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BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 26 Dec 09 - 02:03 PM Re: Matrimonial Cake, I've found that the basic date/oatmeal recipe as my mom used is the one that comes up when googling the name. The name origin relates to "matrimonial" - like our old discussions of "macaronic" lyrics. Two types of texture, the jammy dates and the crusty oatmeal put together, are matrimonial. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 26 Dec 09 - 01:43 PM More interesting stuff about Povitica and immigrants who brought it to the US, with a great photo of how it looks when sliced (swirls): http://pallopovitica.com/ "Every year they host one of the Midwest's largest ethnic festivals, called the Sugar Creek Slovic Festival. Along with them came their traditional dessert known as Povitica (swirled bread)." I wasn't going to bake anything special this week, but all the discussion of fruit cake prompted me to make the one thing my mom would make every Christmas - what she called Matrimonial Cake. It's not the same as other recipes with that name - it is a date filled bar with an oatmeal/brown sugar crust on the top and bottom. Center is pure dates, yum. Great with a hot cup of coffee. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 26 Dec 09 - 01:26 PM I googled Povitiza Povitica a bit more, as it didn't sound Austrian to me... and although I knew there were many Serbian immigrants to Butte, I didn't know that Austrians were another significant immigrant population in the past. Povitica comes up more as a Serbian, Croatian or Polish bread, but also Austrian. Here are the immigrants to Butte in its glory mining days, according to wikipedia. "The city attracted workers from Ireland, Wales, England, Lebanon, Canada, Finland, Austria, Serbia, Italy, China, Syria, Croatia, Montenegro, Mexico, and all areas of the USA. The legacy of the immigrants lives on in the form of the Cornish pasty which was popularized by mine workers who needed something easy to eat in the mines, the povitica -- a nutroll which is a holiday favorite sold in many supermarkets and bakeries in the Butte area -- and the boneless pork-chop sandwich." |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 26 Dec 09 - 11:10 AM If you are searching for recipes, Butte people spell it Povitiza, but it is an Austrian Christmas bread spelled Povitica. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 26 Dec 09 - 10:53 AM Oh, my Gosh!! POVITIZA! I was just thinking of povitiza yesterday, as it is a traditional Christmas treat made by many families in Butte, MT. One of my ad accounts in Butte is a coffee shop in historic uptown Butte in an old building that was used as the first jailhouse. The owner is a photographer and also bakes Povitiza year round, not just at Christmas. It is a cinnamon, honey and walnut loaf bread/cake. Kind of like a cinnamon bun, only baked as a loaf and with lots of walnuts. Here is their web site: http://www.buttegallowsframegifts.com/ Here is a page about their products, including Povitiza. Click Here |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: olddude Date: 26 Dec 09 - 09:50 AM Well, all of this talk I tried a piece of fruit cake home made at the Cafe that I play music at. It is an up scale place with a great pastry chef ... well his walnut date fruit cake was heaven with my strong black coffee... but that is so far from the big round heavy tin can cakes I have eaten in the past and get in the mail, it is like the difference between a walmart kids guitar and a Martin D-28. Alice, you convinced me they are not alike in anyway ... Thanks Dan |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 26 Dec 09 - 07:44 AM No, don't send your fruitcakes to Don, send them to me! No one ever sends me fruit cake! (Alice, I'm drooling over your links! Where, I wonder, is Cavendish, Vermont- not too far from me, I bet!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: wysiwyg Date: 26 Dec 09 - 06:53 AM Dan, you just need some Povititza. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Joe_F Date: 25 Dec 09 - 06:10 PM Here's a report on the Dave's Pasta fruitcake: A bit dry, but good enough with brandy & hard sauce. Gross exaggerations with a grain of truth in them: Fruitcake is only an excuse for hard sauce. Escargots are only an excuse for garlic sauce. Waffles are only an excuse for maple syrup. