A Question About English Fruitcake...

[JasperBoy]

Fruitcake was used for wedding cakes for a long time..... 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!

That's right. Most homemakers owned a set of three tins with removable bottoms. They were of different sizes so you could make a cake with three tiers. They would be covered in marizpan, then with a stiff white icing and decorations. Fondant icing, I think it is called.

Last time I moved I threw out about 6 pieces of wedding cake from various marriages.....all ended by divorce.

BTW, I love dark fruitcake but in my advanced years I can no longer digest it. For the sake of any guests I now refrain from indulging.

[ElizabethAnne]

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

I use pecans and they seem to work ok.

[skateboy]

I love, love, LOVE fruitcake, with lots of fruit (candied and/or dried), tons of nuts and as much alcohol as it will take! (hiccup...)

[barbk]

I like fruit. I like nuts. I like spirits. Any two seem to go together fine, but all three in a fruitcake...haven't met one I love yet.

(Reminds me of the dinner party I was at last week, featuring a composed salad of shredded beets, grapefruit slices, and blue cheese.)

[IceAlisa]

Fruitcake.
Honestly, I'd much rather eat the cake I had at my wedding. IIRC, it was chocolate (no fondant) with raspberry mousse and fresh raspberries.

[Civic]

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...

According to my caterer friend, fondant holds up at room temperature far better than buttercream frosting which tends to start melting. Since wedding cakes usually sit at room temperature for several hours, frosting stability is important. Also, fondant offers cakemakers a lot of flexibility when it comes to decorating the cake. I prefer a good buttercream frosting but resign myself to eating fondant when attending weddings.

[Japanfan]

(Reminds me of the dinner party I was at last week, featuring a composed salad of shredded beets, grapefruit slices, and blue cheese.)

How was it?

[KatieC]

(Reminds me of the dinner party I was at last week, featuring a composed salad of shredded beets, grapefruit slices, and blue cheese.)

That makes me cringe - my tongue starts to curdle thinking of those three joined together.

We made the Christmas/wedding/fruit cakes in two huge plastic tubs and I still have the tins for them. All different sizes. I think they might have been my grandmothers.

[*Jen*]

I just realised what candied fruit is. If that's what's in American fruitcakes, then no wonder no one likes them It should be dried fruit, not candied

In reality, I think it's more of a generational thing. Young people don't eat fruitcake much any more.

[*Jen*]

I just realised what candied fruit is. If that's what's in American fruitcakes, then no wonder no one likes them It should be dried fruit, not candied

In reality, I think it's more of a generational thing. Young people don't eat fruitcake much any more.

[nubka]

In reality, I think it's more of a generational thing. Young people don't eat fruitcake much any more.

That's why I was suprised that William & Kate had chosen fruitcake for their wedding.

[barbk]

How was it?

Not something I'm going to serve anytime soon. I noticed that most people at the table ate one or two of the items. But even though I like grapefruit and love blue cheese, even those two don't go together well. That's one recipe that I suspect most of us in the dinner group scratched off our copy of the recipes.

Oh well, the Bailey's & Irish Whiskey pie for dessert made up for it!

[*Jen*]

That's why I was suprised that William & Kate had chosen fruitcake for their wedding.

So did my sister. I'm not surprised at all that they're having fruitcake - it's a traditional wedding, and fruitcake is traditional.

It still sells pretty well at Christmas, so while it might not be the cake of choice for many, most still like it here. Still, my invitation seems to have gone missing in the mail, so I won't be able to report back on what this one tastes like

[skatesindreams]

That's why I was suprised that William & Kate had chosen fruitcake for their wedding.

It's a nod to tradition.
Most guests will take a piece of cake, as a "memento" from the wedding.
I wonder how many of them will eat it?

[4rkidz]

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 absolutely hate fruitcake.. and I remember as a kid at my nana and grandad's eating a piece (forced really) and it had a shilling in it as per Christmas tradition with English fruitcake (silver coin) and it went into my filling a .. ghastly stuff, hated it since

[IceAlisa]

According to my caterer friend, fondant holds up at room temperature far better than buttercream frosting which tends to start melting. Since wedding cakes usually sit at room temperature for several hours, frosting stability is important. Also, fondant offers cakemakers a lot of flexibility when it comes to decorating the cake. I prefer a good buttercream frosting but resign myself to eating fondant when attending weddings.

My wedding cake was fine without fondant. I don't think the frosting was butter cream either though, don't remember. All I know is it wasn't fondant.

[pilgrimsoul]

I've always thought fruitcake was BLECH, but can you imagine what people will bid on ebay for a slice of the royal wedding fruitcake?! Should be fun to watch.

[orbitz]

In reality, I think it's more of a generational thing. Young people don't eat fruitcake much any more.

Maybe Will & Kate will create a new interest in fruitcakes for a new generation.








................Nah. Who are we kidding .

[skatesindreams]

I've always thought fruitcake was BLECH, but can you imagine what people will bid on ebay for a slice of the royal wedding fruitcake?! Should be fun to watch.

I expect that, also.

[nubka]

I've always thought fruitcake was BLECH, but can you imagine what people will bid on ebay for a slice of the royal wedding fruitcake?! Should be fun to watch.

Yes indeed! I remember seeing a pic a few years ago of a slice of the Duke of Windsor & Mrs. Simpson's wedding cake. It was remarkably well preserved.