Just realised that you cake isn't leaking, winniemog, which would seem to imply that it is all the alcohol I am adding. Hubby wanted to know this morning at what point the decorating becomes more important than the taste. I might have to try and find a half way point.
I live across from the beach and I don't have the leaking problem. I do soak in booze , I don't keep topping it up though I just give it a stir as it sits there, but I start with probably four times as much at the beginning. I use a combo of rum ( bundaberg of course I am a Queensland girl ) , brandy , sherry, vermouth and a splash of curacao. I don't use mixed peel cause my mob hates it. I do zest a lemon and orange finely and add that to the creaming stage of the butter and sugar, it gives a nice citrus note to the finished cake. I use craisins and glace ginger ( Buderim of course , it's a Queensland thing ) and the marmalade I use is the Buderim ginger lime and lemon one. My spice preference is mixed spice, ginger, nutmeg.
I don't feed my cakes , but do splash a little brandy on them when they first come out of the oven. I then wrap them up and put them in the cupboard to mature.
I have had fruitcake with an almond flavoured white chocolate ganache. I can't say I was a fan. I recently did a wedding cake where I used choc ganache to coat the fruitcake before covering , only because I knew it was to be eaten straight away and not kept. The bride and groom loved it , and it made covering a lot quicker and easier.
I find most of my clients don't like marzipan , as they think it is the awful almond flavoured icing people used to use. I now , warm bakel icing with just a drop of water and use it to fill and cover the first layer then I spritz with brandy and do the final coat. I always seal the bottom with a small ring of icing .
Hope that gives you a few more suggestions but probably just confused.
Chelle.
A
Original message sent by cazza1
Winniemog exactly what do you do to feed it after it is cooked? Do you poke holes in it or do you just brush the top? Who much do you feed it each time? It might be worth changing to feeding after, rather than before.
I generally feed a couple of tablespoons each time. I usually just slowly pour it over the top of the cakes, if I have a skewer next to me, then I will use it to poke holes, but more often than not I just pour it on. I'm often doing lots of little 3 or 4 inch cakes as well, and I might pour a couple of teaspoons on each one in the container, and by the time I get to the last cake in the container I can re-feed the first cake, so each one gets a full tablespoon each week. I do use a full half cup of brandy in the pre-soak but I find after 3-4 days' soak it's all been absorbed by the fruit. I really love this raw mixture too.....
And that is very wicked talking about freezing portions of pudding for outside of Christmas time! And you had better dish on this cream cheese sauce.....my god I'm going to need a bigger pair of pants before Christmas comes if I keep talking to you!
And tell hubby that it might be a fine line between beauty and flavour when it comes to cakes......but I always figure I can eat an ugly cake with my eyes closed if necessary! (Not that that is something to aspire to.......)
It's so intriguing learning these recipes from different places around the globe. I'm glad to hear that the citrus mix is optional. And that you can do so much mixing of flavors of the fruits, the spices, and the spirits !
I had to do a little research and found this photo of the fruits that are in your recipe.....
http://britishfood.about.com/od/glossary/g/driedfruit.htm
and an instruction page (maybe! as this is a British website recipe) I love that it has 11 pages of step-by-step photos...............
http://britishfood.about.com/od/christmas/ss/Step-By-Step-Classic-British-Christmas-Cake.htm
Just for you winniemog
RUM CREAM SAUCE (Australian Women's Weekly)
125g cream cheese, softened
30g soft butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon juice
300mls thickened cream
2 tablespoons dark rum
Beat cream cheese and butter until light and creamy
Beat in sifted icing sugar, egg and lemon juice
Fold in whipped cream and rum
Refrigerate for several hours before serving
Can be made 2 days ahead
Does not freeze
Chelle, I also am a Bundy girl for anything rum. Do you make your warmed icing with water into a paste to smooth over the cake? I have often wondered how to get rid of the lumpy looking surface when you are not using almond icing and don't want a thick layer of icing.
