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Having trouble logging in for comments here and still not allowed to vote in the fruitcake survey. It is my all time favorite Christmas treat. Although admittedly there are sometimes some bad fruitcakes too. Like the candied fruit and cherries too, not as fond of the raisins.

jimkk - what browser and OS are you using? Thanks!

I'm using Firefox on Mac OSX. The problem seems to have corrected itself as I can now vote. ??

I'm having problems too. I can't vote, though I am able to comment. Using Foxfire as well.


But onto the topic at hand. Fruitcake. Love it. Even the kind with the artificially bright citrus peel. But I like it best when they're heavy on the nuts, a delicate hand with the fruit. Raisins and other dried fruit are good. The bright red candied cherries are okay. The citrus peel stuff, not so much. Some fruitcakes are a lot better than others, but the only time I've had an inedible one was the time I tried to make my own. It turned into a crumbly, dry nasty mess even though I followed the recipe exactly.

I have to watch out though. If I don't watch myself, I can eat a whole cake by myself in a couple of days. I love that its so dense and rich.

The voting problem should now be fixed. If anyone is still having problems please let us know! Thanks.

My mother used to make the BEST fruitcake cupcakes and fruit cookies. Oddly enough, I hate fruitcake but the cupcakes and cookies are some of the best memories of Christmas growing up.

Those fruitcake cupcakes sound great, Anne. Perhaps you could post a recipe for those of us who tend towards disliking fruitcake? The thought of piling these up with gooey frosting is probably what is appealing though....

I had some Italian version of a fruitcake and it was even fruiter than the US version----no radioactive colors, it was surprisingly tasty. I just looked it up, it was called panforte.

I'm definitely logged in, and I can't vote, either. Firefox, Mac OSX 10.3.9.

I love fruitcake, always have.

homemade fruitcake is the way to go - the kind that you wrap in cheesecloth and douse repeatedly with rum for a month!

I can now comment, but still can't vote.

I've tried so hard over the years to find a way to love fruitcake... I have made my own furitcake, I have made fruitcake recipes for people who hate fruitcake, I have doused and soused... and still...

That said, here there is yogurt flavoured with "confit de fruits" -- candied peels, and it is lovely. And I have loved many, many plum puddings over the years.

Don't know why not fruitcake...

inspired by a Laurie Colwin article in Gourmet. I made a black cake, a Jamaica fruitcake. Everybody loved it, except me. It was still fruitcake (involved soaking the fruit a month in dark rum and manischevitz) All fall I have been making pearcake, soaking the pears in rum and reving up the spices and toasted pecans. It is wonderful.

i remember having really delicious fruitcake once. it was definitely homemade, not from a box. it was moist and dark and dense and soaked in some kind of rum syrup.

Can comment now, but still can't vote (using Firefox on Windows).

My aunt made yummy homemade fruitcake, so I grew up loving it -- I'd wait all year for her box of fruitcake and cookies every Christmas. I never understood why it was a such a punchline until I got older.

slod–wick - It took me a while to get the joke of fruitcake, too. Similar to the way I'd never heard people make fun of New Jersey (I lived there until I was 10) until I went to college, and I was shocked.

One year my cousin called in to a radio show to testify that everyone LOVES the fruitcake recipe that was passed down in her/my mom's side of the family. The same fruitcake that my immediate family always knocked -- almost nobody liked it (of course we never said so).

PANETTONE: Milanese establishment, and technically a fruitcake.

YUM. Kick's "traditional"/Anglosaxon/brick type fruitcake's behind.

this weekend is the start of the xmas season (Sant'Ambrogio here in Milano and L'Imaccolata everywhere else). Can't wait for some panettone and vin brule'!!!

I do Alton Brown's fruitcake recipe every Xmas now, it's very popular and I still get requests for it (or I'd be worried that people were just being nice and didn't really like it). I like to mix it up with different dried fruits (not candied) and a variety of liquor (I think last year's ended up with brandy, rum and the last of the Tia Maria). It's fun to experiment with!

Anne (in Reno), I have Alton Brown's Free Range Fruitcake in the oven right now. This is my first attempt, so I am glad to hear you (and others) like it. It sure is a lot of trouble if nobody likes it. I have my fingers crossed.

I love fruitcake, although I'm not a fan of the store bought variety. I did once have some amazing fruitcake made by Trappist monks in Kentucky. Can you guess what they dosed it with??? Yay, for bourbon!

Myself, I make a Swedish fruitcake recipe (no spice, no nuts, and only dried fruit.) It's not quite as dense as the usual kind since you separate the eggs and fold in the beaten whites, it's somewhat light in texture for a fruitcake. I also veer from tradition and soak and dose my fruitcake with sherry. It's fragrant and yummy!