Don’t laugh at me, but I love fruitcake like the one pictured here that’s made with good ingredients. So how could I resist the pretty and organic (at least mostly so) fruitcakes on display in the Whole Earth Center bakery?
These are made with whole wheat pastry flour, and organic dried fruits instead of the the heavily sugared and artifically colored kind. There are pecans, too.
The full-size version, round and hefty, is $24, and these mini-loaves were $5.95. Not cheap, but if you bought all these ingredients to make your own (to say nothing of the value of your time), you’d be shocked at how much you might spend, and good fruitcake is pretty pricy anywhere I’ve noticed (especially if shipped in a fancy tin). Fruitcake is making a come back as a hostess gift – and not the kind that’s re-gifted. You can tell they’re special just by looking at one of these.
NJ SPICE 
That sounds good, and it is certainly true that it is expensive to make a good fruitcake. I love fruitcake if it is moist. The best one I’ve ever made was from a recipe in The New York Times cookbook. I believe it was called Jamaican Black Fruit Cake. It is made with dark rum. The trick though is to make it long before Christmas. I used to make it in late August or early September. You soak the fruit for days before making the cake, then you wrap the cakes in cheesecloth and age them for months, periodically sprinkling them with more rum to keep them moist. It is extremely rich so I usually made it in the mini-loaf pans so that each slice is quite small. Would be lovely served in a pool of Creme Anglaise.
That does sound wonderful, and it’s so great to know that others feel as I do about fruitcake!
I just had to remark when I read the above post…years ago when my grandmother was alive-I too used to make a fruitcake with her and it was a chocolate one that was absolutely delicious. This post made me want to try and find that recipe and Faith, I am sure you know that recipe well-because I’m sure you’ve seen it too! I believe it was made with cocoa & then all kinds of fruit in a big huge pot on the stove and then we poured the ingredients into individual loaf pans to bake. If I can’t find the recipe-I’m calling you to see if one of you have it there :o)
by the way, Merry Christmas to my Jersey Family :o)
Chocolate fruitcake? I have no recollection of that at all. They must have hidden it from me…Hope you can track down that recipe and share it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!