I'm craving Fruitcake

[W2R]

You guys are so funny!! You crack me up. Thanks for a giggle on this colder-than-usual day, today.

 

[papaof2]

The fruitcakes my wife's late mother made. Baked early and soaked in grape juice (not wine) for days.

If nothing better is available, the Claxton fruitcakes are about as good as any commercial version.

 

[Midpack]

Try panettone...much better than live wasps with scorpions and fire ants, I believe.

We usually have one big panettone each year at the holidays. We’re on our fifth small one this year.

 

[Ready-4-ER-at-14]

I got a fruit cake for Christmas. Think I am only one in family who likes it enough to suffer the sugar rush and the calorie intake. But to my credit I only attacked the log voraciously once so far but seriously reduced it's longevity by consuming 1/4 of it...
I know moderation... moderation.. but at least I was told they bought me the small one.

 

[mickeyd]

I have been loving fruit cake for 73 years. I assume that I did not eat it the first 2 years of life. DW makes the same recipe that DM used to use and it is perfect with 1/2 shot of rum is poured atop that beautiful piece of cake.

 

[djdawson]

Let the monks do the work!

The best fruit cake we’ve ever had is made by the monks at Gethsemani Abbey, and they sell them online at monks.org. They also sell various cheeses and fudge, which is also good, but their fruit cake is most impressive! If you like fruit cake at all I highly recommend it. It also goes very well with a nice tawny port, which has become a seasonal tradition for us.

 

[aja8888]

The best fruit cake we’ve ever had is made by the monks at Gethsemani Abbey, and they sell them online at monks.org. They also sell various cheeses and fudge, which is also good, but their fruit cake is most impressive! If you like fruit cake at all I highly recommend it. It also goes very well with a nice tawny port, which has become a seasonal tradition for us.

Thanks for the info on the fruitcake!

 

[Sunset]

The best fruit cake we’ve ever had is made by the monks at Gethsemani Abbey, and they sell them online at monks.org. They also sell various cheeses and fudge, which is also good, but their fruit cake is most impressive! If you like fruit cake at all I highly recommend it. It also goes very well with a nice tawny port, which has become a seasonal tradition for us.

I had to check this out.
The cakes look really lovely, full of fruit.
So I check the reviews, only a relative few give it 1 star, and so I read a bunch of those.
Those dumb reviewers gave it 1 star for the website design, needing their phone number, etc... but nearly ALL gave 5/5 for will reorder again

Thanks for the site name.

 

[street]

I got a fruit cake for Christmas. Think I am only one in family who likes it enough to suffer the sugar rush and the calorie intake. But to my credit I only attacked the log voraciously once so far but seriously reduced it's longevity by consuming 1/4 of it...
I know moderation... moderation.. but at least I was told they bought me the small one.

LOL! You couldn't have said, it better. I'm glad they bought a small also, the calories in just a sliver of it is unreal. Lol

 

[braumeister]

The best fruit cake we’ve ever had is made by the monks at Gethsemani Abbey, and they sell them online at monks.org. They also sell various cheeses and fudge, which is also good, but their fruit cake is most impressive!

I hate to derail the thread, but since you mentioned it i can't resist relating a funny story about them.

I'm an amateur cheesemaker, and always looking for information. Some of my favorite cheeses in the world are made by the Trappist monasteries of Belgium, so I figured the Trappist monks at Gethsemani would have some of their knowledge. Also, they are only a few hours drive from where I live.

I called them to ask if I could talk with their cheesemaking monk (this was about 7 or 8 years ago). Left a message on their voicemail and they called me back about three weeks later. I explained what I was interested in and they said they would get back to me.

About a month later, I got a call from the cheesemaker, who said he had received special permission from the abbot to talk to me (as you may know, they have a vow of silence). I would have to be there two days later at a certain time.

I was very excited and called a good friend who was also a local cheesemaker and we arranged to drive there. Arrived at precisely the arranged time.

We were greeted by the monk and he gave us a tour of their cheesemaking facility. It was probably at least ten years behind the state of the art, but pretty modern. Unfortunately, he knew absolutely nothing about the art of cheesemaking.

It turned out that he had spent most of his life in the fields at the monastery, and his major expertise was in making hay. One day he was summoned by the abbot and told that the cheesemaker had died and he was to be the replacement. He was told that all the instructions were in a file kept in the cheesemaking office, and no other information was available.

So he had a set of instructions to follow, but no theoretical knowledge whatever.
Somehow, he was able to make decent cheese, but all my questions were met with a blank stare.

During our conversations, it became apparent that the money came mainly from the fruitcake and the fudge, and cheese was only a sideline.

If you happen to be in the Louisville area, you can find all the products of the abbey in quite a few stores.

 

[street]

Interesting story. Lol

 

[Rick0]

IMHO, homemade fruitcake is the best.
My wife has been making it for ~20 years.
The first coupla years (starting straight out of a cookbook) were ..rough/tough?
But after some refinements: what kind of nuts,
how much dried fruit, how much-and what flavor
brandy to add, how long to age in the frig..
It's now friggin' awesome! At least to me, which is what matters.

I always smile (YES!) when guests say "no thanks" to fruitcake. More for me.

 

[meleana]

I like it.

 

[MarieIG]

Ohhh, memories. I used to eat fruit cake as a child.

Maybe when I retire I can try making one. (No candied fruit. I would want a dark cake, with real dried fruits and nuts.)

 

[rickster55]

Two a year

I make two fruitcakes each year. One in November and the other about six months later. And I'm the only one who eats it! I leave out the nuts and increase the fruit. Better than Collins St. fruitcake in my opinion.

 

[Ian S]

Growing up in Canada, Christmas cake was quite popular but then it was made with marzipan and rich icing. For me, the higher the ratio of marzipan/icing to the fruitcake part, the better. I also remember similar cakes with marzipan and thick icing for wedding cakes.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

The best fruit cake we’ve ever had is made by the monks at Gethsemani Abbey, and they sell them online at monks.org. They also sell various cheeses and fudge, which is also good, but their fruit cake is most impressive! If you like fruit cake at all I highly recommend it. It also goes very well with a nice tawny port, which has become a seasonal tradition for us.

Thanks for the tip -- now that we're self-isolating, I'm ordering comfort foods to dole out as treats. I ordered a fruitcake and walnut bourbon fudge combo for myself, and added some plain fudge for the rest of the family...one doesn't like nuts, the other...I just want to keep away from my fudge!

Luckily, I don't need to worry about sharing my fruitcake! No one else in this house would touch it with a stick!