substituting orange juice, but it was too wet.

I love that fruitcake, that recipe. I get the dried fruit at Trader Joe's, and I love the ginger. That's the best fruitcake ever!

Yum!

And @ Fun - perhaps a simple syrup would work better?

Nice! I’d also prefer it without the booze, and agree with you about the candied ginger. No question AB’s a good source.👍🏻

Ina G has a recipe for fruitcake cookies that’s supposed to be good. I’ve never tried it.

Yes, that batter looks disgusting and I won't say what it reminds me of.

I thought fruitcakes had to 'age' for a couple years and change hands 3 or 4 times before being eaten by someone.

I love fruitcake and ginger. Hubby cannot have any alcohol because of his meds, so I have not made one in years.

LJ, only those little ones you buy in the stores, lol.

I'm not a huge fan of fruit cake because of the citron, but I recall eating a few slices as a kid when all the Christmas candy, cookies, and fudge were gone. After New Year's, all that remained was fruitcake and clove ribbon candy. Didn't care for either but ate them both in desperation.

Chloebud's comment about fruitcake cookies reminds me of lebkuchen as a good substitute. I first had Trader Joe's , which is available in December, and then I tried making my own for Christmas. I made elisenlebkuchen, which is flourless lebkuchen. I didn't use citron, just homemade candied orange and lemon peel. It's really great with a cup of tea.

https://rachelsfoodventures.wixsite.com/rachelsfoodblog/post/elisen-lebkuchen-traditional-german-gingerbread

Eileen - Homemade candied peel is SO worth it, isn’t it?

When I saw the subject line here I immediately thought of AB’s recipe which I’ve meant to try for decades. I usually think of it too late; I guess I don’t have that excuse this year!

I don’t drink, and while I’m generally not concerned about culinary uses this does seem like a bunch of alcohol. AI suggested subbing apple juice. I might try 50/50 for one loaf and keep the brandy spritzing to a minimum on that one.

My fruircake used rum.

As does this one.

I also dislike the taste of alcohol and do not drink, nor do I like alcohol in/on anything. I used to bake fruitcake for Mother, who loved the stuff made with all that candied fruit. I'd prefer the dried fruit version with the candied ginger since I like that very much and use it in my molasses cookies to make them extra "spicy".

Grandma was a teetotaler but always soaked the fruitcakes in blackberry brandy, her one annual alcohol purchase, LOL. She said they had to be made Thanksgiving weekend and not eaten until Christmas.

I wonder how it would be without soaking it in anything, or maybe use one of those non-alcoholic mixes I see everywhere now?

Annie

You can soak the fruit in juice, or tea, or a combination of both. You don't have to use alcohol. If you look for British or Australian fruit cake recipes, there are many without alcohol.

This looks doable! I will have to try it. I've heard stories of people making it in July to soak for months!! That seems a bit too much for me. Thanks for the critique!

Another poster said orange juice made it too "wet". Maybe that was too much juice, or too much too soon, stretch the soaking out to several brushings? I see King Arthur Flour suggests a simple syrup or a flavored simple syrup, perhaps a fruit juice based simple syrup would be good in place of just juice.

I'm thinking that if I dunked it in coffee I'd probably like it a lot!

Annie

I do think juice by itself contains too much water for moistening a cake - maybe reducing it to a syrup would be better.

And colleen's referring to soaking the fruit before adding it to the batter, I think - not soaking the cake after baking...?

Porkchop, congratulations on checking it off the list! I just learned that I have a new assignment for Thanksgiving at a new cousin's, a pre-Thanksgiving get together, and a Thanksgiving weekend get-together, and it's making my head spin. Your progress is a total feel-good. :) Thanks for sharing.

Porkchop, that's the best recipe! It tastes delicious. Real dried fruit. Not that candied stuff. And you have long enough for it to soak. I never think of it ahead of time. Good for you!

The wrapping in alcohol soaked cheesecloth is to discourage mold and add flavour, not to moisten the cake. Generally most recipes contain enough liquid of one sort or another to make the cake sufficiently moist without adding anything post baking.

Pre-soaking the fruit makes it plump up and not draw moisture out of the cake mixture.

I love fruitcake, I was raised on it. My mom made one every year, and tried keeping my dad from drowning it in brandy. Fun times. Can't have alcohol anymore due to meds, but I still like fruit cake. Must be a learned like

My great aunt made fruitcake and it was delicious. I am glad I dont take the same meds as some of you! I remember making a Harvey Wallbanger cake, probably back in the ’80s. Galliano. Yuck.

Thanks for pointing that out, Carol, I was still living with Grandma in my head I guess. She never soaked the fruit because it was that candied stuff, not dried fruit. She soaked the cake in blackberry brandy, as did everyone else in the family who made fruitcake. Always the cheapest fruit flavored brandy available in a pint, LOL. The fruit was always that terrible mixed candied fruit that came in a tub at the grocery and was only sold during the holidays, usually right before Thanksgiving and then went on clearance after New Year's. My Mother loved the stuff, me not so much. Maybe that was the kind of fruit cake that gave fruitcake such a terrible reputation.

I keep threatening to make a panforte, which is kind of like fruitcake but I've just never done it yet and I don't know if my family would eat that either.

Annie

Mine was basted in rum and used the candied fruit. This one soaks dried fruit in rum and bastes in brandy.

Reading the recipe, the alcohol of the rum would cook out of the dried fruit. If you refrigerated the cake, you would not have to use the brandy, which is to keep it from molding.

Real Vanilla flavoring is beans soaked in alcohol.