The rum-soaked fruitcakes are on the porch. They are wrapped in muslin and freezer bags, each with about six ( or more) shots of rum. They should be ready for consumption by December 12. That’s my best estimate of when the fruit, nuts, and cake should have absorbed the rum. Sometimes, I feel like a bit of a magician. The recipe is only a guide, and it’s been altered over the years since I first turned out the Mark I fruitcake in about 1973.
The Mark I version may still have had some brittle spots because I followed a strict recipe rather than the developed instincts over the years. The idea behind the cakes was to create an anti-fruitcake fruitcake. Mellow, moist, and with just the right amount of kick. We advise people not to eat and drive if they have more than one slice.
A few years ago, my oldest son expressed interest in learning to make what is now “the family fruitcake.” Mindful of what had happened with my grandmother’s Hungarian poppyseed bread, we sat jointly and made the cakes one winter, recording all the steps, ingredients, and possible variations. I didn’t want a repetition of what happened after Grandma died.
When Grandma died, we searched in vain for a recipe. For years, family members would put forward their reworkings of what they thought approached her recipe. They all failed. Grandma had been secretive about what went into the recipe and how she prepared it—decades of failures and recriminations followed over poppyseed bread. With years of research, I was able to recreate a poppyseed bread recipe that most of the family agrees is remarkably close to Grandma’s. Like in the old times, the family can enjoy it at Christmas and Easter.
And if you are driving, it’s safer than eating two or more slices of fruitcake.
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I love this post! I’ll send you my address and buy a loaf from you, postage included. This recipe sounds absolutely wonderful. My first MIL made a delicious white fruit cake. We are not sure if there were hints of racism there but the GI’s all loved what she sent us in Taiwan. She never shared the recipe for this with anyone, even her own daughter. So many are gone now but I did get her banana bread and have made it every year that I had an oven. Bananas are on the counter now waiting. I have shared the recipe with anyone that asked for it and made sure my children had all my recipes for everything. Even made a video with my son to teach him how to make meat gravy for bread and potato balls. I don’t like secrets. I’m a sharer by nature. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Lou.
Hi Marlene! I’d love to send one, but I’ve been cutting back on how many I make. I used to make upwards of twenty, but I’ve gotten to the point that baking until 2 AM is no longer enchanting so I only make a dozen.
Making sure the everyone haas access to favorite family recipes is important. It helps keep the memory of family and good time alive.
We had a wonderful, quiet, Thanksgiving which we shared with our first grandchild ( just a few weeks old). I hope you had a good holiday also!
If you change your mind about mail order fruitcakes, let me know and I will add my name to the list. I am sure Max is OK staying up until 2am with you, as long as you provide snacks.
The kittens need their beauty rest, Lois. Besides they’re Teamsters. Staying up beyond regular work hours would be overtime.
Ah! I forgot about the overtime!
My entire family could be classed as “the family fruitcake” or maybe “the family Fruitcake” or “the Fruitcake family.”
Just remember that Jimmy Buffet song. there’s a line about some of them coming out of the oven too soon. Yep. Most of us have one or two like that in our families.
🤣
What a fun tradition, I can’t get my family to eat it, but I buy one that doesn’t have rum.