Daisy > wrote in
:

> I read a newspaper article yesterday written by a non-USA person, who
> had experienced life in a Brtitsh-style culture for a while. The
> article was all about fruit cakes.
>
> Apparently fruit cakes (the genuine version please people LOL) are
> virtually unknown in the USA. I didn't know that.
>

Actually, various type of fruitcakes are well known in the USA.
Generally, however, they do not enjoy a very good reputation here. They
are joked about by many and, I suspect, often by people who have never
even tasted one. There are many poor excuses for fruitcake sold
commercially and they truly deserve the derision.

OTOH, many families have treasured fruitcake recipes that are baked and
enjoyed every year. I imagine that their origins are mostly British. My
family has traditionally baked three types of fruitcake, all of which I
love. My very favorite cake is like the traditional Christmas cake,
dark, rich with fruits and nuts, moist with rum and brandy, and made with
only enough batter to hold it all together. We also bake a "white
fruitcake" that only contains candied fruits and peels and nuts, but no
dried fruit. It is made with somewhat more batter and is not quite as
moist. The third is almost a dead-ringer for the Dundee Cake. I also
love this one, but have never considered it a true fruitcake, yet, I
suppose it is.

A note of humor... There are stories of families gifting members with
the same fruitcake (never eaten) for years on end. I'd be willing to bet
that the foundations to these stories is based on truth. <G>

FWIW, on the Saturday following Christmas, I baked 20 pounds of
"Christmas Cake" to be stored away and mellowed for the Christmas of
2004.

Cheers,
Wayne