Christmas Fruitcake -- A Delicious Recipe for a Holiday Tradition

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Ranked #163 in Food, #1,963 overall

It's been a Christmas tradition for a number of years with the first recipe dating back to ancient Rome!

Growing up in Northeastern Ohio, we generally received a fruitcake each Christmas.  Personally, I don't mind a little bit of fruitcake during the holidays despite the fact that the fruitcake fell out of favor within the past few decades.

I heard on The Today Show in an episode discussing Best Christmas Presents that a fruitcake would make a pitiful gift!  Yes, imagine that!  Well, I think if you look for a high-quality fruitcake or take the time to make your own, that it can be appreciated rather than pitied.  Now, why do you suppose that the Fruitcake has been given some a bad rating?  Drop me a line at the end of the lens and tell me your take on the Christmas Fruitcake! P.S. December 27th is National Fruitcake Day.

Christmas bow

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A Yummy Christmas Fruitcake -- A Holiday Tradition

The earliest recipe for Fruitcake

The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash.

A Jolly Christmas Fruitcake Recipe 

Ah, a little bourbon makes it jolly!

4 cups of sifted flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
4 teaspoons of nutmeg
1 cup of butter
2 cups of sugar
6 whole eggs
1/2 cup of bourbon
4 cups of pecans, coarsely chopped
1 pound of seeded light raisins
1/2 cup of candied cherries--green and red


Sift flour and baking powder and nutmeg together. Cream butter, add sugar and cream until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add dry ingredients alternately with bourbon. Stir in nuts, raisins and cherries.

Turn mixture into well greased 10" tube pan. Bake at 300ºF for 2 hours or until straw inserted in cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let stand in pan for 20 minutes. Take out of pan and cool on rack. If you wish, sprinkle more bourbon on cake when it has cooled.

Wrap in foil or put in container. Before serving, sift powdered sugar over surface.

Classic Fruitcake Recipe 

How to Cook Classic Christmas Meals : Traditional Fruit Cake Recipe

Make your Christmas dishes memorable. Learn how to make traditional fruit cake from scratch in this free how-to instructional video clip on classic Christmas cooking. Expert: Louis Ortiz Bio: Louis Ortiz is a professional chef instructor at a culinary institute. He has been working in the culinary industry for 10 years. Filmmaker: Emily Thomas

Runtime: 7:46
111528 views
10 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

What the heck is a Fruitcake anyway? 

Fruitcake (or fruit cake) is a cake made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and (optionally) soaked in spirits. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated. Fruitcakes are often served in celebration of weddings and Christmas. Fruitcake is despised in many countries, including the United States.

Favorite Fruitcakes: Recipes, Legends, and Lore 

Favorite Fruitcakes: Recipes, Legends, and Lore from the World's Best Cooks and Eaters

Amazon Price: (as of 11/11/2009)Buy Now

A charming illustrated gift book that finally pays deserved homage to the fruitcake--with 38 delicious traditional recipes as well as funny and thoughtful commentary from some of the most revered voices in cooking and literature, including Julia Child, James Beard, and Eudora Welty.

Claxton Christmas Fruitcake 

Claxton Fruitcake Five Pound Regular Recipe

Amazon Price: $31.99 (as of 11/11/2009)Buy Now

Claxton Fruitcake Five Pound Regular Recipe. Known the world over for old-fashioned goodness and traditional holiday appeal. Shipped fresh year round. Great for slicing at holiday parties. Claxton Fruit Cake is the "Choice of Millions Since 1910." $20.99.

Fruitcake and Creamed Honey Pack 

Fruitcake and Creamed Honey Pack

Amazon Price: $49.95 (as of 11/11/2009)Buy Now
List Price:

Fruitcake: Cherries, Pineapple, Unbleached Wheat Flour, Walnuts, Raisins, Whole Eggs, Pecans, Dates, Oat Flour, Brandy, Sherry Wine, Papaya, Orange Peel, Lemon Peel, Butter, Pure Vegetable Shortening, Honey, Pineapple Juice, Non-Fat Dry Milk, Fine Flavorings and Spices, Salt Sodium Benzoate, Sorbic Acid, Natural Honey: Honey; Cinnamon Honey: Honey, Cinnamon; Almond Honey: Honey, Almond Extract; Brandy Honey: Honey, Brandy Flavor.

