Easy Fruitcake Recipe - Foxy Folksy (2024)

FAQs

What alcohol is good for fruit cake? ›

Other good choices of booze include brandy, rum, or whiskey. Feel free to use one or a mix of these to best complement your fruitcake. Once you've chosen the liquor, bake the cake, poke holes throughout the whole thing, and pour a few tablespoons of the alcohol over it. Or, you can brush the cake with the alcohol.

Wrap the cheesecloth around your fruitcake before wrapping it in a layer of foil. Once again, ensure your fruitcake and the foil do not come in contact with one another. Place your wrapped fruitcake in an airtight container and place all of that in the fridge.

Fruitcake aficionados will tell you that the best fruit cakes are matured – or “seasoned” in fruitcake lingo – for at least three months before they are cut. Seasoning not only improves the flavor of the fruitcake, but it makes it easier to slice.

“The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.” This quote is straight from Johnny Carson in 1978, and this just might be the year that fruitcake gained its bad reputation. You can read more about this Infamous Fruitcake Joke.

Allow cakes to cool in pans on racks. When cooled, remove cakes from pans and remove parchment paper. Brush cakes generously with sweet sherry, brandy, rum, port, liqueur or fruit juice; do not use wine.

Here are some tips to help you make a moist fruit cake: Ingredients: Fruits:Use a variety of dried fruits such as raisins, sultanas, currants, chopped dates, and candied peel. Soak the dried fruits in a liquid (like alcohol or fruit juice) overnight to plump them up and infuse flavor.

Muslin blanket

Some types of muslin are similar to cheesecloth, and you can use them in the kitchen for more than a few purposes. It's perfect for making cheese because it strains beautifully, thanks to the fine stitching. One of the most valuable ways to use muslin is for fruitcakes around the holidays.

It's going to depend on the fruitcake. Most manufacturers are selling a product meant to be eaten as is, with a proper moisture level. Adding too much alcohol will make it soggy. A light brush of brandy, whiskey or rum will be all you need, if you want to add a bit of holiday cheer.

If your fruitcake does not have the dark fruits like currants in it, and is not baked with a dark alcohol, there is one very popular ingredient that can give it its dark color, along with a distinctly robust flavor. That special ingredient? Molasses!

That said, even though a decades-old fruitcake might taste like a leather shoe, eating it probably won't make you dangerously sick.

Why is fruit cake so expensive? ›

“Because of supply chain issues, some of the ingredients are much harder to get and more expensive,” he said. But he says, those who love the historically named plum cake are still willing to fork out more dough to keep up with their holiday traditions.

Fred's Sirieix's fiancée is known affectionately as 'Fruitcake'. As Fred recalled on the show, he met her while walking down the street in Peckham and was captivated by her eyes and smile.

Fruitcakes were so rich, they were considered sinful and were outlawed in Europe in the early 18th century. Restrictions eased later in the century.

Have you ever had fresh or dried fruit sink to the bottom of a cake or loaf? Don't worry, it's a common problem and generally happens when the cake batter isn't heavy or thick enough to hold the weight of the fruit as it bakes.

I prefer a high abv slightly sweet alcohol like brandy or rum. You can also use whiskey or bourbon. Don't use lower abv liquid like wine for aging, you need the higher alcohol as a preservative. Brown sugar: This is a “dark” fruitcake which includes brown sugar rather than white sugar.

In short, the answer to “Can I substitute cognac for brandy in a fruitcake?” is a resounding 'YES!

Fruitcakes are traditionally aged in a cloth wrapping of alcohol for at least five weeks. The alcohol preserves the cakes, fruits, and nuts within, and keeps everything moist.

Soak all your dried fruits in your spirit of choice – whisky or brandy would be the most traditional options, though other aged spirits like rum also work, and sweeter additions like sherry, Cointreau or amaretto will add their own character.