Fruitcake for freelancers
By BILL DUNCAN
The View From Here
A freelance writer is someone who is a bigger gambler against the fates than a farmer. He or she does many things to support the writing habit.
While I have been a full time employee at daily newspapers since the 1950s, as a reporter and eventually as an editor — the one who puts in the commas others left out — I have always dabbled in freelance writing.
In fact, the writing I do today, such as this column, I do as a freelance writer. I get no set salary, no benefits and I have no boss, other than my disciplined self.
One of the ways I earn extra income is by writing book reviews, a natural for a guy who suffers from biblioholism, an addiction causing the habitual longing to purchase, read, store, admire and consume books in excess. Just by coincidence a column I wrote a week or so ago, I mentioned that a favorite Christmas story of mine was Truman Capote’s 1956 short story, "A Christmas Memory," because it was about baking fruitcakes for Christmas. I confessed I was one of those rare people who actually likes fruitcake.
Would you believe the next book I am to review is Debbie Macomber’s "There’s Something About Christmas," a story about fruitcakes? Debbie’s books all take place in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in her home state of Washington. Her latest book is about a fictional University of Oregon journalism school graduate who gets her first job on a newspaper in Puyallup, Wash. and is assigned to write a series of articles about three women in Washington who have become finalists in a national fruitcake bakeoff. The book is not only is about Emma Collins, a reporter who hates fruitcake, Christmas and flying, but the author goes heavily into fruitcakes and even prints the recipes of the fictional finalists, including a chocolate fruitcake.
There is no indication in the book that the recipes are not doable and I have already recorded the chocolate fruitcake recipe to try someday. At the beginning of each chapter there is a salty comment from a famous person about fruitcakes and America’s love/hate relationship with the traditional Christmas cake. A typical one is from Josh Sens, a freelance writer and food critic in Oakland, Calif., who wrote: "Fruitcakes are like in-laws. They show up at the holidays. You have no idea who sent them, how old they are, or how long they’ll be hanging around your kitchen."
That is typical of people who are on the hate side of this wonderful Christmas treat. But I am not alone in my praise of the lowly fruitcake, to wit, Robert Caldwell, a reader from Sequim, Wash. who sent me a fruitcake for Christmas, one that he said was from a special recipe of his Aunt Pearl. He continues the tradition, he said, by baking the recipe each year. He did not send a copy of the recipe, however.
A Christmas card came in the mail the other day from Marion Young, a reader from Myrtle Creek, Ore. that had a mixed message about fruitcakes. The front of the card said: "Let’s hear it for Fruitcake and Friendship." But on the inside, the message was: "Two gifts that last a lifetime."
You are supposed to eat the fruitcake, Marion.
I even got a personal note from Donna Green, a retired law enforcement officer, who now lives in Oakland, Ore. telling me she is a fruitcake aficionado.
Christmas is a time for baking and the kitchen at my house takes on the aroma of cakes and cookies. My wife prepares a box of homemade goodies for all the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Already this year, the freezer is brimming with cookies of all shapes and sizes and of course brownies for one son in particular.
But there is no fruitcake in the oven, so I guess I will have to make my own from a special recipe I copied from the "Christmas with a Country Flavor," cookbook, called "Glorious Golden Fruitcake." It is the closest recipe to the one I remember from my childhood.
(Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470. The recipe for his favorite fruitcake can be found on his blog, http://www.theduncansonline.com/elderstatesman)
Recipe for Glorious Golden Fruitcake
(from Christmas with a Country Flavor)
4 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups butter (or margarine)
1 1/2 cups sugar (you can use Spenda)
6 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
4 cups chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped candied pineapple
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped red candied cherries
1/2 cup chopped green candied cherries
1 tbs grated lemon rind
Pineapple Glaze (recipe follows)
Pecan halves
Stir together flour, baking powder, salt. Reserve 1/4 cup, set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after addition. Added sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk, beating well after each addition.
Combine walnuts, pineapple, raisins, candied cherries, lemon rind and reserved 1/4 cup flour, toss gently to coat. Stir into batter. Spread batter in greased and wax paper lined 10 inch tube pan.
Bake at 275 degrees for two hours 45 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool on rack.
Wrap fruitcake tightly in foil. Store in refigerator up to 4 weeks.
To serve: Prepare Pineapple Glaze. Frost top of cake, letting glaze drip down sides. Decorate cake with pecan halves. Makes one 5 pound fruitcake.
To make Pineapple Glaze: Combine 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar and 2 tbs pineapple juice. Mix until smooth.
December 19th, 2005 at 2:23 pm
Maybe you and I had the same mother????? While, Sir William…you and I are different in mega ways…if we are both fruitcake lovers I think that is a
significant bonding! (apparently there are few of us in the world) My mother made the most divine ‘white’ she called it fruitcake, because it was
golden with huge chunks of nuts, fruit and whole cherries in it. Everyone
else in the family liked the dark better, much to my glee I got to have most
of the ‘white’ to myself. I being very unlike Ada and my mother (not a
cookie to be found in my freezer and it is December 16th)..I didn’t think to
get that recipe from her before she died and for some reason it wasn’t in
her huge collection in her recipe box. How can I get my hands on that
recipe?
Gloria Johnson, Club Carefree 50 director
December 19th, 2005 at 2:24 pm
Fruitcakes are like people. Sometimes the mix has too many nuts and fruits. A little booze makes one mellow, but too much causes one to fall apart. Without proper care they become hard and tasteless. With loving care they are a joy to have around. Regardless, as with people, I still like ‘em.
Colleen makes a superb fruitcake. I intended to share one with you once, but greed got in the way and I ate the whole thing. I didn’t need Speedy Alka Seltzer afterward either. She made only one batch of five cakes this year. Half of it went to my two eldest grandsons, who, being true descendants of this grandpa, like fruitcakes and mincemeat pies. Two remaining cakes are hidden in an old refrigerator in my workshop. We’ll see what the future holds for them.
Ron