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Wisconsin Christmas Fruitcake 

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A Fruitcake Christmas 

Hermie and Friends: A Fruitcake Christmas

Amazon Price: $11.49 (as of 11/11/2009)Buy Now
List Price: $12.99

It's Christmastime in the garden and Hermie and his friends are hustling and bustling to prepare for the big day. But more than anything they all eagerly anticipate the crowning moment of the holiday season: the arrival of Grannypillar's scrumptious fruitcake. Suddenly, Christmas is hijacked when Iggy and Ziggy Cockroach - the greediest bugs in the garden - steal Grannypillar's fruitcake. How will Christmas survive?

But deep in the hearts of the youngest of hearts, the true meaning of Christmas shines through. Hailey and Bailey, through an act of unheard generosity, together remind the garden that the celebration of Christmas is nothing about fruitcake, but about God's gift to us.

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Ah, Christmas Cakes -- the Ultimate Book

The Ultimate Book of Christmas Cakes 

The Ultimate Book of Christmas Cakes (The Creative Cakes Series)

Amazon Price: (as of 11/11/2009)Buy Now

Hardcover: 96 pages.
Publisher: Rutland Group (August 1996).

Christmas Fruitcake pics 

The Cream Tea Times by photomequickbooth

The Cream Tea Times

christmas cake by jules:stonesoup

christmas cake

Tofu by Lucius Kwok

Tofu

The Eraserheads wrote a book too! by ~MVI~ (mining the archives)

The Eraserheads wrot...

69/365 by anokarina

69/365

IMG_4781 by gurms

IMG_4781

Pan de dulce by NatalieHG

Pan de dulce

presents by telepathicgeorge

presents

presents by telepathicgeorge

presents

presents by telepathicgeorge

presents

bows by telepathicgeorge

bows

presents by telepathicgeorge

presents

automatically generated by Flickr

The buzz on Christmas Fruitcake 

Breakfast At Your Desk: Do You Like (Don't Laugh) Fruit Cake ...
Glamour magazine: fashion, beauty, health, sex advice, news: glamour.com.
Fruit and nut cake- Christmas came early! - Sunita's world
Ideally, a fruit cake should be kept for a month, or even months to develop the flavours. We were impatient and had to give it a try. Moreover, we do not celebrate Christmas, so did not have to worry about keeping it till that time ( my ...
Easy Fruit Cake | Notecook
We are all aware Christmas is around the corner and things are going to get hectic. Christmas cake!? why not try this very easy fruit cake and just add icing if you please. Ideal for people that can't have alcohol.
What is Christmas? Nothing but a Famous Fruit Cake.
Every Christmas, without fail, I would bake my almost ?famous? Honey Dipped Fruit Cake and give them to friends. This year, I'm breaking my tradition by selling my fruit cake to the public. This recipe was given to me by my Secondary ...

Drop me a line ... Are you a Christmas Fruitcake fan or not? 

Christmas bow

Have any fond Fruitcake memories? Do you have a favorite fruitcake? Love getting a fruitcake for Christmas or not???

shannonpatricia wrote...

I love fruit cake. While my Dad was still living I baked him one every year.

ReplyPosted November 09, 2009

Margo_Arrowsmith wrote...

in reply to PensiveKatie I think you are right, its those green cherries that have turned fruit cake into the classic regifting joke! Time to stop and try some of these recipes! 5*

ReplyPosted October 25, 2009

view all 33 comments

The Fruitcake Lady?

Did you know that Marie Rudisill, aka "The Fruitcake Lady," made her first Tonight Show with Jay Leno appearance in December 2000 in a now classic segment, when she helped Jay Leno and Mel Gibson make fruitcake?  For a bit of fun this year, maybe you'd like to try her book.

