The Supreme eG Pastry and Baking Challenge (Round 8)

[K8memphis]

[Mette]

Messing with the holidays, eh? I love fruitcake - traditional, english fruit cake - and I am looking forward to seeing what can possibly be done to improve on it... Good luck

Incidently, what is hard sauce? We have brandy butter with christmas pudding, is there any resemblence?

(The marrying an englishman has already messed with the holidays around these parts....)

[K8memphis]

...Incidently, what is hard sauce? We have brandy butter with christmas pudding, is there any resemblence? ...

(The marrying an englishman has already messed with the holidays around these parts....)

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Yes I think that's similar.

My understanding of hard sauce is confectioner's sugar glaze made with alcohol.

Liquour laced runny icing.

So powdered sugar, butter and alcohol and maybe some water, vanilla, whatever like that.

Marrying anyone messes with the holidays!!

Edited November 15, 2006 by K8memphis (log)

[alanamoana]

from wikipedia (so take it with a slice of fruitcake),

Hard sauce is a cold dessert sauce made by creaming or beating butter and sugar with rum, brandy, whiskey, vanilla or other flavoring. It is typically served with plum pudding, bread pudding, Indian pudding, hasty pudding, and other heavy puddings as well as with fruitcakes and gingerbread.

Though it is called a sauce, it is not liquid or smooth.

they aren't the only source that have this definition. makes sense to me! i always thought hard sauce was because it was mainly hard liquor!!

at any rate, K8, you've done it again...i'm definitely trying to work in an egg-noggy component to this dessert.

holiday cheer and all that, what? what?

[K8memphis]

...at any rate, K8, you've done it again...i'm definitely trying to work in an egg-noggy component to this dessert.

holiday cheer and all that, what? what?

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Bwoo wha ha ha and fa la la la 2

I mean egg nog is kinda rich to have with fruit cake. Shoot it's rich standing all by itself somewhere but man they just so seem to really jive together somehow. Cool Cool Cool. I hope it works out.

Give us some hints??? Or give us another little whiff of something???

I can just so see your little nutmeg grater out on the counter patiently awaiting...

[alanamoana]

so, i went a bit crazy on the dry ingredients. i'm not too interested in already candied fruit. i think i'm going to poach this dried fruit in some kind of liquor...also, i don't really believe in adding raw nuts to baked goods. i will toast all of them first. much better flavor.

[Kouign Aman]

I love candied apricots. So rich and decadent and tangy. They could substitute for the shocking chemical-cherries, to add flavor, color and that wonderful candied texture.

[Lindacakes]

Never eaten warm fruitcake?

Wow.

I like mine buttered and then heated in the oven, wrapped in foil.

Warm, buttery, fruity . . .

Egggggggggggggggnogggggggggggggggggg?

[duckduck]

so, i went a bit crazy on the dry ingredients.  i'm not too interested in already candied fruit.  i think i'm going to poach this dried fruit in some kind of liquor...also, i don't really believe in adding raw nuts to baked goods.  i will toast all of them first.  much better flavor.

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Isn't Trader Joe's a wonderful place for fruits and nuts? I have a big box at home that looks just like that photo! I decided that I really need to dig into that box and use up my stuff for the holiday and share instead of just munching on it all myself. Mom and I were just talking about fruitcake last night. I'm excited to see what you come up with!

I've never seen candied apricots before. It may just be because I tend to pass over the whole candied fruit section. Might have to take a look this year and pay attention.

[alanamoana]

looooove me some trader joes.

unfortunately, the apricots are not candied. they do have a product (which was sold out when i went) which is called "slab apricot" and it is sort of like concentrated dried apricots in a brick form. supposedly has a great flavor, better than pureee. i don't think it is sulphured either.

we'll see how much of this actually ends up in the fruitcake!

[C_Ruark]

looooove me some trader joes.

... they do have a product (which was sold out when i went) which is called "slab...  i don't think it is sulphured either.

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Hi AM,

Good luck with the challenge!

Fruit cakes are indeed yum, especially the German Obsttorten I grew up with.

I've soaked the TJ apricots in mead overnight to soften them a bit.

Sulphured v unsulphured. Is there a diff other than the orange color tone in the former is brighter?

[Kouign Aman]

I can taste the sulpher in the aftertaste sometimes.

Especially with the yuumy soft & sweet Turkish apricots. Less so with US produced fruit.

Are candied apricots made from fresh or from dried apricots?

The texture reminds me of dried.

Answered my own Q, thank you Google.

Candied Figs, Apricots or Tomatoes Recipe

Ingredients

4 quarts plus 2 cups water

2 tablespoons baking soda

30 figs, pear tomatoes or apricots

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

In large bowl, combine 4 quarts water and baking soda. Add fruit and soak 10 minutes. Drain. In large saucepan, combine sugar and 2 cups water. Bring syrup to a boil; add fruit and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Simmer mixture 20 minutes each day until syrup is absorbed. Dry fruit on waxed paper on trays in the sun. Dredge fruit with sugar and store in an airtight container.

Credits

Recipe from: GRIT Magazine

Edited November 15, 2006 by Kouign Aman (log)

[Pan]

[...]Sulphured v unsulphured. Is there a diff other than the orange color tone in the former is brighter?

