Christmas Fruitcake. mmmmmmmmmmmm

Mmmmmm

Thanks. I must be the only person in the world that really likes this stuff.

and for us health nuts:

Really Raw Fruit Cake Recipe
There are some recipes that are so simple and so tasty and so healthy that it's downright silly.

Today's recipe, which comes courtesy of Dr. R.G. Wilborn, fits in that category.

Really Raw Fruit Cake

1 cup dates
1 cup raisins
1 cup prunes
1 cup pecans
1 cup walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
Honey

Run through your food processor the dates, raisins, and prunes. Finely chop the pecan and walnut meats and then mix with the fruit, adding the shredded coconut. Moisten all with a small amount of honey and put in mold.

You will need a 9-inch spring form pan or an angel food cake pan.

All Natural Fruitcake

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup dried pitted cherries
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 cup good-quality brandy
Soft butter and flour for the cake pan
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar plus 3 tablespoons sugar to sprinkle on top
2 extra-large eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
1 cup candied lemon and orange rind, chopped coarse
3/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted in the oven for 10 minutes and chopped coarse

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Put the baking soda in a 2-cup measure and add the buttermilk. Stir well with a fork and set aside. (The soda will make the buttermilk foam and rise.)

3. Combine the dried cherries, cranberries, and raisins with the brandy in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, cover the pan, and let the fruit steep.

4. Butter and flour a 9-inch sprig form pan or angel food cake pan. Tap out any excess flour.

5. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and beat in the eggs. Combine the flour with the salt and nutmeg and sift the dry ingredients together. Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the buttermilk mixture. Scrape the bowl as necessary. Fold in the fruit, the candied rind, and the nuts, making sure they are evenly distributed thought the batter. Spoon the mixture into the cake pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle it evenly with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar.

6. Bake 1 hour and 40 minutes. Let the cake cool on a rack for an hour. Carefully turn it out of the pan and invert it onto a cake plate, sugared side up. Serve right away or wrap tightly in several layers of plastic wrap and store in an airtight container 2 weeks at room temperature, or 1 month in the refrigerator.

I LOVE me some fruitcake!

FOR GLUTTONY

I like fruitcake, if it's the good stuff, not the cheapest kind. Your recipes sound divine. There's a lot of booze in them . . I suppose I should think about staying away from proper fruitcakes with those kind of ingredients! One Christmas i ate two pieces of my sister's rum cake on purpose to get a (forbidden) buzz. It worked but I ought to keep those kinds of "episodes" to a non existent minimum lol.

No one ever remembers the Saturday night live episode where they had Christmas at the Betty Ford Clinic and Chris Farley was David Crosby, I think. They sang "The Twelve Steps of Christmas" (on the first day of christmas, my true love said to me, admit that you have a problem lol) and at the end of the skit they were pouring rum all over the rum cake and sloshing it down . .