YUM all this talk of cakes and sauce and pudding has got me thinking that I might go and make a pudding in a cloth for Christmas and hang it to mature.
MB , there are very few rules with the fruit in fruitcakes, with the exception and pineapple and apple. They tend to ferment and the outcome is not pretty.
Cazza , I just pop some bakels into a microwave proof cup , about half a golf ball worth (accurately measured of course). I add a few drops of water from the kettle and pour off any excess, then microwave for ten seconds and give it a good stir , then slather it on filling your holes as you go. I leave it to dry for a bit , usually half an hour or so depending on the weather. Then I mist with some brandy and cover with the final layer.
Winnie and Cazza , I just might have to get the pudding cloth out and make the pudding, we also use the Women's weekly boiled pudding recipe in this house, My Mum clipped it from the weekly the year I was born and has been making it ever since. The start of Christmas in the house is signalled by bringing out the recipe and reading the stories she has written every year about what was going on when the pudding was made, who had a stir to make a wish and a bit about Christmas that year. It is like a family archive, we call it the "Pudding Saga". Oh and I was born in 1970 ;) and the Issue came out on my sister's Birthday that year.
AI love that story too Chelle. My memories of stirring the Christmas pudding and cakes revolve around a very cross mother and trying to stay out of her way! Now I let my girls stir the mixtures with me.....and I think it's time to start our family pudding saga.......
@Mimimakescakes the fresh apple/pineapple exception sounds like the old 'what not to add to Jello gelatin' rule. The enzymes in those fresh fruits go crazy.
One of the 'old country' family recipes passed down to my mom was for Suet Pudding with Hard Sauce. Which in my house meant whiskey. You guys reminded me of that with your memories. Never made it myself, however it may be time to reach back into the past and learn how to make Suet Pudding, as well as this 'spirited' Fruit Cake.
hmmmm
- rum
- Kentucky bourbon
- madeira
- how about 'Sheep Dip' Malt whiskey imported from Scotland......I've got a whole cup of that left in the bottle. May have to make 3 or four fruitcakes.
AMy MIL insists on both hard sauce and white sauce for the Christmas pudding - this is a sweet version of the white sauce you make for a mac and cheese - it's horrible! I always make a proper creme anglaise for our pudding, and since it's summer I make Christmas pudding ice cream by crumbling pudding into homemade vanilla ice cream. It is SO good.
you guys are really bringing the past into mind today. I can remember gobbling down home made mince meat pies and loving it. yet I don't even remember what was in them. Boy has @cazza1 started a thread down memory lane. ATry mince pie pops - I crumbled home made mince pies, mixed it 50:50 with a dark chocolate ganache, rolled balls, dipped them in tempered dark chocolate and sprinkled them with demerara sugar. They were really good...and I think cake pops are the devil's work.....but these were delicious.
I also make Christmas pudding truffles, same idea (but with extra alcohol!) then decorate the tops with a little white chocolate (for custard) and then tiny holly leaves and berries. They are unbelievable.
OK - I've got to ask you fruitcake specialists. I just started researching this two years ago. It has obviously fallen off since my great grandparents made the traditional Christmas fruitcakes. So, I had to research and consult a lot.
I found that I can cook a 6 or 7 inch tin about 3 inches high, in a pressure cooker, for about 30 minutes. I then brushed with alcohol weekly and did everything else to mature it until Christmas. Does anyone see a drawback to the pressure cooker?
Also, I made an amaretto, cherry, pecan fruitcake the same way....spectacular.
I have never used a pressure cooker but my friend swears by them and can cook Christmas puddings three at a time in hers. Cakes I'm not sure about, and you might miss the smell of all those lovely festive spicy aromas throughout the house, but 30 mins is amazing as opposed to 3 or so hours.
My own cakes are already under the bed in my unheated spare room and despite being wrapped in layers I can still smell them when I pass it.....or maybe that's my nightcap?