Ask the Fruitcake Lady! 

This looks like a fun book!

Ask the Fruitcake Lady: Everything You Would Already Know If You Had Any Sense

Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 11/11/2009)Buy Now

Marie Rudisill, aka "The Fruitcake Lady," made her first Tonight Show with Jay Leno appearance in December 2000 in a now classic segment, when she helped Jay Leno and Mel Gibson make fruitcake.

Since 2002 she has regularly dished out sassy advice to fans in her popular segment called "Ask The Fruitcake Lady."A frenzied mother asks, "My teenage son sleeps all the time. How do I get him to help around the house?" The Fruitcake Lady responds with a no-nonsense answer: "Well, all you got to do is get up there and say, Get your ass out of the bed! And I mean get it out!'"

Ask the Fruitcake Lady will gather together some of Marie's finest morsels of wisdom and advice, including:-Spicy advice on profanity in children -Nutty wisdom of talking to houseplants -Dishing out a good helping of sass when she addresses curing hangovers -Outrageous ways of dealing with mothers-in-law and bachelor parties -Finding a rich man to marry -What a single, soon-to-be 40 woman needs more than a man.

"The Fruitcake Lady" is not just any nonagenarian from Florida. She is Truman Capote's aunt, and it was her book, Fruitcake: Memories of Truman Capote and Sook, which brought her to the attention of Jay Leno. Her quips to viewers' questions have made her a favorite on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

"Nutty as a fruitcake was derived in 1935."

Fruitcake : Memories of Truman Capote and Sook 

Fruitcake : Memories of Truman Capote and Sook

Amazon Price: (as of 11/11/2009)Buy Now

Hardcover: 96 pages.
Publisher: Hill Street Press (November 2000).

When do you usually get a Fruitcake? 

Why the #1 holiday is Christmas!

Christmas () or Christmas Day is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.Christmas, Merriam-Webster. Retrieved October 6, 2008."Christmas," MSN Encarta. Retrieved October 6, 2008. Archived 2009-10-31."Christmas", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913. The date of commemoration is not known to be Jesus' actual birthday, and may have initially been chosen to correspond with either a historical Roman festival"Christmas", EncartaRoll, Susan K., Toward the Origins of Christmas, (Peeters Publishers, 1995), p.130.Tighe, William J., "Calculating Christmas". Archived 2009-10-31. or the winter solstice.Newton, Isaac, Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733). Ch. XI.A sun connection is possible because Christians consider Jesus to be the "sun of righteousness" prophesied in Malachi 4:2. Christmas Day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.

Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, church celebrations, the exchange of cards, and the display of various decorations?including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. Santa Claus (also referred to as Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins) is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at Christmas for children. Santa is generally believed to be the result of a syncretization between Saint Nicholas and elements from pagan Nordic and Christian mythology, and his modern appearance is believed to have originated in 19th century media.

Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but has also recently come to be celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. Because gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has become a major event for many retailers.

The news on Fruitcake 

Looking for a specific fruitcake recipe? Well I found a site, basic-recipes.com that has oodles of these recipes!

Christmas takes the cake
By Jan Bilton - The Marlborough Express Quick option: Pinot noir fruit cake is a great Christmas cake if you are in a hurry but may not keep as long as a ...
Budget-busting Christmas cake
With the average Christmas cake costing up to $35, I borrowed this fruit cake recipe off my dietitian colleague Richard Swinbourne, who runs a community ...
Don't waste your liquid assets
Marguerite Patten uses strong cold tea in her fruit cake, and what's a tiramisu without its coffee? For a variation on the classic Italian pudding, ...
Mayor Reveals Favorite Recipe
In the case of Osawatomie Mayor Phil Dudley, a holiday staple is good, old-fashioned fruit cake. Check out the recipe to create Dudley's favorite fruit cake ...

Creative Commons License 

Do Squidoo, But Don't Plagiarize ...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work ... it is just NOT cool so don't do it!

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