Homemade Fruitcake. Yes, for real. Six cups of dried fruit and nuts, plus some flour, sugar, eggs, and wine. Once cool, I wrap the loaves in paper towels, soak in wine, seal in plastic, and place in the fridge. Then, once a week I unseal the plastic and re-water the fruitcake with wine every week until Christmas. At its best, fruitcake is made the day after Thanksgiving, but I have made it the week of Christmas, and "watered" it every other day, and it still was good.
Fruitcake was our wedding cake, made by my mom, at my request. Somehow during childhood my sister and I learned that fruitcake was the "traditional" wedding cake. We came up with a theory that cutting through a fruitcake, struggling through the snags and lumps of fruit and nuts, was a good start for facing the difficulties of married life. Fluffy cake? No substance! No wonder the high divorce rate! (We were children of divorce. My mom has never mentioned her wedding cake.) So when the time came, my sister had a fruitcake for her wedding cake, and so did I. I also had cupcakes for the children attending.
Making the fruitcake each year makes me think of the other years I have made it...
The year my husband said I'd bring the recipe to Christmas; "No!" I shouted, to his utter bewilderment. "Your mother makes EVERYTHING; PLEASE let this be my thing."
The year I came home to a cold heatless apartment, five months pregnant, called the landlord, and then started cooking in order to warm up part of the house.
The year I called my mom from the grocery store aisle asking was lox sugar was. 10 x or confectioners sugar, it turns out.
The year I made it in a galley kitchen while six months pregnant.
The year I made it with a baby sleeping in the Bjorn.
This year I made it in our own house, with one of the monkeys dumping the pre-measured amounts into the mixing bowl. A double batch, and the best yet.
1 comment:
I can attest that it tastes great!
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