Fruit mince pies are delicious. I have my dead Nana's recipe for the fruit mince which has grated apple in with the sultanas, raisins booze etc. No suet. And she made the best pastry ever but unfortunately the recipe she gave me for that was wrong and so hers is lost for all eternity. This might horrify some but I still have some left over fruit mince in the fridge from last Christmas and it is delicious.
I detest normal cake pops but my fruitcake crumbled with a tiny bit more alcohol added for binding and then dipped in chocolate is extremely rich and decadent and delicious.
Gerle are you taking about fruit mince pies or beef mince pies. Aussie beef pies when made properly are fabulous and I must confess to having the most wonderful recipe. And it uses lard and butter in the pastry so that it is extra short and marries with the beef mince perfectly.
Quote:
Fruit mince pies are delicious. I have my dead Nana's recipe for the fruit mince which has grated apple in with the sultanas, raisins booze etc. No suet. And she made the best pastry ever but unfortunately the recipe she gave me for that was wrong and so hers is lost for all eternity. This might horrify some but I still have some left over fruit mince in the fridge from last Christmas and it is delicious.
I detest normal cake pops but my fruitcake crumbled with a tiny bit more alcohol added for binding and then dipped in chocolate is extremely rich and decadent and delicious.
Oh you're one of us Cazza1! A cousin from The Old Country salutes the New World!
I have that that recipe in my DNA.
I actually have jars of mincemeat from two years ago in a dark larder and I bring it out in Winter to serve warmed though with custard or chantilly cream whenever a quick dessert is called for, for unexpected (uninvited!) guests, ie; the idiots who consistently prang their cars at a bad bend a mile up the road and find themselves out of mobile signal to call the AA, and the resulting police who have to attend said prang.
Over the years though I've found the suet prevents the fermenting of the apples....I use a lot, not grated but chopped and vastly improves the keeping quality.
cakebaby2 my dear departed Nana (who I was very close to and favoured grandchild by merit of the fact that I was the only one who loved craft and spent so much time with her) was a Scot. She emigrated to Australia in her early 20s and met and married the 'enemy', an Englishman.
I am obviously not as nice as you because I am not wasting either my good fruitcake or my good fruit mince tarts on idiots who drive to quickly and then crash. But I can use the excuse that I should not feed them in case they need surgery so that I don't appear inhospitable. (strangely enough my new neighbour is building a fence across the front of his yard in case someone loses control coming down the street and crashes through the front of his house. Can't say it's been a problem in the 12 years that we have been here but I suppose you never know)
What a great thread for the holidays!
My mom came from Germany, so I have all her recipes for cakes and cookies. She made a fruit cake which included filberts and figs. It was baked in a loaf pan, then wrapped in cheesecloth and sprinkled with brandy. Not my favorite! But she made a cookie called White Elisen which were placed on wafers, dried overnight and then baked in a very slow oven. The batter had citron, ground almonds and lots of eggs. Heavenly!
The fruitcake which my family and friends enjoy is out of a Southern Living cookbook I got years ago. It is for a very famous cake "Martha Washington's Great Cake" Actually a very rich pound cake with fruits macerated in brandy. I bake it in a tube pan. Wrap in cheesecloth and sprinkle with brandy. My friends can't wait to get theirs each year.
cazza the mince pies I had were made with suet and were awful! It could have just been the recipe my mom used, but you wouldn't catch me eating it after that first taste and I haven't had one since. Just the name turned me off to them after that. I don't think I've ever tasted a fruit one, but don't know if I want to try. I don't remember the ingredients my mom put in her mince pie so don't know if I've tried a beef one either, it might be something I'd attempt if I knew it would be good because I do like meat pies......my husband might enjoy it, too. My mom was one to put ingredients in things that us kids didn't like and really turned us off to certain items until we got older. Like turkey dressing for instance. My sister, brothers and I hated oysters with a passion, and my mom always put oysters in her turkey dressing. Needless to say, I never ate dressing until I met my husband and thought it would be rude if I didn't at least try his mom's dressing the first Thanksgiving I spent with them.....and boy was I surprised! Her dressing was soooo delicious! I use her recipe to this day to make my dressing and it's always delicious! But I haven't found a mince pie recipe yet that I've been willing to try to change my mind about them. If you're willing to share, I might be willing to try yours, either the fruit or the beef, or both. My husband just informed me that his grandmother used to make one that he liked, but he hasn't had one in years and never got her recipe. He said he'd be interested in trying both your fruit and beef...he's one of those who likes to try everything at least once and he immediately lets me know if I should continue cooking it or forget about it! Men are usually very good "test" subjects.......!!
