Easy Fruitcake Recipe - Foxy Folksy (2024)

FAQs

What alcohol is good for fruit cake? ›

Other good choices of booze include brandy, rum, or whiskey. Feel free to use one or a mix of these to best complement your fruitcake. Once you've chosen the liquor, bake the cake, poke holes throughout the whole thing, and pour a few tablespoons of the alcohol over it. Or, you can brush the cake with the alcohol.

A good fruitcake may be kept for years if it's properly wrapped. Brush about 1/3 cup dark rum or brandy all over the cooled fruitcake. Rinse about a yard of new cheesecloth under hot water, wring it out and place it in a bowl. Sprinkle the cheesecloth with 1/4 cup of the rum; wrap cheesecloth around the cake.

Fruitcake aficionados will tell you that the best fruit cakes are matured – or “seasoned” in fruitcake lingo – for at least three months before they are cut. Seasoning not only improves the flavor of the fruitcake, but it makes it easier to slice.

“The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.” This quote is straight from Johnny Carson in 1978, and this just might be the year that fruitcake gained its bad reputation. You can read more about this Infamous Fruitcake Joke.

Allow cakes to cool in pans on racks. When cooled, remove cakes from pans and remove parchment paper. Brush cakes generously with sweet sherry, brandy, rum, port, liqueur or fruit juice; do not use wine.

Flavor Enhancement: Soaking fruits in alcohol imparts a rich, deep flavor to the fruits. The alcohol helps to infuse the fruits with its unique taste, creating a distinctive flavor profile in the fruitcake.

Muslin blanket

Some types of muslin are similar to cheesecloth, and you can use them in the kitchen for more than a few purposes. It's perfect for making cheese because it strains beautifully, thanks to the fine stitching. One of the most valuable ways to use muslin is for fruitcakes around the holidays.

If your fruitcake does not have the dark fruits like currants in it, and is not baked with a dark alcohol, there is one very popular ingredient that can give it its dark color, along with a distinctly robust flavor. That special ingredient? Molasses!

For best quality, a fruit cake that is tightly wrapped with aluminum foil or saran warp can be stored for up to 1 month in a cool, dark pantry, 6 months in the refrigerator, and 12 months in a freezer. Check often for signs of spoilage, and if mold or off-odors develop, discard the cake.

According to supply and demand, as demand goes up, prices usually go up as well. The rest of the year, very few people are buying fruitcake, and as a result they lower the prices to entice people to buy it outside of their regular patterns.

Can fruit cake last 100 years? ›

And in 2019 the Detroit News reported that a Michigan family treasured a then 141-year-old fruitcake as an heirloom. And you could theoretically still eat these century-old cakes without harm—if you can get past the nauseating, rancid smell.

Fred's Sirieix's fiancée is known affectionately as 'Fruitcake'. As Fred recalled on the show, he met her while walking down the street in Peckham and was captivated by her eyes and smile.

Fruitcakes were so rich, they were considered sinful and were outlawed in Europe in the early 18th century. Restrictions eased later in the century.

Have you ever had fresh or dried fruit sink to the bottom of a cake or loaf? Don't worry, it's a common problem and generally happens when the cake batter isn't heavy or thick enough to hold the weight of the fruit as it bakes.

Whiskey serves as a great substitute for brandy in a fruitcake. Although whiskey comes from fermented grain mash while brandy is made from fermented grape mash, the process is so similar, that the flavor will be similar as well.

Most American mass-produced fruitcakes are alcohol-free, but those made according to traditional recipes are saturated with liqueurs or brandy and covered in powdered sugar, both of which prevent mould.

Fruitcakes are traditionally aged in a cloth wrapping of alcohol for at least five weeks. The alcohol preserves the cakes, fruits, and nuts within, and keeps everything moist.

Soak all your dried fruits in your spirit of choice – whisky or brandy would be the most traditional options, though other aged spirits like rum also work, and sweeter additions like sherry, Cointreau or amaretto will add their own character.