It’s Time To Make A Christmas Fruitcake!

“Reality is like a fruitcake; pretty enough to look at but with all sorts of nasty things lurking just beneath the surface.”

― A. Lee Martinez, Gil’s All Fright Diner

Important Information for Receivers of Fruitcake Gifts

Don’t just use it as a “doorstop” or patio paving brick.  These Christmas fruitcakes are pretty labor intensive  and expensive too. So if you have someone who makes a cake for you and gives it to you as a gift, let them know if you don’t care for the taste.  They can mark you off the list and get you something different.

I have made many of these fruitcakes through the years and had lists of people to send them to via mail. Expensive to ship also. So if you don’t like it, let the giver know. Don’t throw it out! Someone who loves Christmas fruitcake would love to have yours!

Just one caveat

If said fruitcake is NOT homemade, it is GARBAGE, so throw it out fast!

Be cautious with your helpers. Some are not there to help, but to sneak tastes! This helper was Fired!

I have adapted a recipe that was in the newspaper clipping my Mom had, and I can only guess it was one of her future attempts. But I have changed  it to fit what we liked during these past 25 years of baking it. I don’t candy lemon and orange peel and all that work that a true purist would do.  I purchase the candied fruit at my local grocery store.

Anyway, I thought this could be MY traditional Christmas fruitcake recipe. My Mom had always made them, but she experimented each year with a different type, almost never making one the same way. I know she made one once with graham crackers, seriously. And another time I remember one made with candy gumdrops. Ewwww!  I don’t remember eating them at all, but I probably went to My Happy Place.

Christmas fruitcake is meant to be made early, so I love to have mine ready as early as possible. November 1st is a good deadline, right? And mine are all done. I have made small loaf pan sizes this time, with just a few dozen of the tiny muffin sizes. I like to serve those with tea and imagine that I am having tea with Lord and Lady Grantham. As if they would have Mrs Patmore to tea!  ( Wow, do I miss Downton Abbey.)

Storing The Christmas Fruitcake

When your cakes are cooled, you must wrap them individually in cheesecloth or muslin dampened with sherry, brandy, or any liquor that you would like. Keep them in a dark, cool, dry place. It is not necessary to refrigerate, but you can. It keeps the cake moist and the flavors all mellow together. Check about every ten days to re-moisten the cloths.  I have some huge Tupperware containers for this. Stacked inside them and sealed, the fruitcake can be out of site so that you are not tempted to eat them too early.

You can freeze a fruitcake, but let it mellow and age for a month before you freeze it. It can’t mellow frozen.

When I mail the cakes, I send them via USPS and depending on where they are going, it cost $15 to $20 each. Most of the time I mail two together as a gift and they are quite heavy.

I have prepped a short video of my process which I will show here. And let me tell you, teaching yourself Davinci Resolve is no picnic!

And I can’t say this often enough:

If the fruitcake is NOT homemade, it is GARBAGE, so throw it out fast!