I am naughty- marscarpone or clotted creme to dress it up. But I do not have a sweet tooth. Goodness, me and mom had a party making rum balls. One for the recipe, one for the chef! Happy holidays.
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I use the Temptation recipe for the batter and load it with slivered almonds, dried sour cherries, currants, golden raisins, chopped dates, candied citron, candied pineapple, and whatever else looks good. I use orange juice and Irish whiskey to soak the fruit and nuts. As it ages I add Amontillado. It gets darker and denser, and the flavor is not very sweet, slightly tart. I love it.
Because the fruit is all whizzed up, this appeals to me. I donāt like cake studded with fruit.
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This sounds delicious!
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This year the fruitcakes will have no candied fruit, only dried. Dried sour cherries, immense golden raisins, currants, and chopped dates are soaking in orange juice, molasses, and half a cup of Bushmills Irish Whiskey. I love the way Irish whiskey works with fruitcakes, steamed puddings, and hard sauce. It is a good cooking ingredient, usually as a substitute for brandy.
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Sounds lovely! Iām waiting with bated breath for my fruitcake gift, which is supposed to arrive this week 
The mention of Bimshire identifies this as from Barbados, I understand, which makes the second reason this is a reply to Phoenikia.
Sorry for the image. My still newish cell phone camera keeps scolding me about holding the camera steady but I am apparently unable to do that adequately.
This is growing on me. Iām keeping it on the countertop instead of refrigerating it and it gets better with every slice. Iām not sure where this is going to fit in my catalog of 7 different fruit cakes Iāve experienced in my life, probably not 1st or second but possibly 3rd.
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If you like a boozy cake, add a little more rum to the cake each time you take a slice 
Looks good!
I made 2 fruitcakes this year:
One with walnuts based on a Jamie Oliver recipe:
One with pecans:
I mailed the fruitcakes to my friends who like fruitcake who donated to my charity run to support Breast Cancer Care and Research in Canada. The two friends who supported me, who donāt like fruitcake, received Party Mix/ Chex Mix and some sort of baked good they like. Thumbprint cookies for one and butter tarts for the other.
Buttertartās fruit cake finally arrived last night I found it a bit sweet, what with all the candied fruit. My generous friend recommended having it with sharp cheddar as a counter point. We did not have sharp cheddar, so Roquefort (which also has a slight sweet note) had to do.
It was nice, and we made a decent dent in it with our pokah posseh.
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A very potent aroma when opening the tin but fading as time goes by. No rum or fruit wine in the house though. Will keep that in mind for next year.
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This discussion prompted me to check in on a chocolate-cherry fruitcake which - for the sake of my waistline - Iāve been ignoring since I made it in the fall of 2023. I made a lot of very boozy fruitcake that year - so much I couldnāt give it all away. Some of the cakes still are in the freezer. This was one of two which I keep in the fridge.
Better than ever! I gave it a spritz of kirsch before putting it back in the fridge to hibernate.
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The ones I gave as gifts were so popular they disappeared in a day or two. I am planning more and went to Central Market yesterday to get more dried cherries, large golden raisins, chopped dates, slivered almonds, and currants. The one I am eating now is a year old. Monthly doses of Amontillado have made it wonderfully dark and dense. I like it when the cake part is barely, if at all, discernible.
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Either you know more peeps than me, or you didnāt bake enough fruitcake.
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I will bake more next year. All mine was finished at our house, and most people who received it let me know they had finished it by Dec 30th. We still have a chocolate panettone to crack open. I will let the DCs decide when they want to do that.
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Lol. I still have a panforte in the freezer to finish off (also from 2023). That was a big year for holiday baking!
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I baked three, one for us, one for Darrell and Darrel, and one for Bill Susan. Three more are on the way.
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Is that the David Lebovitz recipe?
I used KAFās fruit cake recipe as a jumping off point. Unfortunately, I didnāt keep very good notes. If I recall correctly, it was all dried sour cherries for the fruit. Definitely was kirsch for the alcohol.
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For reference, hereās Lebovitzās:
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Looks delicious! Bookmarked - thank you!
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