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For my money, yes. Sulfur dioxide tastes terrible and can irritate my throat at times. I hate it!

[Shalmanese]

Wait... aren't fruitcakes meant to be aged for many months or am I thinking of something else?

[alanamoana]

Wait... aren't fruitcakes meant to be aged for many months or am I thinking of something else?

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traditionally yes. you should soak them in alchohol, wrap them in cheesecloth, pack them in powdered sugar and periodically resoak, etc.

i'm sure this had to do more with lack of refrigeration and high cost of specialty ingredients (dried fruit, etc.)...

it is still not a bad way to eat fruitcake, but you don't necessarily have to do that anymore. as people have stated, fruit rich cakes of all sort are considered fruitcake nowadays. the batter serving more to bind all of the ingredients together. but it can be a matter of taste whether you have a lighter batter with less fruit or a more traditional dense fruitcake with almost no batter at all.

and as described above, there are a lot of things which sort of naturally fall into the category of fruitcake that really aren't, but they have candied fruit in them: pannettone, stollen, etc.

edited for grammar

Edited November 16, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[jackal10]

Reminds me its nearly time to make cakes, puddings and mincemeat for Xmas. "Stir up Sunday" (the Sunday before Advent - end of November) is the traditional time, when the collect includes the words

STIR UP, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, PLENTEOUSLY BRING FORTH THE FRUIT of good works...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stir-up_Sunday

Edited to add this year Stir Up Sunday is 26th November. Bring forth the Fruit..

Edited November 16, 2006 by jackal10 (log)

[Lindacakes]

Stir up Sunday, that's excellent!

I'll be making a chocolate fruitcake on Sunday, I'll say my prayers over it.

I've actually never tasted sulphur in the apricots -- I have to admit I like the nice color the sulphured ones have, and also the texture . . .

Just realized that actually, the term sugarplums means candied fruit . . .

[K8memphis]

How's it going?

Have you tried anything that you will not be using that you can tell us about?

I was gonna say,

Hope all is well in fruitcake-land but that's not coming out right!

But anyway, got any updates for us??? No pressure though, zero.

Just saying Hey. No news is good news, Cake-buddy.

[filipe]

Here in Portugal we use to flavour fruit cake's dough with some Port wine...

[alanamoana]

How's it going?

Have you tried anything that you will not be using that you can tell us about?

I was gonna say,

Hope all is well in fruitcake-land but that's not coming out right! 

But anyway, got any updates for us??? No pressure though, zero.

Just saying Hey. No news is good news, Cake-buddy.

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i am a notorious (not here on eGullet, but everywhere else in my life) procrastinator...let's just say i turned the final paper in for a class in college about an hour or so before i walked in the graduation ceremony! i was pretty confident i was still graduating

i think i'm a bit of an anomaly. if anyone is interested in the mind of a cook...

i don't tend to do a ton of experimenting. mostly because i am lazy but also because i get an idea in my head and work it out about a million times inside before i do anything in the kitchen. this doesn't always work well for me, but often it does.

i did start working with some of my fruit yesterday. it does smell good. i took a ton of nice dried fruit, soaked it a bit in water i had brought up to a boil to plump it up and then poured about a gallon of brandy over it all with a splash of vanilla extract and a few slices of dried oranges as well.

i'm working on some other components today but will probably get the bulk of it done tomorrow as that will be my first real day off in a bit.

fruitcake land is a-ok

[alanamoana]

Here in Portugal we use to flavour fruit cake's dough with some Port wine...

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i kind of wish i had heard that earlier filipe! i think about it now and port or sherry or banyuls would be wonderful to soak the fruit with. i tend to forget about how good port is, i just don't drink it enough. are there any ports that you know are exported that aren't too expensive that i should try (for drinking, not for fruitcake)?

[K8memphis]

...i think i'm a bit of an anomaly.  if anyone is interested in the mind of a cook...

i don't tend to do a ton of experimenting... because i get an idea in my head and work it out about a million times inside before i do anything in the kitchen.  this doesn't always work well for me, but often it does...

fruitcake land is a-ok 

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One of my favorite quotes from Jacques Torres, in "The Making of a Pastry Chef" by Andrew MacLauchlan page 85.

"I think the mind of a chef and of a pastry chef are stuctured differently. I think a pastry chef is someone who loves to plan, organize, and not be rushed. A chef is someone who is going to deal with the rush and do their very best work in that situation."

[alanamoana]

i must be rare hybrid!

[K8memphis]

i must be rare hybrid!

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A beautiful blend of both worlds!

[alanamoana]

I realized only now that it is Saturday night at 9:33 without anything much prepared for the dessert that my procrastination is getting the best of me in my dotage.

I'll have something for you tomorrow evening at the latest...however, I completely forgot to tag another challengee...duh!!!

Seeing as how the coming week is Thanksgiving, I hope my fellow eGulleteers won't mind if we take a one week break and I tag the next person to start their challenge on Monday, the 27th of November to present their dessert on Sunday, the 3rd of December.

If anyone has objections, please let me know.

See you all tomorrow with fruitcake!