I am chiming in on this thread. Behold, my Nana's Christmas Cake recipe with full instructions passed on from my Mum and further notes from me.
Made in 91⁄2” - 10” tin (3" deep)
44 oz Mixed Fruit
6 oz glacé cherries chopped different sizes – leave some whole
4 oz chopped, flaked almonds
10 oz softened butter
10 oz caster sugar or dark brown or whatever you’ve got!
6- 8 eggs at room temperature (I have only ever needed six – but they are usually large)
12oz plain flour (that would be All Purpose Flour over the pond)
Salt – good pinch
2tsp mixed spice (that would be pumpkin spice I think)
1 Lemon - Grated rind and juice
Milk (I have never needed it. I think it’s because I soak the fruit in spirit overnight before making)
1. Soak fruit overnight in at least three tbsp of spirit - you can use brandy, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, or whatever your favourite tipple may be)
2. Prepare tin – double lined with greaseproof or baking parchment. Double/triple layer of
newspaper/magazine paper round outside (I used to faff about with string but have discovered that
sellotape sticks it fine!) I have seen somewhere that you can cut a double circle of greaseproof
paper the same size as the tin–with a hole in the centre - and place it over the mixture before
baking.
3. Cream butter, lemon rind and sugar.
4. Add eggs a little at a time use a tablespoon of flour if the mixture curdles (You could add all
the eggs at once - like you do when you make a sponge but make sure that the mixture is not still ‘split’ before the fruit and other ingredients are added)
5. Stir in the rest of the flour, gently
6. Stir in the dried fruit and almonds, finishing with the cherries.
7. Stir in the lemon juice.
8. Add milk (if necessary) to reach a stiff dropping consistency
8.5 Remember to get all the family in the kitchen to allow them ONE stir each and to make a wish
9. Place in tin. Level carefully and make a shallow dip in the middle – to allow for it rising.
10. Bake on 140ºC for 2 hours, then reduce to 125ºC for a further 2 hours. Test with cake tester or cocktail stick, repeat as necessary. Cover with folded paper halfway if browning too quickly.
11. When cooked, remove from oven, pierce all over with skewer. Allow to cool until warm – not hot-
and feed with four or five tablespoons of alcohol mixture *see below
12. Leave to cool in tin until completely cold
13. Wrap in cling film (not tinfoil/aluminium foil), place in airtight container in cool, dark place and feed weekly (if you get a last minute order, feed every day for a week, then freeze cake overnight)
Almond paste/Marzipan should be done a couple of days before royal icing or sugar paste layer to allow it to dry out a little. Remember to roll out marzipan and sugar paste with icing sugar ONLY - NOT cornflour - to avoid fermentation.
Recipe for cake ‘food’
2 parts spirit to one part glycerine, one part hot water. 4 tbsp when warm then 3 tbsp for each feed after that. I make up a supply in a plastic drinks bottle – one with a spout – and use that. I don’t bother too much with the measuring. I just work out how much I will need and then when it’s gone, it’s gone!
Don’t fret too much about exact quantities, fruit cakes area more tolerant than sponges when it comes to slight inaccuracies!
Thank you Dayti for sharing that family recipe. Its lovely that all over the world the solstice gets us all baking and "laying down" the fruits of the season.
Cazza its understandable and forgiveable that your sainted Scottish granny married an Englishman.in Oz.
This would not have been possible in Gods own country as Scottish men are notoriously jealous of their delicate womenfolk, beer and cows.
Once she was safely on the other side of the world ancient Clan rituals would not apply.x
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