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 25 Dec 09 - 01:16 PM Here's another version of fruitcake... Organic! This is a quote from the review at Mondofruitcake blog: "This is quite a scrumptious cake, and as I had mentioned in my previous post, I'd call it a "gateway" fruitcake, similar to a "gateway" drug, indicated if you fruitcake-lovers want to start getting friends and loved ones hooked on fruitcake. In general constitution, it is similar to other fruitcakes: batter, fruit, nuts, liqueur. But the dried fruit gives it a more fresh, quick-bread type flavor. The cashew nuts in particular I find very interesting--they certainly give this cake a different mouth-feel, being a bit softer than a pecan or walnut. I have a special fondness for the elegant flavor of a date, and this cake includes them, as well. And just as I enjoy dates in my baking, I dislike prunes, and this cake, in contrast to their non-organic cake, is bereft of them." Old Cavendish organic, made in Vermont |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 25 Dec 09 - 03:58 AM On a slightly different note - The magic of a Christmas pudding In the Martin family, one tradition hasn't changed for 60 years. Grandad Albert, now 92, still makes the Christmas pudding. While most ninety somethings might be happy to let others do the cooking, Mr Martin is still churning out several Christmas puds for his family of four children, 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Back in the 1950s making the pudding was a rather more labour intensive task than it is today. Once the ingredients were mixed, they'd have to be boiled up in the gas copper, the same device used to wash your clothes. Mr Martin can't remember why he started making puddings. "I sort of took to it that's all, I just wanted to do it," he said |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 24 Dec 09 - 10:38 PM You would have to have a heck of a lot of rum in a fruitcake to get drunk on it. Is that even possible? |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 24 Dec 09 - 09:15 PM Whenever I think of fruitcake, I think of the song MISS FOGARTY'S CHRISTMAS CAKE. But, there is also this one in the DT, from the 1940's, Demon Fruitcake. DEMON FRUITCAKE We're marching, we're marching, our brave little band Against Demon Rum we will all take our stand, cho: Away, away with rum, by Gum! It's the song of the Salvation Army. Don't never eatr fruitcake, it's chock full of rum And one little bite puts a man on the bum. The man who eats fruitcake leads a terrible life He mistreats his children and he beats his wife. Oh can you immagine an awfuller sight Than a man who eats fruitcake until he gets tight. The man who eats fruitcake goes down to his death With the odor of raisins and rum on his breath. The man who eats fruitcake goes down in disgrace As he rolls in the gutter with crumbs on his face. (There are a few typos in the lyrics... I copied and pasted them from the database). |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Joe Offer Date: 24 Dec 09 - 06:53 PM Alice, I think I ordered one from Trappists in Missouri last year, because the Website looked most enticing (and I prefer brandy to bourbon). It was good, very good. I plan to try ALL of them, as the years go by. But your review mentioned Benedictines.....Bénédictine liqueur was made by Benedictine monks in Normandy from 1510 until their abbey was destroyed during the French Revolution. So now the liqueur is made by a corporation - but I still like it on cold nights. B&B by the fireplace tonight - Ahhhhh! And not that it has anything to do with comestibles, but the New Skete Orthodox monks of New York make their living by raising and training dogs. -Joe, listening to Polish Carols while my Polish wife and mother-in-law make borscht- |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Joe_F Date: 24 Dec 09 - 06:00 PM Mine turns out to have been made by Dave's Pasta, where I got it. Flour, sugar, raisins, figs, cherries, cranberries, homemade candied orange peel, eggs, butter, molasses, brandy, spices. I'll report further after dinner. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: olddude Date: 24 Dec 09 - 05:04 PM ALICE Now those all look like something good and tasty not at all like what i ever tried |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 24 Dec 09 - 05:01 PM OOoops, now I see that you did link to Gethsemani Farms. Looks like that is the one worth shelling out some bucks for. