In my humble opinion...this holiday dessert has a bad rep. If you never made or tried one that was not bought from a store, you owe it to yourself to try it!

I am all over the place today!

Does anyone have a Christmas Pudding recipe that you age as well? I checked the Cooking and Dessert forum and all seem to be meant for immediate use. I thought steamed pudding can age with liquor. Also...what if I do not have a mold?

Anyhoo...I thought I would ask here since it is sorta like preserving. I will look on the internet too but did not know if someone had a tried and true recipe for aging.

I like fruitcake. Never understood the cruel fruitcake jokes.

Jim

The British more typically use a "pudding basin" which is basically a pottery bowl with a lip. That way they can cover the pudding with parchment paper, bring it down over the lip and tie it with string. Because of the lip the string doesn't pop up during steaming.

Here's a recipe from Delia Smith. It's the real McCoy. Notice also she does mention storing until Christmas, at which time it can be served cold or re-steamed to warm and then flamed with brandy.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Traditional Christmas Pudding

I make "White Fruitcake". It is much lighter but still ages really well. Because it is white cake based the fruit really shows up and it is very jewel looking. I make mine the day after Thanksgiving and wrap in cheesecloth soaked in Brandy or Rum. I make the recipe in mini muffin pans and layer the mini cakes with the cheese cloth in large Tupperware containers. Then every week I mist the container and layers with more brandy using a spray mist bottle.

They are very good.
Susan in NC

susandonb - post the recipe for the white fruitcake - please!?

Dave

I remember posting a cream cheese cake recipe here a while back. It used only red and green maraschino cherries and four eight ounce packages of creamed cheese. It also contained walnets and would get moister as the days pass. It would not be stored at room temperature. It wasn't really a fruit cake per se, but was a very festive looking cake served at Christmas time. Fruit cake ins't just for Christmas, it can also be enjoyed at Thanksgiving time. The cherry cheese cake was made in a Bundt pan and was so tasty you could even eat the raw batter!

ksrogers, I'd love the cheesecake recipe. Sounds so unique and I'd like to try it.

I tried to find a very dark fruitcake recipe last year and could not find one anywhere. Anyone have a recipe they could share.

Michelle

The cheese cake this isn't like what you would expect as the ones you see in a NY deli. I call it a Holiday cake to avoid confusion. I was a bit off in my inital amounts.
Two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese
1/2 pound butter or margerine
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups coursly chopped walnuts
two 16 ounce jars of red maraschino cherries (well drained)
1/4 cup flour for dredging cherries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
Cream together butter, cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Slowly mix in flour along with baking powder. Fold in dredged cherries and walnuts and pour into a well greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake cake for 1 1/2 hours until lightly browned on top. Cool for about 15 minutes and then remove from pan and turn it over (flat side down) on to a cooling rack to cool. You can add a thin glaze to this by mixing some almond extract confectioners sugar and hot water, and drizzle over the top and down the sides.

To add more color, substitute one 16 ounce jar of red cherries with 16 ounces of green cherries (if you can find them). If not, you can make a similar green cherry by using glaced (the kind on fruit cakes) green cherries soaked in a little green food coloring, hot water, and some maraschino or almond extract added. Allow them to soak a couple of hours to rehydrate and absorb the color and flavor. Then drain and treat them as you would the red cherries, by dredging first before folding into the batter.

Hope I didn't forget anything. This recipe originally used only a 4 ounce jar of cherries and a 4 ounce package of creamed cheese, I prefer it my way though.. The longer it sits the moister it gets, but I would cover it after a day or so and also refrigerate for up to a week.

Then there's the giant cream puff called the 'Crowning Glory' which uses 7 squares of bakers chocolate, 9 eggs, 3/4 pound butter. Its a mousse filled cream puff pastery. Way too high in cholestrol!

I promise I will post it by Sunday. I am having a hectic week, had to cover my green beans again tonight, and got a lot of running around to do the next couple of days. I will get it on soon.

Thanks,
Susan

I made mine a week ago and will "baste" them every week from now till Christmas. I make a yellow fruitcake and a dark fruitcake every year.

Last year, I had some leftover, so we just kept it in the refrigerator. Come June, the thing was STILL good as gold! I think the oldest recorded fruitcake was something like 23 years old!!!

Yes, they do keep well, especially when soaked with booze. The booze is usually absorbed by the fruits, which make for a really flavorful treat. I used to pour on Cranberria, a cranberry liquor, as well as Grand Marinier. My mom made fruitcakes years ago. Even Sears (mon mom used to work there) used to sell a fruitcake called a 'Butter Batter'. It was golden and was really tasty.

I decided to bake my fruitcakes in the fancy waxed cardboard forms I found at Fante's.

Should have known to butter them first! I now have to spend some time scraping off a layer of paper before soaking them. They would have looked nice...

I make a Date Fuit Cake, which by family tradition is from Lola Berry, whose family in Texas had a pecan tree.

2 c dates
1/2 lb candied cherries
4 c pecan meats
1 1/4 cups flour
4 eggs
1 c sugar

Put all fruits, nuts, and sugar in large bowl, add beaten eggs, then flour.
Mix well, bake in slow oven about 1 hour. Age with brandy-soaked wrappings.

(I mix the eggs, flour and sugar together then I mix it into the fruits, because otherwise you get little deposits of white flour in the crevices of the pecans, which is not pretty.)

This is different from the usual fruitcake, and very excellent.