Do You Like Fruitcake?

[David In Indy]

Fruitcake. 

YUCK!

[Scott6373]

Fruitcake. 

YUCK!

Some fruitcakes are yummy David...want me to show you?  Hehehehehehe

[moremojo]

Nope. Definitely DO NOT like fruitcake! How do fruitcake manufacturers stay in business, considering the fact that I've never heard of anyone actually liking the stuff? Maybe people keep trying it, hoping to develop a taste for it; I know I've done that more than once, but just can't get past those dreadful candied fruits.

[ednbarby]

"it makes me want to yack" - yessir, that pretty much sums it up.

What comedian was it - George Carlin, maybe? - who said he thought there was really only one fruitcake in existence and it just kept getting regifted year after year after year.  If I ever get a hold of it, I know just who to give it to - an ex-neighbor who likes to "exchange gifts" with me every year so she can get something new and give away something she already has and doesn't want.  She doesn't even bother to make the boxes look unopened anymore.  I've told her we really don't need to exchange gifts any longer and that she can just send us a card if she so desires and her answer was "I hate cards.  I'd rather give you something."  Apparently it's too much effort to just throw the unwanted item away or to say, "Hey, do you want this roasting pan/CD/bath soap I didn't want?"

 

[David In Indy]

Nope. Definitely DO NOT like fruitcake! How do fruitcake manufacturers stay in business, considering the fact that I've never heard of anyone actually liking the stuff? Maybe people keep trying it, hoping to develop a taste for it; I know I've done that more than once, but just can't get past those dreadful candied fruits.

I don't know how they stay in business. Many people will regift their fruitcake the next year, and pass it on to someone else.

Maybe the government is funding the fruitcake companies.

[David In Indy]

"it makes me want to yack" - yessir, that pretty much sums it up.

What comedian was it - George Carlin, maybe? - who said he thought there was really only one fruitcake in existence and it just kept getting regifted year after year after year.  If I ever get a hold of it, I know just who to give it to - an ex-neighbor who likes to "exchange gifts" with me every year so she can get something new and give away something she already has and doesn't want.  She doesn't even bother to make the boxes look unopened anymore.  I've told her we really don't need to exchange gifts any longer and that she can just send us a card if she so desires and her answer was "I hate cards.  I'd rather give you something."  Apparently it's too much effort to just throw the unwanted item away or to say, "Hey, do you want this roasting pan/CD/bath soap I didn't want?"

 

Fruitcakes and bath soap are the worst gifts! And those musical ties. If anyone ever gives me one of those, I'll hang myself with it. 

[Lumière]

Home-made fruitcake aint so bad, people ..
Okay, This could be an alternative: 


Dundee cake ..



Somewhat more subtle than a holiday fruitcake, this popular Scottish teacake is topped with whole almonds and lightly flavored with orange.

Prep Time: 35 minutes plus overnight to stand
Bake Time: 2 hours to 2 hours 15 minutes

2 C all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 C blanched almonds
1 C sugar
2/3 C golden raisins
2/3 C dried currants
1/2 C candied citron
1/2 C candied orange or lemon peel
1/2 C candied red cherries, chopped
1 C butter, softened
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur


 Makes 20 Servings

Preheat oven to 300° F. Grease and flour an 8-inch springform pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, allspice and cinnamon. In a food processor with a knife blade attached, combine 1/3 cup almonds and 1/4 cup sugar. Process until almonds are finely ground. In a medium bowl, mix ground-almond mixture, raisins, currants, citron, orange peel and cherries.

In a large bowl with mixer at low speed, beat remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and butter until well blended. Increase speed to medium-high and beat 5 minutes, or until light and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in orange liqueur. Reduce speed to low, beat in flour mixture until blended (batter will be thick). Stir in fruit mixture. Spoon batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Arrange remaining 1/3 cup almonds on top of batter. Bake 2 hours to 2 hours 15 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cover pan loosely with foil after 1 hour to prevent top from overbrowning.

Cool in pan on wire rack 20 minutes. With a small knife, loosen cake from sides of pan; remove pan side. Cool completely on wire rack. When cool, remove pan bottom and wrap cake in plastic wrap and then in foil. Let stand overnight before serving.

Each Serving about 290 calories; 4 G Protein; 40 G Carbohydrate; 13 G Total Fat (6 G Saturated); 1 G Fiber; 67 mg Cholesterol; 180 mg. Sodium.

[southendmd]

Thank you, Milli.

Ah, the poor misunderstood fruitcake!

Like anything else, once you've had a real  fruitcake, you might actually like it.  Problem is, few people make it.  Those mass-produced door stoppers aren't real .

Homemade fruitcake is a thing of beauty.  I have a friend who collects different dried and candied fruit for months leading up to the special time in November, when, like Geraldine Page in Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory", she exclaims, "My, it's fruitcake weather!"

Real  homemade fruitcake is a little crumbly, fresh, and tastes of all the individual fruits and nuts.  It's especially good if it has been "ripened" with a healthy dose of bourbon or rum.

Cheers.

[Kd5000]

Still not sold SouthendMD.  I used to get one everyear from someone who never got the hint. It was made by monks in Texas.  Well, I'm sure the proceeds went to benefit the monastery. I can just picture those monks making fruitcakes in July to be ready to be sent in December.

[delalluvia]

I've never tried any of the good fruitcakes.  I've seen them in those gourmet food catalogs and stores, and OMG they look yummy.  But I've never tried those.  The ones I have tried are the typical mushed cardboard cakes topped with unnaturally colored rubber Jujubes looking things.   

