Sneaky Holidays

All right. I'll admit it. I like fruitcake. Good fruitcake that is. Not that sticky candy fruit mess you buy at the local drug store that comes in a can or cellophane wrap. REAL fruitcake. I've heard all the jokes but I just have to believe that if you don't like fruitcake it is because you have never had a real one. My brother use to send me a fruit cake made by monks in some Abby that was good. It was expensive and never lasted long enough.  And I have received a fruitcake from a company in Texas that was good enough to cause me to gain 5 ugly pounds. But last year my brother and I made a white fruit cake that was the best I've ever tasted. I can't take credit for it because he found the recipe on allrecipes.com. We had a blast making it together mostly because we doubled the recipe (our eyes were as big as our stomachs) and the cakes were oozing butter. Two pounds of butter to be exact. I don't recommend doubling a fruitcake recipe unless you have made it before and know what you are getting into. So this year (yesterday as a matter of fact) I dug out an almost Christmas CD, gathered the ingredients together and went for it. The fruit had been sitting the whole day before soaking up orange juice and a little triple sec so I was ready. The actual cake part was easy enough to put together. Mixing it by hand requires some muscle because you can't use a mixer on something that contains that much fruit and nuts. It turned out great and today I wrapped it up in cheesecloth soaked in a half pint of brandy and wrapped the whole thing tightly in foil. This is gonna be great!! My youngest doesn't like the taste of liquor in her cake and fortunately this recipe makes enough to fill a tube pan and a bread pan. So the small fruitcake is wrapped in cheesecloth soaked in apple cider just for her. I will let the flavors meld together a couple days and put that one in the fridge since it doesn't have the "preservatives" on it. Ya, alcohol is a preservative. Maybe that's why people get pickled when they drink. So if the spirit strikes ya here is the recipe.

 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/white-fruit-cake/detail.aspx If you don't like fruit cake try this white one. Make sure you get good quality fruits too. You may have to go to a food co-op or specialty shop to get the fruit but its worth it. Then make sure you wrap it in cheese cloth soaked in your choice of liquor, wrap tightly in foil or plastic wrap and place it in a cool place to age. You can add more liquor every week or so. So try it. A white fruit cake is so different from a dark one.