Thank you, Richard! Damn you, Richard! Thank you, Richard!

marilynfl

Moderator
So your post on Christmas Fruit Cake was an epiphany because while reading the list of ingredients I suddenly realized I DON'T HAVE TO INCLUDE THE ICKY STUFF I DETEST. I'm talking to YOU, neon green cherries or YOU, bitter citron...or YOU, overly sweet dark raisins. I can control how much booze...and what type...and how long...or even, dare I say it, completely eliminate it. Thank you, Richard!

And, as fate would have it, that weekend I passed the discontinued shelf at Walmart and there sat 8-oz tubs of candied pineapple for $2...a sign from the Universe that this was the plan. Since they didn't expire until 2018 I picked up a few to finally make a fruit cake that I liked!

Only problem is...this is June. And NONE of the local grocery stores carry holiday ingredients in June, EVEN IF RICHARD IS MAKING HIS CAKE NOW! THEY DON'T CARE! I went to six stores before admitting defeat and muttered: Damn you, Richard.

But that's where NUTS.COM came into play and 3 days later, I had the most gorgeous whole candied cherries in my hot little hands along with some of the best dried tomatoes I've ever had, which I ordered so the shipping costs wouldn't feel so painful.

And so...we're back to THANK YOU, RICHARD!!

Now, please explain to me what I do with the baked cakes. This concept might be old hat to you, but I have no idea what to do with the baked batch of 5 mini-pans (half recipe: 1 lb of cherries, 1 lb of pineapple). Does it have to be straight booze (ie; cognac) or can it be a liquor, like Frangelico? Oh wait, we've already eaten one of those. Okay, what do I do with the 4 mini-pans?

 
Yes, I have cheesecloth. Do I have to put it in a tin--or will a plastic GLAD container work?

Does it have to be refrigerated, kept in the dark, buried under a rock?

Seriously...my only fruit cake experience was the yearly brick-size cube my Dad brought home along with a bottle of Seagram's. I couldn't stand the smell of fruitcake let alone the taste. So I've got ZERO experience here.

 
As Melissa said, wrap in cheesecloth...

If I'm using a tin, I wrap in foil then in plastic, otherwise in my experience, the tin will get rusty.

I have mini-loaves as well, those are wrapped and stored in large Rubbermaid containers. I really like this size for a couple reasons, nice size for gifting and when you have company in, you can put out a full cake on the sideboard and not the half eaten one.

They also decorate well as per recipe instructions.

When you have them wrapped and stored, once a month or so, open them up and sprinkle the cakes with more of your booze. I use all types. Cognac, scotch, whisky. etc. Just keep using the same type on the cake.

Enjoy!

 
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