[southendmd]

Still not sold SouthendMD.  I used to get one everyear from someone who never got the hint. It was made by monks in Texas.  Well, I'm sure the proceeds went to benefit the monastery. I can just picture those monks making fruitcakes in July to be ready to be sent in December.

The kind of fruitcake you're describing sounds like penance.

Ain't the real thing.

Who ever heard of monks in Texas, anyway.  What do they know? Hunh?

[ednbarby]

Fruitcakes and bath soap are the worst gifts! And those musical ties. If anyone ever gives me one of those, I'll hang myself with it. 

Yes - so impersonal.  Like, hello, everyone uses soap.  But how do you really know what someone's favorite scent is, and whether they even want it in a soap?  And AS IF anyone would ever actually wear one of those ties who wasn't just totally goofing on everybody else.  And how much mileage can you get out of that?

I'm one of those people who puts a lot of thought into the gifts I give.  I really try to get something they'll take to like fish to water but yet wouldn't buy for themselves, ya know?  So when I get a thoughtless re-gift, it's like a slap to the face.

My husband is the most difficult person in the world to buy for, because he's about the only straight man I know (no offense intended!) who actually enjoys shopping.  He shops (for bargains, mostly) all the time and buys himself all the things he wants and needs.  So clothing is out of the question.  I try to make him something personal every year for his birthday and Christmas, like a CD of his favorite songs or an album of his favorite photos (that he took himself - I can't take a decent picture to save my life).  And since I *hate* to shop, even for clothes and shoes for myself, he buys me beautiful shirts and jackets and shoes he finds in his travels - things that immediately become my favorite items of clothing, but that I would never buy for myself.

And then my idiot ex-neighbor gives me an opened box of Crest Whitestrips for my birthday.  Seriously.  That disturbed me on a number of levels.  (I have really good dental hygiene, I swear!)

[David In Indy]

And then my idiot ex-neighbor gives me an opened box of Crest Whitestrips for my birthday.  Seriously.  That disturbed me on a number of levels.  (I have really good dental hygiene, I swear!)

What in the world was she thinking giving you an opened box of whitening strips?

Boy, that gift certainly does take the cake... err... the fruitcake in my opinion. 

[David In Indy]

The worst present I ever received was from my own mother! 

She made a dish of mixed vegetables for a party and nobody ate them. She poured maple syrup over the mixed vegetables and then she chilled them in the refrigerator. She called them "Hawaiian vegetables".

She canned a big batch of them up and gave me some as a birthday present. 

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted in my entire life.

Don't worry, I DIDN'T regift it! It went in the trash.

[injest]

The worst present I ever received was from my own mother! 

She made a dish of mixed vegetables for a party and nobody ate them. She poured maple syrup over the mixed vegetables and then she chilled them in the refrigerator. She called them "Hawaiian vegetables".

She canned a big batch of them up and gave me some as a birthday present. 

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted in my entire life.

Don't worry, I DIDN'T regift it! It went in the trash.

ok I was thinking I had the worst gift story but you topped me...

I bought my sister a handmade carousel horse music box for Christmas....she gave me a bottle of hair conditioner she got free with purchase....

oh ...and I like SOME fruitcakes...

[Ellemeno]

And then my idiot ex-neighbor gives me an opened box of Crest Whitestrips for my birthday.  Seriously.  That disturbed me on a number of levels.  (I have really good dental hygiene, I swear!)

I know I wouldn't find it funny if my neighbor gave me this, but sitting here, that is friggin' hilarious, Barb.  What an @$$h0!*.

Fruitcake - yes, gross.  The word "cloying" comes to mind.  But if we transmute what we are thinking about into German Christmas flavors, now THAT can be the yummiest.  Not fruitcake, but still dark rich cake with ginger/nutmeg/cardamom/cinnamon goodness, and little citron bits.  Somehow a world of difference.

[ifyoucantfixit]

"it makes me want to yack" - yessir, that pretty much sums it up.

What comedian was it - George Carlin, maybe? - who said he thought there was really only one fruitcake in existence and it just kept getting regifted year after year after year.  If I ever get a hold of it, I know just who to give it to - an ex-neighbor who likes to "exchange gifts" with me every year so she can get something new and give away something she already has and doesn't want.  She doesn't even bother to make the boxes look unopened anymore.  I've told her we really don't need to exchange gifts any longer and that she can just send us a card if she so desires and her answer was "I hate cards.  I'd rather give you something."  Apparently it's too much effort to just throw the unwanted item away or to say, "Hey, do you want this roasting pan/CD/bath soap I didn't want?"

 

that was johnny carson that said that, and he also said if you do get one its the best regift in the world, because they last for years and years, also suitable as a door stop

[sagebrush]

I love good fruitcake and have always wanted to taste a rum or bourbon fruitcake such as was described in 'A Christmas Memory'.  Any sources?  Any recipes?   Yum yum...

 

[Toast]

I LOVE a good fruitcake
My favourite is the one with the fruit (nice large pieces) just barely held together with a golden warm-flavoured batter.

almonds on the top
and a nice cup of tea or even a rum drink.

I havent found a good one this year - yet , and it's past New Years.
I guess I'll have to put out the word that I want some next year.
Just a piece or two, and a quiet time to enjoy it.
MMMMMMM

[CellarDweller]

fruitcake   Yuck

[Artiste]

I used to love it, but now I can take it or leave it!

Too much sugar, glacing the fruits, most of them !

Healthy or unhealthy, is it ?