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 24 Dec 09 - 04:59 PM Joe, is your Trappist fruitcake from Gethsemani Farms? This is what the Mondofruitcake reviewer says about their fruitcake: "The cake against which all past and future fruitcakes will be judged. I'll try to stay objective but I'm disclaiming right now that this is the one I've grown up with, the one I look forward to every holiday season, and the one that comes to mind when someone says "fruitcake." It's also why I don't have the anti-fruitcake bias—I've grown up on good fruitcake. I suppose out of full disclosure I should mention that my brother is a monk and has visited and stayed at this monastery. But he's Benedictine, not Trappist, and our family had been eating this fruitcake many, many years before he became a monk, so that did not influence my opinion in any way." |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 24 Dec 09 - 04:56 PM There is a blog for reviewing fruitcakes called Mondofruitcake. Click Here They review these fruitcake makers: Monastery fruitcakes * 1. Gethsemani Farms * 2. Holy Spirit Monastery * 3. Assumption Abbey * 4. Holy Cross Abbey * 5. Our Lady of Guadalupe * 6. Hermitage Big Sur Southern-style fruitcakes * 1. Mary of Puddin Hill * 2. Georgia fruitcake/Womble's* fruitcake * 3. Collin Street * 4. Claxton * 5. Southern Supreme "Other" fruitcakes * Robert Lambert White Fruitcake * Old Cavendish - Organic * Robert Lambert Dark Fruitcake * Old Cavendish * Harry and David * Jane Parker Dark * Hermitage Big Sur Date Nut Cake Mass-produced fruitcakes * 1. Texas Manor (Yahoo) * 2. Grandma's Bake Shoppe * 3. Swiss Colony * 4. Village Fair/Benson's * 5. Wisconsin Cheeseman * 6. Hickory Farms |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 24 Dec 09 - 04:52 PM from the reviews: "Mary of Puddin Hill's Pecan Fruit Cake... pecans make up 32 percent of this cake. " |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 24 Dec 09 - 04:51 PM Which fruitcake is the best? The consumer research site (part of the NY Times) even has a page on the subject! Fruitcake reviews |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Joe Offer Date: 24 Dec 09 - 04:28 PM There are two fruitcake companies in the southern Georgia town of Claxton:From Website information I guess the Claxton Bakery is older, but both have been making fruitcake for a long time, over 60 years. There used to be a drugstore near my home that sold one-pound Claxton fruitcakes for under five dollars, so I'd get one every years. Alas, my source stopped selling fruitcake. So, I rarely had fruitcake until I bought a three-pounder from the Trappists a year ago. It was delicious, but three pounds is a lot of fruitcake when only one person in the house eats fruitcake. So, no fruitcake this year. The Trappist monks are fairly new to the fruitcake business. I think I read somewhere that a Trappist monastery started making fruitcake in the 1970s, and several others followed suit. There's an interesting article about Trappist fruitcake here (click). I gather that Trappist fruitcake is an American thing. In Europe, monks are more likely to make their living by making cheese or beer, like the famous beer of the Belgian Trappist monastery of Chimay, or the liqueur of the Carthusian monastery of Chartreuse (shown in the movie, Into Great Silence. That's generally the deal with monks - they support themselves with some kind of industry, rather than relying on donations or charging for religious services. The Claxton bakeries seem to go for mass production, but I have to say their fruitcakes are pretty darn good - and not as heavy as the Trappist fruitcakes. The Trappists go for the premium trade. The oldext (1848) and best-known Trappist community in the United States is the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky - but I don't believe it was the first to make fruitcake. Gethsemani was the home of the famous spiritual writer and pacifist Thomas Merton. Most fruitcakes are soaked in rum or brandy, but the Gethsemani monks set theirs apart by soaking in Kentucky Bourbon. I went to Claxton once. It's in a very, very flat and uninteresting section of south Central Georgia that looks just like Iowa and Nebraska, but with less corn. Roadside stands in the area sell boiled peanuts from 55-gallon drums of simmering water. But the peanuts are tasty, and the fruitcake is good. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 24 Dec 09 - 12:12 PM I have tasted a good fruitcake once in my life. It did not have any of those food coloring dyed bits in it. It was not hard. It was moist and flavorful, I think with dates in it, and as I remember, large pieces of walnut. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: EBarnacle Date: 24 Dec 09 - 12:09 PM I have been fortunate. The only fruitcakes I have had have been homemade and delicious. If anyone has one they don't want, PM me and I will be happy to receive it. EB |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 23 Dec 09 - 08:39 PM I am perfectly ambivalent about fruitcake. I'll eat it if it's free and there's nothing I like better around. I may even buy some after the holiday season is over if it's been sufficiently discounted. But pay the customary asking price for the stuff? Forget it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Joe_F Date: 23 Dec 09 - 06:16 PM The idea of eating fruitcake with *cheese* strikes me as outlandish. For me, the proper garnish is hard sauce. After burning brandy on the cake, of course. However, it is, as someone has already dared to point out, a matter of taste. