An alert reader brought to my attention that when you attempt to go to the Georgia Fruitcake Company's website, it no longer exists. I am assuming (but am absolutely not positive) that the company doesn't exist, but I haven't checked this. Anyone have any updates?
On the good side, however, Mary of Puddin Hill is back in business, so I have done the swaperoo on my favorite southern fruitcake in the fruitcake ratings and in the sidebar, listing Georgia Fruitcake (RIP) at the bottom of the Southern-style fruitcakes and pushing Mary of Puddin Hill back up to the top.
In other news, I have received the June Taylor fruitcake for review, which I will do once I finish eating all of the fruitcake from the tasting, so perhaps by this weekend. I have been enjoying delicious homemade fruitcake every morning this week (and sometimes in the evening, too). This is not doing good things to my waistline, but doing wonderful things to my sense of well-being.
04 December 2013
01 December 2013
The Fruitcake Tasting!
The two loaves on the iron stand in back were both more traditional loaves--full of candied and dried fruit that had been macerated in alcohol, along with rich cake that was dark from brown sugar or molasses. The cake to the far left was very similar (or might even be) a type of cake called Bishop's bread. It was delicious, but we all questioned if it really qualified as a "fruitcake." It did indeed contain fruit: cherries and figs, I believe, as well as nuts (pecans, I think). But the addition of CHOCOLATE CHIPS made it deliciously sweet and decadent. It was hands down the winner in the "which is the easiest cake to eat and enjoy" category.
The other two (the other loaf and the cute cake in the heart pan) both contained fruit, mostly dried, and both tasted more like a quick bread. The one that was loaf-shaped was flavored with cinnamon and had a similar spice profile to a banana bread. They were both quite yummy tasting; however, the heart-shaped one was a bit dry, which we determined may have been because it was baked in that pan, which may have caused there to be a bit more evaporation. It was still delicious; perhaps it could have used a bit of a dousing of rum or whiskey (always good in my book).
Finally, that very powdery white blob in the lower center was the panforte I made. The panforte is really more like a candy than a cake: it contains similar ingredients to a fruitcake, just in different proportions: sugar, honey, flour, candied fruit, hazelnuts, and almonds. The tasters likened it to a Payday bar, but with fruit - very gooey and a crowd pleaser--I think everyone enjoyed it.
So that's the condensed version of the fruitcake tasting. I realize this is all very frustrating if you don't have the recipes, so I've posted a couple of the links below, and will post more as I get them. These two recipes are for the loaves on the iron rack:
14 November 2013
Happy Fruitcake Season!
Yes, I'm ashamed, I have been very lax with my fruitcake posting. I didn't even get around to posting about the taste of the King Arthur fruitcakes! Well I can sum that up pretty quickly--meh. The King Arthur cakes were perfectly adequate, but really more like a cake with fruit in it than the more rich, heavy fruitcakes (which I prefer and which I feel better define what a fruitcake is). I would liken it to the College of the Ozarks cake, except, of course, that I drenched mine in bourbon or cognac.
The good news is that my friend is having yet another fruitcake tasting, but this time, mostly home-baked fruitcakes. That will be happening over Thanksgiving weekend, so I'll be sure to post the results here (and links/fruitcake recipe resources, of course).
And I continue with MY personal commitment to--not bake a fruitcake. Instead, I have ordered the other incredibly-expensive-small-fruitcake-from-the-West-coast, the June Taylor Christmas Cake. Sounds delicious, and, SIXTY-NINE DOLLARS LATER (that includes $15 shipping to the middle of the country), one is on its way to me.
And so let fruitcake season 2013 begin!
The good news is that my friend is having yet another fruitcake tasting, but this time, mostly home-baked fruitcakes. That will be happening over Thanksgiving weekend, so I'll be sure to post the results here (and links/fruitcake recipe resources, of course).
And I continue with MY personal commitment to--not bake a fruitcake. Instead, I have ordered the other incredibly-expensive-small-fruitcake-from-the-West-coast, the June Taylor Christmas Cake. Sounds delicious, and, SIXTY-NINE DOLLARS LATER (that includes $15 shipping to the middle of the country), one is on its way to me.
And so let fruitcake season 2013 begin!
29 June 2013
King Arthur Fruitcake: the prep
Hello all, big apologies for being so late on coming back to the blog! Life sometimes has a way of intruding on cyberspace.
The very last fruitcake I sampled at the end of last year was one of my own making, but not completely: I bought the King Arthur fruitcake mix at the end of the season and decided to make my own. This post will detail how it went.
I bought the kit for $21, wow, a bargain, because it was after Christmas. I don't remember what the original price was and they don't have the kit listed on the website right now. I believe it included all three items shown in the photo below (obviously not the super-cute vintage bowl; that's mine):
The kit consisted of the fruitcake mix (for the cake itself). I took a photo of the ingredients but since I am the worst photo taker EVER, it didn't turn out well. The ingredents are flour, sugar, baking powder, molasses, and "natural flavors."
Next is the dried fruit blend, consisting of the ingredients listing below:
Finally, candied cherries, which were of pretty good quality. Here are the ingredients for them:
The recipe called for halving the cherries, then soaking them and the fruit in water or your liquor of choice. Sounds like a good plan!
