now is the time , Sept 1st.
a long time ago , 1999 I did a lot of reading
and made fruit cakes in aluinun disposable pans , which I used over and over.
I looked at a lot of Rx's n and pick one that gave me ' good crumb' on the final FC ;
brown sugar and butter flavor. the crumb was medium brown , not black .
Tj's at that time had red currants and lots of other dried fruit that I used.
I lined the pans w parchment paper , and used a lot of dried fruit . a lot.
chopped the larger pieces , including dried apricots and cherries etc.
I remember baking the FC at what I thought was a low temp ' 300 F ?
Im not a baker , it seemed low to me at the time. but for 3 hours or so.
bringing them out of the oven , I let them cool a bit , then lifted w that parchment paper
out of the aluminum pans , and placed is a plastic bag , then jabbed them a bit w a knife on the top
and added I think as much as a 1/2 cup of good rum , and other spirits for those who like that
as they were going to be gifts. they cooled some more , and I used the plastic bag to seal them
and put them in a cool place for 4 months. I did sneak a taste or two.
no fluorescent fruit , green , red , purple. just good stuff.
i made several mini- loafs the same way and gave them as gifts to
libraries etc , w a Hard Sauce Rx.
the best fruitcake Ive ever tasted as the fruit was only what i enjoyed myself.
no nuts !
I wish I knew what the batter Rx was now , but that was many operating systems ago
and lost. I did modify it , but not too much : Brown sugar , butter and good crumb.
the fruit absorbed the rum / whiskey etc
out standing it was .
*** sigh ***
the dried fruit was affordable at the time , as it all came from Tj's.
1999 - 2000 that was the season.