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Hollowfox Date: 23 Dec 09 - 05:26 PM GuestShimrod, the point of fruitcake goes back to the time when there were no supermarkets, freezers, or refrigerators. Fruit was dried if it could not be stored in, say, a cool cellar. Sugar was not so common in the diet, and spices weren't commonplace and had to be pounded into a powder before you could mix them into the cake. Back then, fruitcake had a lot of saved-up-for, hard to get goodies in it, so it was a special treat. and they didn't have those over-dyed squares of "citron". Myself, I use the family recipe for the batter, and pile in all variety of chopped nuts and fruit (dried and otherwise). Yum. Sometimes I bake the cake without any fruit or nuts, call it spice cake, and watch it fly off the plate when my friends stop by. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: gnu Date: 23 Dec 09 - 04:52 PM Good fruit cake is a treasure. Poor fruit cake is beyond poor. Maybe it's all a matter of taste? |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Joe Offer Date: 23 Dec 09 - 04:50 PM Hmmmm. I wonder if peanut butter and fruitcake sandwiches would be good... |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Don Firth Date: 23 Dec 09 - 04:43 PM Both my wife and I love fruitcake! If anyone gets a fruitcake they don't want, PM me. We'll take it off your hands! Don Firth (Two-legged fruitcakes, on the other hand, need not apply. I know too many of those already!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 23 Dec 09 - 04:25 PM Apples in a bag of brown sugar will keep the brown sugar soft, too. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: GUEST,Neil D Date: 23 Dec 09 - 01:05 PM I got mine made about 3 weeks ago and they came out prety good. Here's a trick for keeping fuitcake from drying out as it ages in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I learned it from my mom who never had alcohol in the house. Wrap the fruitcake in foil with fresh apple slices and change them every couple weeks as they dry out. Most peoples' complaint about fruitcake, especially store-bought ones, is that they are dry and hard as a rock. The apples will keep them nice and moist and tasty through long storage. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies) Date: 23 Dec 09 - 12:59 PM "Heck, I even like a bit of good Duchy or Marks and Sparks Christmas pudding" Yes, I love those Duchy or Marks & Sparks ye-olde stylee goodies! In fact all Winter stuff should come from M&S. I mean if you're going for a pair of slippers and some long johns, at least get the snuggly wuggliest ones you can, made with brushed cotton and lambykins furry insides, eh? |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 23 Dec 09 - 12:35 PM Oh, my lord, ...Joe may have to add those to his pile of firewood. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: SINSULL Date: 23 Dec 09 - 12:24 PM You heard him, 'Catters. Joe Offer wants fruit cake! Here is your chance to repay him for all his hard work on the 'Cat. Anyone have Joe's address? There must be a few hundred pounds of petrified fruit cake at the Christmas Tree Store. Shaw's will have it half price the day after Christmas. And Target, TJ Maxx, Hanniford's, Macy's, even the cursed W#$@*&%$mart. hee hee |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 23 Dec 09 - 11:40 AM Personally, I've never really understood the point of fruit cake. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Dave the Gnome Date: 23 Dec 09 - 06:35 AM the store bought 700 lb fruit cake for Christmas All you need is a half-ton Wensleydale cheese to go with it and you are laughing! :D (eG) (Who has even been known to have Blue Stilton on his Christmas cake) |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: VirginiaTam Date: 23 Dec 09 - 03:54 AM Fruit cake in the UK is considerably more palatable than tinned fruit cakes I have tasted in the US. Still heavy but more moist, less citron, fewer or no raisins which tend to give a prune flavour. Even the licqour tastes better in it. And this from a person that does not like fruit cake or spirits. Heck, I even like a bit of good Duchy or Marks and Sparks Christmas pudding with cream and that is unusual. