FRUITCAKE WEATHER

"We  Need a little Christmas, right this very minute. Slice up the fruitcake. It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough...." - Jerry Herman

"Looks like fruitcake weather", my mother would say. Right after Remembrance day. Like clockwork. Fruitcake weather was grey, soggy, boggy , windy, and chilly with sleet. Dark at 3pm. "Perfect" , she would say. 

First thing to do was to shop for supplies. Down to the store she would go and come back with an army of butter, eggs and  so forth, in brown paper bags. The bags were important.  They would line the tins. It was my job to cut up the paper to match the tins.

I really did not care for my mother's usual fruitcake. Tasted mostly of molasses and cinnamon, and strongly of sherry....which she would sploosh on top after it was baked. It could walk on it's own after that....

  My Favourite Recipe  is:

Chocolate Cranberry Fruitcake. Freezes great. Has a glop of rum in the fruit, but just a glop and no more,  and chocolate chips scattered into the batter. Combine in groups like this:

GROUP A 1 cup golden raisins, 1 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup rum ( or booze of your choice), 1 cup chopped almonds, 1-2 cups choc chips.

GROUP B 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp allspice

GROUP C  ½ cup butter ( not margarine)   

    ¾ cup brown sugar, 3 l large eggs, 2 tbsp maple syrup

    1/3 cocoa (mix in with the softened butter),  ½-3/4 cup orange juice

Now before any of the groups are combined, make sure you have your tins ready. My mother would let me cut up the paper grocery bags, then we would slather our hands with butter and  smoosh the butter all over the paper in  the tins. She would make multiple batches, so lots of tins. I tend to use the small loaf tins.

METHOD:

1. Combine  A Group in one bowl with the booze or orange juice. It should sit for 24 hours to steep and let the flavours mellow.
2. Combine  B  Group in another bowl.

1. Pour B Group into C Group, mixing well.
2. Add A Group and stir till well mixed.
3. Have ready a parchment lined loaf pan, and small pan of water in oven Preheated to 300 degrees.

"When we recall Christmas past, we usually find the simplest things...not the great occasions.....give off the greatest glow of happiness...." - Bob Hope

Bake in oven till cake tester comes out clean. This may take 40 minutes to 1 hour. You must test cake periodically, and add minutes to baking timer as needed.

                       

Can make 7 small loaf tins, or 1 large ring.If doing large add more time and test as you go along. Might take about an hour.

I triple this recipe and it makes 1 9x13 pan plus two  small, lined with parchment paper, not brown paper,  loaf tins.My mother's cake was always wrapped up and  given away. For us she would toast it in thick slices, then spread butter on the slices after toasting. It was really good that way. And you couldn't quite taste the molasses. Or the sherry.

So every  year, at this time, I think " It's Fruitcake weather...." The wind  will howl, the rain and sleet  pound the trees with their leftover leaves....

This year I think we all need a little Christmas...or rather a  LOT of Christmas. Time to celebrate.....

 "To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy,is to have the real spirit of Christmas..." -Calvin Coolidge

Photographs 2020