CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKE

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The Christmas Fruit Cake is a fruit cake with a difference and one of the popular dishes prepared during Christmas season. Fruits and nuts, ground and soaked in a wonderful blend of liqueurs, make this fruit cake really special. It's their passion and the highlight of the Christmas season.

The Christmas fruit cake is a cake made with chopped candied fruits, dried fruits, nuts and spices soaked either in rum or brandy. Fruitcakes are often served in celebration of Christmas and weddings. The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists that pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and raisins that were mixed into barley mash.

In the middle ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added, and the name "fruitcake" was first used. Fruitcakes soon proliferated all over Europe; however, recipes varied greatly in different countries throughout the ages, depending on the available ingredients as well as (in some instances) church regulations forbidding the use of butter, regarding the observance of fast. Pope Innocent VIII (1432-1492) finally granted the use of butter, in a written permission known as the 'Butter Letter' or 'Butterbrief.'

The Holy Father softened his attitude, and in 1490 he sent permission to Saxony, stating that milk and butter could be used in the North German Stollen fruitcakes. Fruit cake is actually one of the British specialties. The fruit cake as known today cannot date back much beyond the Middle Ages. It was only in the 13th century that dried fruits began to arrive in Britain, from Portugal and the east Mediterranean. Lightly fruited breads were probably more common than anything resembling the modern fruit cake during the middle ages.

Early versions of the rich fruit cake, such as Scottish Black Bun dating from the middle ages, were luxuries for special occasions. Fruit cakes have been used for celebrations since at least the early 18th century when bride cakes and plum cakes, descended from enriched bread recipes, became cookery standards.

In the 18th century in England, there were laws restricting the use of plum cake (the generic word for dried fruit at the time) to Christmas, Easter, weddings, christenings, and funerals. Between 1837 and 1901, fruitcake was popular. It is said Queen Victoria received a fruitcake for her birthday one year, and legend has it, she put it aside for a year as a sign of restraint, moderation, and good taste. It is the custom in England for unmarried wedding guests to put a slice of the cake, traditionally a dark fruitcake, under their pillow at night so they will dream of the person they will marry.

Christmas is one of the most fun filled festive seasons of the year, and you just don't want to pass by it without a mouth watering fruit cake. The Christmas Fruit cake recipe is one of the most deliciously kept secret recipes of all moms and grandmothers and they just won't let them out to anybody. These cakes have been around for centuries, and today you might find varieties of them in the different households. For making a Christmas cake it is important that you have all the right ingredients in the right quantity and prepare all ahead.

Fruit cakes have a lot of fruit in them and traditionally the fruit are soaked in a liqueur at least one month in advance or in case you have not soaked them, then you need to make sure you soak them one day before preparing the cake. This is one of the simplest and basic recipes that you might have come across, and all you need is a little organizing before you get started on it. Be it dried fruit, candied fruit, fruit rind, nuts, spices with liquor or brandy, these cakes simply make a yummy moist, dense, heavy cake.

Traditionally during the Christmas season, cakes are best made a month in advance so that it can mature and taste delicious at Christmas. After Christmas you can wrap it and store them in the fridge, provided that you take them out every month and sprinkle some liquor on them.

There is rarely icing put on the cake and alcohol is not commonly put in Christmas cakes that are sold in bakeries. The cakes also tend to be void of any decorations and are shaped like a small loaf of bread. Dark, moist and rich Christmas cakes are the most frequently consumed, with white Christmas cake rarely seen. These cakes tend to be made in mid-November to early December when the weather starts to cool down. They are a staple during Christmas dinner and a gift generally exchanged between business associates and close friends/family.

I have a wonderful and simple basic fruit cake recipe, and this fruit cake is one of my favorites. It is delicious and spongy, and I know that you will love it too. So grab your ingredients and get ready to bake! In a bowl add butter and mix well then add sugar and mix well then add eggs mix well and keep a side. in another bowl add flour, baking powder, spice powder mix well and add this mixture to egg and sugar mixture and mix well then add all the dry fruits. Pour this mixture in a cake bowl greased with butter and flour.

Bake for 325 F for 45 min or more time depending on the size and depth of the cake. Make sure to check if the cake is done by inserting a knife edge, if it comes out clean it is done This fruit cake is light in appearance spongy inside and looks very colorful and appetizing with all the colorful fruits inside them. Decorate your Christmas cake and enjoy sharing with family and friends. Do try this simple home made Christmas fruit cake and distribute it to your family and friends. They will surely love it.

View the making of this dish at:

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Fruitcake is rich and full of healthy nutrients. The fruit and fiber in fruitcake is loaded with anti-oxidants, molecules that protect cells from disease and damage. Happy Baking and Merry Christmas to all!