Fruit Cake: Reprise

I was going to attach this to the actual fruitcake post, but I decided it was too amazing and deserved it's own special newsflash post. Kind of like the KitchenAid. But not quite that special.

Anyway, I took a loaf of the fruitcake back to Cleveland with me. Apparently my grandma actually likes fruitcake, so mom thought she'd be excited. Clearly she was, because she stole a piece before I had even frosted it. We decided to have it during our tree decorating event, so I unwrapped the cake from it's rum-soaked foil and cheese cloth, plopped it on a festive glass plate, topped it with almond paste and a powdered sugar glaze as directed, and set it on the table... where it was for the most part avoided. After finishing the tree, my sister, who had seemed quite intrigued by the prospect of actually seeing and tasting a fruitcake, which we had only heard about in the Christmas lore of comedians (Emily: Is that a treasure map?), finally asked if she should try some, so we all took a small piece. I warily took my first bite. It was... GREAT! It wasn't hard as brick or gummy or anything like what you usually think fruitcake will be like. The rum was intense, but not in a bad way, and I think the frosting really brought it all together. I actually enjoyed eating it. So did my grandma, and my sister. Unclear about mom... she seemed unimpressed by the whole ordeal, although she did admit that it was better than she'd thought it would be.

We ended up taking the rest of the loaf over to our family friends' house for dinner. Turns out, they also love fruitcake, and they had great things to say about this one. They even asked for the recipe. I felt like a proud mama--my ugly duckling had turned out to be a beautiful swan. Remember the tomato cake. ;-)

I took the other loaf to Tim and Maureen's holiday party along with the chocolate cake. The results were similar: many surprised positive comments. A few people took some home, and Tim asked to keep a big piece, which he said was quickly eaten. Even Randy admitted it wasn't bad.

All in all, my holiday cake baking was successful (minus that cursed Yule log...). A couple I'd make again: the gingerbread and the New Year's cake for sure, and the chocolate cake was easy so I'd make it if asked, or if I was going somewhere that required an impressive conversation starter. I don't know if I'd ever make another fruitcake. It's an expensive endeavor, but it might be worth it, especially if I know there will be people who like fruitcake, because those are the people who truly appreciated this cake most, I think. As for the Yule log... I don't care how many people tell me how many times that it was their favorite. Never again.