Christmas Cake Question

The time of year has come when SWMBO once again embarks on her concoction of Christmas cake, which she the distributes to (one suspects both willing and unwilling) friends. The ingredient list is long and the fact that she believes that using things like painfully expensive artisanal butter, presumably made from the milk of especially contented cattle is a good idea despite that anyone actually being able to taste the difference given the lengthy ingredient list of preserved fruits and nuts show a degree of faith unwarranted by reason.

I have been sorely tempted to package up a rock the size of her Christmas cakes, and when people come by during the season and are gifted with one of her cakes or parts thereof. I could place it by the front door and point to it as a doorstop utilizing the previous year's efforts.

The only facet of this in which I become involved is the choice of which spirit should be used to marinate the finished cakes in ( don't let her near any of my single malt collection, which is kept in the cellar lest I be offered 18 year Macallan marinated nuts and fruits when Christmas comes. I always opt for a palatable brandy which we keep for cooking purposes and she has been happy with that so far.

I wonder about mixing it up and possibly opting for a Scotch (needless to say a blend of modest parentage), or a rum, or even something more exotic - a Curacao or amaretto, or.....(I worry for my small stash of Drambuie if I start her down that road, though).

The question I pose to any who also indulge in Christmas cake creation, is whether you use anything other than brandy, and if so, how does it work out?

Rum, brandy, and whisky are all traditional. I have read, but have not tried, using fruit spirits e.g., kirsch, Cointreau. I think something like amaretto or frangelico, which are very sweet, might be too much unless the cook cuts back on the sugar in the cake a bit. (Older recipes tend to be sweeter and cook longer than modern recipes.)

I think it's very gracious of your wife to make cakes for her friends and family, and to want to use good ingredients in them.

Good point on the sweet additives - might have to adjust sugar levels in the cake too accommodate that.

[Jenise]

A friend made fruit cakes a few years ago which a few of us professed to love. We have received them annually since. Last year, she had to leave for two weeks during the crucial part where the cakes are doused in alcohol so she had a friend take over. The friend ran out of brandy so, word is, she reached for rum instead.

The cake I received was ridiculously boozy as well as sopping wet such that it wouldn't hold together for slicing. Moreover, it tasted closer to rubbing alcohol than brandy. I compared notes with another recipient who didn't find hers as wet or boozy, just definitely different and not as appealing as years past. We'll never know exactly what went wrong where, but the other recipient founds her edible, if just barely, where I threw mine away.

Stick with brandy. Down here we can buy an excellent brandy at Trader Joe's for $10--good enough to actually drink, not just use for cooking.

Stodgy or wet cake means they fed it too fast. The BBC recommends no more than four feedings, after the initial one, and in quantities of teaspoons, not pints.

Scotch is the only spirit I drink, but brandy is a must for Christmas cake. Feed little at a time.

Also marinade the dried fruits in brandy before adding to the cake mix.

(and brandy to flame the Christmas pudding)

In Christmas at Rawlinson End, Vivian Stanshall describes the preparation of a Christmas cake that had so much brandy that it threw up in its pan and had to have a good lie-down before it was baked.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Stodgy or wet cake means they fed it too fast. The BBC recommends no more than four feedings, after the initial one, and in quantities of teaspoons, not pints.

The recipe my friend used was from the disgraced Jeff Smith, I think his name was. Too many raisins for my taste, but actually a fairly good recipe. Obviously, Donna didn't train her substitute correctly.

Say, I dug out a recipe the other day....

[Jenise]

Okay, THIS one, from a loooooong-ago neighbor named Maxine: Mac's sister's fruit cake. Best I ever had--at least I thought so then--all about cherries and nuts with LOTS of brazil nuts, a personal favorite thing. And no raisins, another favorite thing.

2 cups chopped dates
2 8 oz jars maraschino cherries
1 lb brazil nuts
1 lb walnuts
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c sugar
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c cherry juice
4 eggs beaten
1 tsp banilla
3 T butter

Cream sugar and butter, add eggs and cherry juice then flour, baking powder and vanilla. Pour over fruit and mix well. Bake at 250F for 1 1/2 hours. Sprinkle brandy (unspecified amount) over cake when removed from oven. Remove from pan when cool. No instructions for further additions of alcohol.

What - no pineapple rings on top of the cake.....?