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Dave Roberts Date: 23 Dec 09 - 02:55 AM In terms of actual Acts Of Malice, giving someone a fruitcake seems to me pretty low down on the scale of dreadfulness. And if Making Someone The Gift Of A Lovely Cake With Malice Aforethought was really such a heinous crime, the Daily Mail would have got onto it by now. HEARTLESS THUGS GIVE MAN FRUITCAKE Cake Contained Raisins And Sultanas, say Police Where will it all end? What is the world coming to? Is no one safe? In my day...etc... |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Joe Offer Date: 23 Dec 09 - 01:50 AM I bought a fruitcake from Trappist monks last year. It was $28 for a three-pound cake, but it was terrific - and by my extravagance I was contributing to the support of the Trappists. I was going to order another this year, but I didn't get around to it. Instead, I bought a couple of bottles of Chimay, Belgian Trappist Ale that's the finest-tasting beer I've ever had. But I'd still like fruitcake... -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 23 Dec 09 - 12:53 AM olddude - this is the recipe one of my friends uses, it's not a traditional recipe 1kg mixed fruit 2 cups orange juice 2 cups self-raising flour 1 teaspoon mixed spice 1 teaspoon cinnamon Soak fruit in juice overnight, next day add flour & mixed spice. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Pour into tin lined with baking paper, sprinkle cinnamon over cake. Cook for 1 hour then reduce heat to 160 & cook 30 mins. ------------------------------ translations - self-raising flour = flour which includes a raising agent - Definition of Self Raising Flour from What's Cooking America 180C = 350F 160 = 325 --------------------------- Traditional Australian Christmas Cake |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Sandy Mc Lean Date: 23 Dec 09 - 12:05 AM "Saw the thread title and figured someone was dissing Canada's Prime Minister." This reminds me of a sign in a men's washroom: "If you voted Tory you can't shit here because your arsehole's in Ottawa!" Perhaps his fruitcake is loaded with too many nuts! |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Boho Date: 22 Dec 09 - 11:23 PM Ed T, you should never put capers in fruitcake. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Alice Date: 22 Dec 09 - 07:45 PM Whoever came up with those little food-dye colored lumps that are in fruitcakes... what the heck are they? They taste terrible and the colors don't look like real food. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Dave MacKenzie Date: 22 Dec 09 - 07:28 PM Being a Scot I could live on fruit cake - everybody else's seems to skimp on the fruit. Just compare Selkirk Bannock to Bara Brith (Welsh) or Barm Brack (Irish). And with New Year coming up, therer's always Black Bun, so called from its colour, though there's probably a PCese name for it now. If you look really hard you can just about see dough holding the fruit together. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: olddude Date: 22 Dec 09 - 07:16 PM I think I may have figured it out, I am always bringing food to the food pantry, including the seasonal fruit cakes I get. I think someone snags the very same ones and gives it back to me each Christmas. Yes that is it .. it is the same ones, I am going to secretly mark it (them) this year with a blue dot someplace on the wrapper, next year, yes I will find out if my theory holds ... |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: olddude Date: 22 Dec 09 - 07:08 PM I admit my malice towards fruit cakes ... I beg forgiveness .. but I still won't eat the f$%$@! thing ... LOL I will admit however, I never had a home made one, only the 10 year old boat anchor ones they sell in walmart or somemart USA and I believe a home made one is awesome. Now I hear the European fruit cake is quite tasty .. I would never know, never ate one from Europe ... Fruit Cake anyone ? |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Ed T Date: 22 Dec 09 - 06:45 PM The great fuit cake caper |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: Joe_F Date: 22 Dec 09 - 06:15 PM Fruitcake seems to have acquired a special status among foods, in that people who dislike it have issued themselves a license to insult it. I was delighted to find fruitcake in Dave's Pasta (of all places) the other day. (A deli in Somerville, MA. I go there for bread.) It seems to have disappeared from the supermarkets. |
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Subject: RE: BS: It starts again the seasonal FRUIT CAKE From: gnu Date: 22 Dec 09 - 04:11 PM Are there not enough fruitcakes around here already? |
