Fruit cake?????

[Worth1]

Looks really good.

[Rajun Gardener]

Good looking cake you got there. If ya'll keep that up I might have to make one myself. Maybe I'll go all nuts!!!

[Worth1]

I just watched some folks in Germany cook down some apple juice they squeezed from shredded apples they picked on their place.'
These apple trees are no place else besides their place.
The juice was slowly cooked down into a dark syrup.

What a far cry from high fructose corn syrup.

[Nan_PA_6b]

High fructose apple syrup?

[coronabarb]

When I make apple butter, I take the cores and peelings and boil them for a few hours. Then, I strain for a few hours and boil that juice down to a syrup. I add it to the apple butter so it doesn't need any added sugar. The syrup is a nice pink too from the peels.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

High fructose apple syrup?

I was referring to the HFC syrup they have in the stores these days.
Most all of it is with flavoring from who knows what.
To see these two old guys cook the apple juice down the a thick dark syrup that was almost solid without burning it was a joy to behold.
Worth

Here is the part of the video where they make the stuff.
https://youtu.be/cGUYyXeraKs?t=998

Here is the beginning of the video.
https://youtu.be/cGUYyXeraKs
Well worth watching.
The baking bread thing is a real hoot.
Much of it reminds me of the way I was raised with the farm community getting together for celebrations and eating.

And the time I invited the whole church out one night for me to make hand made cream puffs for every one with homemade whipped cream from our cows.
I was around 11 years old and did almost every bit of it so I could show off my cream puff making skills.
My mom kept the coffee going.

Worth

[Rajun Gardener]

I'm changing Ted's recipe so I can make it for Turkey day. I'm cutting down 3-4 days, it's the last part when you add the nuts. I don't see a problem with them soaking now vs in 4 days. I'm thinking they can go in at the 21 day mark to start soaking up that free alcohol and it wouldn't make a difference.

Here's some pics of before stirring and after stirring, you can see the CO2/foam escaping and if you ate this as a desert it will give you a buzz. I'm guessing but it's probably about 7-8% alcohol, a little lower than most wines.

[Lastfling]

It’s been a while since this thread was updated. Here is 30 day cake #2 fresh out of oven -



Cake #1 missed its photo op and was gone in less than a day. Need I say the recipe is a winner. Takes a while to see results but definitely worth the wait IMHO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rajun Gardener]

I forgot to update this thread too. I made these on Turkey day, they're long gone. These pans didn't work good, the inside was still a little soggy even after the toothpick test. I sliced them long ways and baked till crisp and they were awesome.
I'm gonna make another sometime this week.

[ContainerTed]

Rajun, if you got moist cake that might have felt sticky to the touch, you got it right. It should taste quite sweet and soft with the softened fruit there to let you know that it ain't the usual stuff one finds in cakes. It's just all the flavors without the "rock hard" molasses brick of a consumable. We have folks request the cakes each year and have, in the past, sold a few for as much as 25 bucks or more. At 25, we figure we just about break even.

Hope you enjoyed the experiment and will share with your family and close neighbors. They will love you forever. I was pleased when you decided to try one because I knew that the Cajun folks would find it quite good.

Take care and the best from my house to yours for the upcoming holidays.

And, yes, you can vary this recipe any way you want. You can't hurt it as long as you get the wine aroma and flavor early on in the process.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

[Rajun Gardener]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Rajun, if you got moist cake that might have felt sticky to the touch, you got it right. It should taste quite sweet and soft with the softened fruit there to let you know that it ain't the usual stuff one finds in cakes.

That's exactly how it came out. It was good but I was expecting it to be dry.


I played with the ingredients again last night and it came out perfect to my taste. It's not as sweet and more dense but has excellent flavor.

I used one box of yellow cake mix(I already had it) and added one cup of flour and one teaspoon of baking powder. The wet ingredients were two cups of the fruits, 1/2 cup of the starter liquid, one egg, one tbsp of vanilla extract, one tsp of cinnamon. Mixed and filled two disposable aluminum pans and baked at 250 for three hours then turned the oven off and let it cool till this morning.

Perfect coffee cake for breakfast.

[Worth1]

Fruitcake Reminder!!!!!!!!

First everyone's fruitcake came out nicely indeed.

Next believe it or not, now is the time to start stocking up on ingredients for fruitcake.
The holidays are just around the corner and the stuff isn't cheap.
We can help by purchasing the ingredients a little at a time so it doesn't hit our already stressed out holiday pocketbooks.
Plus the more it ages the better it is.

[upcountrygirl]

Lol! Worth reminds me about Christmas when inventorying school supplies and clothes is on this week's agenda for next week's back to school tax free weekend. I know I have the nuts for Grandma's fruitcake recipe already in the freezer. I have been thinking about starting starter mix for a friendship cake...

[AlittleSalt]

I want to make one.

I wonder if you can candy cherry tomatoes and peppers? It may sound like I'm joking, but it might be pretty good. A little spicy sweet fruitcake.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Ted's recipe for 30 day (or Friendship) cake, instead of the regular Fruit Cake.

Ingredients:

1 packet of yeast or a pint jar of some friends starter, which is the leftover juice from the process.
2 cups of warm (not hot) water to activate the yeast if needed
4 cups regular sugar
1 large can (15 oz) of fruit cocktail
1 large can (15 oz) of diced peaches
1 large can (15 oz) crushed pineapple
1 8 oz can of jar of maraschino cherries
1 large can of any other fruit you choose
1 standard yellow cake mix - moist is recommended
2 cups dried raisins
1 or 2 cups of the nuts of your choice

Do not drain any of the canned fruit. Stir only with non-metallic instruments

Begin with two cups of the sugar, yeast, and the fruit cocktail and put them into a glass container. Combine and stir with a non metal instrument daily for the first week.

Add the peaches and another cup of sugar and stir daily for the next 7 days.

Add the Pineapple and another cup of sugar and stir daily for the next 7 days.

Add the maraschino cherries and any other fruit you choose, and stir daily for the next 7 days.

Now add the English Walnuts and any other fruits or nuts you choose and stir daily for the next 3 to 4 days.

Your "mix" should have taken on a distinctly "wine" aroma. If this happens, you are right on track.

Saving the liquid, and using a colander or non-metallic strainer of your choice, drain the entire mixture to separate the fruit from the juice.

Now, all the final ingredients are ready.

With one cup of the "juice" and two cups of the fruit, add them to one standard box of "Moist Yellow Cake Mix". Stir together to achieve a good mix and pour into a well greased Bunt cake pan and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 45 min to one hour or until a test toothpick or skewer shows it to be done (comes back dry). Cool and enjoy. It can be sliced or chunked and frozen for storage. Freezer time had been tested by me to be at least 12 months.

It is not that "brick" most folks have against "Fruit Cake". It is light and fruity and sweet and will please the most critical of appetites.

The extra liquid can be refrigerated (not frozen) for next year or used for additional cakes. We usually get about three cakes out of each recipe. If you use the liquid which most of us call a "starter", then all you have to add is the fruit and sugar. Refrigerated leftover liquid doesn't seem to kill the yeast.

You can adjust the amounts of the fruits added to this recipe. It's all about allowing the yeast to ferment the fruit and make alcohol with the sugar. The alcohol is boiled off during the baking, but the flavors remain.

Hope this works for you.

The taste should be fruity and sweet. If you are diabetic, then caution is strongly advised.

does anyone know if or what stirring with a metal spoon really does to the mixture? I stir my sourdough starter with a metal spoon and it doesn't seem to hurt it... what does it do? or is it the kind of metal such as an aluminum utensil if they make such a thing or id it an old wives tale? fact fiction myth?