A Question About English Fruitcake...

[nubka]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe...ex.html?hpt=C2

According to this, Kate & William are having a fruitcake wedding cake. My question is this: is English fruitcake like what we have in America? You know, 95% fruit chunks with a tiny bit of "cake" crumb holding it together? I always have a hard time thinking of fruitcake as actually being a real cake. Just too loaded with fruit for my tastes...

How many here at FSU like fruitcake? Please chime in. My response is no.

[my little pony]

i love fruitcake

[nubka]

i love fruitcake

That's o.k.! No worries. Do you like it super-chunky?

[my little pony]

That's o.k.! No worries. Do you like it super-chunky?

yes, i like a lot of fruit and nuts and please dont leave out the alcohol

[Norlite]

Fruit cake is very traditional for wedding cakes.

My mother's, mine and my sister's were.

And yes, I love it. I usually make mine in September or October, cover it in cheesecloth, and unwrap it every few weeks to pour more rum on it.


eta: I also prefer a dark cake, not crazy about the light ones.

[millyskate]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe...ex.html?hpt=C2

According to this, Kate & William are having a fruitcake wedding cake. My question is this: is English fruitcake like what we have in America? You know, 95% fruit chunks with a tiny bit of "cake" crumb holding it together? I always have a hard time thinking of fruitcake as actually being a real cake. Just too loaded with fruit for my tastes...

How many here at FSU like fruitcake? Please chime in. My response is no.

I love fruitcake, although it often gives me ulcers. There are several types of English fruitcake. The type you describe reminds me more of Christmas cake - i'm not so keen on that.

They aren't all that dense... some just have raisins and a few almonds on top. It goes very well with tea.

[nubka]

I love fruitcake, although it often gives me ulcers. There are several types of English fruitcake. The type you describe reminds me more of Christmas cake - i'm not so keen on that.

They aren't all that dense... some just have raisins and a few almonds on top. It goes very well with tea.

What kind do you think they will have at the royal wedding? I can't imagine a Christmas-type fruitcake all frosted up!

[LadyNit]

fruit cake?

[millyskate]

What kind do you think they will have at the royal wedding? I can't imagine a Christmas-type fruitcake all frosted up!

Well English Chrismas cake is frosted up! http://www.essentially-england.com/i...tmas_cake1.jpg

And now I think of it, most wedding cakes are kind of like Christmas cakes (the traditional ones anyway).
The tradition is for the couple to keep a slice to eat on their first anniversary so it has to be the dense kind.

[*Jen*]

I love fruit cake, but leave out the nuts. Yuck. I love nuts, but they do NOT go well in that cake.

[Jodi]

Most of it's been covered already, but from previous discussions of the subject it seems to be common for American fruit cakes to contain mostly candied fruit? In British ones you might get some glace cherries, but mostly it's dried fruit - raisins, currants and sultanas. All juicy with brandy or something. Yum

[nubka]

Well English Chrismas cake is frosted up! http://www.essentially-england.com/i...tmas_cake1.jpg

And now I think of it, most wedding cakes are kind of like Christmas cakes (the traditional ones anyway).
The tradition is for the couple to keep a slice to eat on their first anniversary so it has to be the dense kind.

Oh yes, fondant! That works well. For some reason, I had buttercream frosting on my mind, though I don't know why. It seems that most wedding cakes now-a-days use fondant instead.

I love the taste of buttercream, though (as long as it's not too sweet!)

[barbk]

I'm trying to imagine fruitcake covered in fondant, and it is not an appealing thought.

[*Jen*]

I'm trying to imagine fruitcake covered in fondant, and it is not an appealing thought.

I'm trying to imagine one with buttercream

My mother's fruit cake has marzipan on it

[danceronice]

Traditional English wedding cake is a very dense fruitcake (as mentioned usually made with things like dried currants, raisins, sultanas, etc) covered with marzipan. It's meant to be easily preserved to eat later.

As long as they put enough alcohol in it, I'm good.

[KatieC]

Fruitcake was used for wedding cakes for a long time. As far as I know, it's only in the last 20 or 30 years that it became more common to use chocolate cake, vanilla etc. Both my mother and sister had fruitcake as wedding cakes. Extra cake was cut up in advance and wrapped with cellophane and doilies to give out to the guests. Then you slept on it overnight to dream about your future husband!

[Matryeshka]

Fruit cake...I cannot respect them anymore. That's disgusting. Well, I shouldn't say that. I had one fruit cake I liked ONCE. It was an Alton Brown recipe that called for dried fruit instead of candied.
But I wouldn't want to eat a lot of it.

My neighbors make a fruitcake every year and put GUMMY BEARS in it, and it's so weird, you can't tell the fruit from the gummy bears in color, taste, or texture.

[orbitz]

I'm trying to imagine fruitcake covered in fondant, and it is not an appealing thought.

I remember reading somewhere that fondant is not really meant for eating. It basically just lard and sugar.


English fruitcake's images

Um...looks exactly like the same old one-and-only American fruitcake that get pass from generation to generation, because no one wants to eat it, LOL.

[emason]

I remember reading somewhere that fondant is not really meant for eating. It basically just lard and sugar.

You must be thinking of something else. Fondant is meant for eating and it absolutely does not have lard in it. It may have glycerin and agar and who knows what, but no lard.

[nubka]

Fruitcake-type cookies:

http://www.robertsplace.ca/recipes/fruitnutcookies.htm