Since I always seem to like the taste of cognac/brandy in my fruitcakes, I chose to soak in that, as well as a bit of this:
How can that be bad? And indeed it wasn't. So everybody, in the pool! Here's before:
And here's how they looked after their soak:
The smell, of course, was delicious. The rest of the recipe was quite easy: mix the mix with butter, then fruit, I believe there were some eggs in there, well, let's look at the recipe ingredients list:
A bit of light corn syrup in there. I'm not too happy with that but I'm sure it adds texture and probably moisture to the mix. Here are my fruitcakes, before going in the oven:
And here they are after:
The recipe suggested the following:
Since I had 2 cakes, I figured I'd try to soak with a couple different liquors. And because I like my cakes pretty boozy, I decided that in addition to brushing them with liquor, I'd also soak them in cheesecloth soaked in liquor. Can't hurt, might help with the moistness, yes?
Here's what I chose for each:
Yup, that's top-shelf Blanton's Bourbon on the right. I received that as a bridal shower gift.Come to think of it, the same girlfriend gave me both of these bottles of booze. What does that say about her impressions of me, that she gives me so much booze? That I'm top-shelf, maybe? But of course I'm her friend from COLLEGE, so conclude what you will from that and the gifts. In any case, what a great friend. So here we go! Cheesecloth in the pot:
(These photos are partly here to show some of the super-cute vintage dishware I've picked up from assorted resale shops. This is a good one, I always make cornbread in it).
In goes the booze:
And the cake is enshrouded:
For one nanosecond in my life, the idea of making my own cheese appealed. To that end, I purchased a few items from New England Cheesemaking Supply. The cheese never happened, but the Butter Muslin (read: cheesecloth) I bought from them is an excellent product. It's as sheer as a cheesecloth but the fiber is smoother and stronger. I don't think I can go back to standard grocery-store cheesecloth after using it:
Anyway, the other cake got its Bourbon wrap, then both of them went into plastic bags for an extended rest in my fridge:
A few weeks later I pulled them out and gave them a try. Why don't I save the photos and details of that in another post?
I'm not sure what the fruitcake season ahead of me is looking like. The siren call of Fiona Cairns' Rich Tamarind fruitcake has been haunting me: the taste was that good. Perhaps I'll veer into making my own? If anyone wants me to review specific fruitcakes, please comment here or on my Facebook page.
The very last fruitcake I sampled at the end of last year was one of my own making, but not completely: I bought the King Arthur fruitcake mix at the end of the season and decided to make my own. This post will detail how it went.
I bought the kit for $21, wow, a bargain, because it was after Christmas. I don't remember what the original price was and they don't have the kit listed on the website right now. I believe it included all three items shown in the photo below (obviously not the super-cute vintage bowl; that's mine):
The kit consisted of the fruitcake mix (for the cake itself). I took a photo of the ingredients but since I am the worst photo taker EVER, it didn't turn out well. The ingredents are flour, sugar, baking powder, molasses, and "natural flavors."
Next is the dried fruit blend, consisting of the ingredients listing below:
Finally, candied cherries, which were of pretty good quality. Here are the ingredients for them:
The recipe called for halving the cherries, then soaking them and the fruit in water or your liquor of choice. Sounds like a good plan!
Since I always seem to like the taste of cognac/brandy in my fruitcakes, I chose to soak in that, as well as a bit of this:
How can that be bad? And indeed it wasn't. So everybody, in the pool! Here's before:
And here's how they looked after their soak:
The smell, of course, was delicious. The rest of the recipe was quite easy: mix the mix with butter, then fruit, I believe there were some eggs in there, well, let's look at the recipe ingredients list:
A bit of light corn syrup in there. I'm not too happy with that but I'm sure it adds texture and probably moisture to the mix. Here are my fruitcakes, before going in the oven:
And here they are after:
The recipe suggested the following:
Since I had 2 cakes, I figured I'd try to soak with a couple different liquors. And because I like my cakes pretty boozy, I decided that in addition to brushing them with liquor, I'd also soak them in cheesecloth soaked in liquor. Can't hurt, might help with the moistness, yes?
Here's what I chose for each:
Yup, that's top-shelf Blanton's Bourbon on the right. I received that as a bridal shower gift.Come to think of it, the same girlfriend gave me both of these bottles of booze. What does that say about her impressions of me, that she gives me so much booze? That I'm top-shelf, maybe? But of course I'm her friend from COLLEGE, so conclude what you will from that and the gifts. In any case, what a great friend. So here we go! Cheesecloth in the pot:
(These photos are partly here to show some of the super-cute vintage dishware I've picked up from assorted resale shops. This is a good one, I always make cornbread in it).
In goes the booze:
And the cake is enshrouded:
For one nanosecond in my life, the idea of making my own cheese appealed. To that end, I purchased a few items from New England Cheesemaking Supply. The cheese never happened, but the Butter Muslin (read: cheesecloth) I bought from them is an excellent product. It's as sheer as a cheesecloth but the fiber is smoother and stronger. I don't think I can go back to standard grocery-store cheesecloth after using it:
Anyway, the other cake got its Bourbon wrap, then both of them went into plastic bags for an extended rest in my fridge:
A few weeks later I pulled them out and gave them a try. Why don't I save the photos and details of that in another post?
I'm not sure what the fruitcake season ahead of me is looking like. The siren call of Fiona Cairns' Rich Tamarind fruitcake has been haunting me: the taste was that good. Perhaps I'll veer into making my own? If anyone wants me to review specific fruitcakes, please comment here or on my Facebook page.
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