A few days ago I baked a boiled fruitcake following my mother's
recipe, only I used extra fruit and extra liquid to make up for it.
Alas it seems that I didn't use enough of it... or else I overbaked
the cake. It came out very dry and crumbly, and also far too sweet for
my tastes. My brother says it's because I left out the brandy, and
substituted orange juice. It seems as if it just evaporated off the
top of the cake rather than soaking in, and he says it's because of
the lack of alchohol. As it is, it's a demonstration of the horror
stories of inedible christmas cakes, so I couldn't take it to church
today like I planned... but it's far too expensive to turf out with
all that fruit in it!

My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?

--
~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com
Online photo album - http://community.webshots.com/user/kajikit

On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 14:27:27 -0500, Karen AKA Kajikit
> wrote:


>My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
>with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
>I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
>do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?

Crumble it up and smush it into softened vanilla ice cream.

Tara

Karen AKA Kajikit wrote:
> A few days ago I baked a boiled fruitcake.

Boiled cake... whadya expect... aintcha ever read any boiled rib
threads?

Tara wrote:
> On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 14:27:27 -0500, Karen AKA Kajikit
> > wrote:
>
>
>> My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
>> with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
>> I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
>> do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?
>
> Crumble it up and smush it into softened vanilla ice cream.
>
> Tara

Ice Cream, hard sauce, custard or whipped cream. But before you try
that, Consider adding some booze to a small slice just to see.

If nothing else consider making a fruit cake trifle or 3.

I believe some folk butter then broil their Fruit cake and use like a
slice of toast.

Me? I just chuck them out...nasty things fruit cakes.

> My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
> with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
> I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
> do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?
>

Sounds like a Trifle would be the way to go. Adds lots of moisture and you
could still enjoy the flavor of the fruits in your cake.

Lynne

"King's Crown" > wrote in message
news
>> My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
>> with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
>> I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
>> do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?
>>
>
> Sounds like a Trifle would be the way to go. Adds lots of moisture and
> you could still enjoy the flavor of the fruits in your cake.

Not too sure about that - a trifle needs alcohol, and presumably she wants
something *without* alcohol, or the brandy would have been there in the
first place ... What about mixing it with mincemeat, to add texture to mince
pies?

Jani
(who is sufficiently behind schedule that no-one knows yet what the xmas
cake is like. Now I know why they run entire college courses in how to ice
cakes ..)

Karen AKA Kajikit wrote:
> A few days ago I baked a boiled fruitcake following my mother's
> recipe, only I used extra fruit and extra liquid to make up for it.
> Alas it seems that I didn't use enough of it... or else I overbaked
> the cake. It came out very dry and crumbly, and also far too sweet for
> my tastes. My brother says it's because I left out the brandy, and
> substituted orange juice. It seems as if it just evaporated off the
> top of the cake rather than soaking in, and he says it's because of
> the lack of alchohol. As it is, it's a demonstration of the horror
> stories of inedible christmas cakes, so I couldn't take it to church
> today like I planned... but it's far too expensive to turf out with
> all that fruit in it!
>
> My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
> with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
> I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
> do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?
>


I'd consider crumbling it up into a custard sauce and baking it like
bread pudding. With rum sauce to keep brother happy.

gloria p

"Jani" > wrote in message
...
>
> "King's Crown" > wrote in message
> news
>>> My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
>>> with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
>>> I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
>>> do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?
>>>
>>
>> Sounds like a Trifle would be the way to go. Adds lots of moisture and
>> you could still enjoy the flavor of the fruits in your cake.
>
> Not too sure about that - a trifle needs alcohol, and presumably she wants
> something *without* alcohol, or the brandy would have been there in the
> first place ... What about mixing it with mincemeat, to add texture to
> mince pies?
>
> Jani

I have never made a trifle with alcohol, because of a hubby who can't have
alcohol and the kids. With the pudding, whipped cream and the fruit juice
it should sufficiently cause a dry cake to moisten up without alcohol, which
seems like something she wanted to avoid in the first place.

Lynne

On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 14:27:27 -0500, Karen AKA Kajikit
> wrote:

>A few days ago I baked a boiled fruitcake following my mother's
>recipe, only I used extra fruit and extra liquid to make up for it.
>Alas it seems that I didn't use enough of it... or else I overbaked
>the cake. It came out very dry and crumbly, and also far too sweet for
>my tastes. My brother says it's because I left out the brandy, and
>substituted orange juice. It seems as if it just evaporated off the
>top of the cake rather than soaking in, and he says it's because of
>the lack of alchohol. As it is, it's a demonstration of the horror
>stories of inedible christmas cakes, so I couldn't take it to church
>today like I planned... but it's far too expensive to turf out with
>all that fruit in it!
>
>My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
>with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
>I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
>do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?

Thanks for the suggestions! I wound up crumbling half of the cake into
a mixing bowl on Christmas afternoon, and mixing it with two eggs and
a generous amount of milk. Then I divided it up into ramekins and
baked it in the oven sitting in a water bath. It came out as a cross
between cake and christmas pudding, and we served it with icecream.
Yummy!

We ate some of the cake by itself today too - the center of the cake
was moister than the outside so it was quite nice. The last third of
the cake is reserved for making a christmas cake trifle...

--
~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com
Online photo album - http://community.webshots.com/user/kajikit

"King's Crown" > wrote in message
et...
>
> "Jani" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "King's Crown" > wrote in message
>> news
>>>> My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
>>>> with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
>>>> I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
>>>> do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Sounds like a Trifle would be the way to go. Adds lots of moisture and
>>> you could still enjoy the flavor of the fruits in your cake.
>>
>> Not too sure about that - a trifle needs alcohol, and presumably she
>> wants something *without* alcohol, or the brandy would have been there in
>> the first place ... What about mixing it with mincemeat, to add texture
>> to mince pies?
>>
>> Jani
>
> I have never made a trifle with alcohol, because of a hubby who can't have
> alcohol and the kids. With the pudding, whipped cream and the fruit juice
> it should sufficiently cause a dry cake to moisten up without alcohol,
> which seems like something she wanted to avoid in the first place.

Come to think of it, I have done trifles without alcohol, but they didn't
seem "right", somehow. Comes of being brought up in the One True Way of
sherry trifle, probably

Jani

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 14:10:17 -0000, "Jani" > wrote:

>
>"King's Crown" > wrote in message
. net...
>>
>> "Jani" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>>
>>> "King's Crown" > wrote in message
>>> news >>>>> My mother suggested crumbling it and making some of it into rumballs
>>>>> with condensed milk and coconut... or making a steamed pudding (but
>>>>> I've got to get a pudding basin before I can do that!) What would you
>>>>> do with a dry, crumbly, alcohol-free christmas cake to make it edible?
>>>>>
snipped:
Goe;
Keep it simple. You are wanting to eat, not build a piano. Ok this is
what you can do and it works. Create individual servings of a modified
fruit cobbler.
1. pour a little fruit juice in a bowl
2. place a broken up chunk of cake in it
3. Pour on chopped assorted fruit
4. Cover with cream or whipped cream
5. Sprinkle cinnamon on top
6. Warm in a microwave
7. Serve
8. Wala, you're a hero