I’m going to guess that in the 1970s, the tin was a given rather than an extra. I don’t know how many years Grandpa Lauer sent those fruitcakes for, but we certainly a as amassed a fair number of tins.
The Collin Street Bakery fruitcakes — sweet and full of pecans and candied pineapple and cherries -— were quite a contrast with my mother’s homemade fruitcakes made with dried fruit soaked in rum and aged wrapped in rum-dampened cheesecloth. I come from an extended family that appreciates fruitcake.
My whole holiday baking game has changed because of getting Covid. I planned to bake cookies all last week to bring with me on a work trip this week; that trip is now cancelled.
The jammers I had already baked are now all frozen (first time freezing these very labor-intensive cookies. So worried this was a mistake.)
Two drop-cookie doughs I had made are now also frozen: a pistachio with brown-butter icing cookie and an iced gingerbread oatmeal cookie.
So now the volume of cookies I need to produce is way down. I still want to make at least six different kinds, because curating “the collection” is what I enjoy.
I also need to find a celebration cake to make and transport to nyc next weekend for my annual party. I usually provide the centerpiece dessert and many of us also contribute cookies. A friend has recently mastered a new recipe and plans to bring it - a Biscoff cheesecake - and frankly it’s hard to imagine a dessert more delicious. If I do bring something sweet, it should be very contrasty. I’m considering Leite’s Portuguese orange olive oil cake as a candidate and plan to make a test cake as soon as the olive oil I ordered arrives. The other candidate is Nigella’s clementine cake, but that cake looks less festive.
I wish I could make a linzer torte that was pretty; it would use up my homemade jam and meets the criteria of high contrast. It’s also delicious and I love nut doughs. However, I’m pretty bad at the aesthetic part of baking. That’s why I bake bundts rather than layer cakes!
There’s a family-favorite cookie (the Pa Dutch sand tart) we all love that I’d really like to make this year, but I might wait til my brother arrives for his yearly visit, to do it together.
Maybe try this jam-filled Bundt cake with your homemade jam? Blogger’s first attempt is honestly reported and pictured, as well as their modified (less jam) version.
This is the struggle I have every year with this party since the pandemic started. I’m transporting the dessert on the train, so it has to be stable and sturdy. But I still want festive and special. Using my jam is a bonus, but admittedly a tough call with a sturdy, festive cake. The options skew a little too… homely/juvenile. More church picnic than holiday party. So I usually give up on the jam requirement, and use it in cookies instead. Still doesn’t solve the cake issue.
The reviews of the Portuguese olive oil orange cake are very good, and I can bake it in a bundt pan and gussy it up… so I’m hopeful.
Olive oil cakes are very simple to look at, it’s part of their charm. No glaze, etc - at most a sprinkle of powdered sugar (but if the cake is flipped over, the powdered sugar can melt into the cake because of the oil and general moistness).
Not sure this is what you are going for, if you want a party showpiece.
(Hope your recovery is going well - I got COVID in October as soon as I got home, and it sucked but at least I didn’t lose taste or smell, which I know some people do.)
The Portuguese cake is a bundt recipe, which means the pan design can do most of the work. I have allllllllll the bundt pans, even Christmas-themed ones!
Thanks - I thought I remembered that some of us had made it. I might try it in my Holiday Fir bundt and see if it works. Need to make sure it’s not too tender for my transportation requirements!
I don’t spend time on decoration either. The biggest one of these I made was for a post- thanksgiving party one year and I just used my largest pan, which was a 10” round. The hostess brought out a pretty platter for it, and suddenly it looked like a different cake!
Could you transport the cake in the Bundt pan? I’ve brought the more traditional shaped cakes to events in the pan but not sure if a more complicated pan design would work for you
