Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

After preparing this Advent blog series, I am more convinced that there are many more stories about fruitcake still to be told, but here we are at  Christmas Eve already. If you have been following the blog, I am sure you are someone who enjoys a piece of  scrumptious fruitcake with a cup of tea or a cappucino, or a glass of wine. Culinary experts say that these days our palates are becoming more sophisticated and adventurous , and  contemporary food pairings are exciting challenges.  For me, a piece of my mum's fruitcake and a cup of Lady Grey is just as perfect a pairing as you can imagine. However,  foodie bloggers offer many more matches to explore: Alcohol is obviously a tried and true partner of fruitcake : A great opportunity to show off a sweet sherry or Madeira. A sweet oloroso sherry ...is delicious with crumbly, rich fruit cakes as is a sweet 5 or 10 year old Madeira.... A richly flavoured whisky aged in sherry casks- can also be great with a f...

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert HRH at the Women's Institute Centenary  Fruitcake fit for a queen! Sounds like a good marketing line, but  there are many claims which suggest that the fruitcake, has been and remains a royal favourite!  " Fruitcake gets a bad rap because so much of what's sold is really not good, " says Bob McNutt, vice president of the Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas,  which has been making pecan fruitcakes for 95 years. " It's like cars. You can buy one off the used-car lot for $100 or pay $300,000 for one." McNutt, who sells cakes to the Aga Khan and Princess Caroline of Monaco, was recently happy to learn that Queen Elizabeth II always travels with a fruitcake, which she eats with her afternoon tea." www.collinstreet.com   How did it all start?  As far back as 1674, the Guildford (UK) Show records indicate that a large plum cake was presented to the Duke of York who later was crowned James II. ...

How do fruitcakes travel?  Stories of fruitcake on the Crusades, battles and pilgrimages as well as a more recent report of a fruitcake being taken up to Mt Everest are not surprising. My own travel story involves Papua New Guinea and my friend, Phil who makes fruitcakes and vacuum seals them to be opened later as a special treat when travelling and working as volunteers on special projects in the PNG highlands.  Not only did the cakes travel well, they were delicious and so welcome as a treat with  a cuppa, - always timed perfectly when homesickness  and fatigue set in after being away from home for  too long. Earlier in this countdown, I discovered that on some airlines fruticake is a banned substance becuase its density confuses scanners.. Phil's fruitcake has never had a problem travelling by plane! from http://mentalfloss.com/article/60595/15-fun-facts-about-fruitcake  So much for going to exotic places! T his fruitcake  I think has t...

from Facebook Page /The Fruitcake Lady  There are not many people who can say they showed Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise how to make fruitcake on TV. Marie Rudisill (1911-2006), known as the Fruitcake Lady was an author, a celebrated cook and a minor TV personality. She was well known on US television as a 90+year old who appeared regularly on "The Tonight Show" hosting an" agony aunt" segment, giving advice on all kinds of life's issues.  Her forthright answers and wicked sense of humour endeared her to audiences although she was outspokenly intolerant and irrationally biased. The Fruitcake Lady's other claim to fame was that she was the aunt of Truman Capote, highly acclaimed author, and this connection was used in her own writing. Her published works included: Truman Capote , The Story of  His Bizarre and Exotic Childhood by an Aunt Who Helped to Raise Him (1983)  Sook's Cookbook : Memories and Traditional Recipes from the Deep South (1989) ...

Professional and amateur bakers alike might insist that baking a Christmas fruitcake is an art, but is it science? A couple of days ago I listed suggested crazy uses of fruitcake, but on none of the lists was as a science experiment. Again, I was wrong.... Fruitcake Science Festival; The Science Museum of Virginia conduct unconventional science experiments on fruitcake as an annual holiday event on 26 December.- 30 December.  Fruitcakes are burnt, dropped from great heights and even nitrogen frozen all in the name of science. In one demonstration, a museum educator found that fruitcake was so dense that  all attempts of  burning, freezing, and beating made much difference to the cake.  “Fruitcakes are like cockroaches, they’ll survive pretty much anything,” said Kramer, a science educator at the museum. Fruitcake Physics : For a more practical approach to fruitcake science experiments, Professor Braham of University of Bristol examines t...

Every year, at the beginning of Advent, I give each of my grandchildren a Christmas T shirt. I have never found a Christmas Fruitcake T shirt in the shopping centres in my neighbourhood, but obviously I haven't been looking hard enough. What a selection to choose from if "fruitcake" fashion is your T shirt  preference....  There are the inevitable "Keep Calm and .... While T shirts are the appropriate Christmas attire for the southern hemisphere, What about all those "thinking of a white Christmas" ... only if you are  want to attract attention... . And if you are celebratng your first Christmas, there is no reason to miss out. No more predicable plain coloured socks and matching tie as a gift , everyone can get in the spirit of Christmas fruitcake.... However, I think the ultimate in Fruitcake Fashion is  Fruitcake footwear - designed for  an Australian summer Christmas. Note: The fruitcake fashions shown on this b...

I never have this problem - I never have uneaten fruitcake. Having discovered there is quite a large percentage of the world's population who hate fruitcake, I have also discovered so many suggestions of what to do with fruitcake leftover after Christmas, not only leftover cake, but uncut cake! Of the many lists, I think the most popular use for a whole fruitcake is to use it as a doorstop. This image suggests that it might have been preserved, with a coat of lacquer?   Other popular suggestions are:  - paper weight - holder for the Christmas tree  - boat anchor  - stand on the cake to change a light bulb  - book ends in the library  - weight for a camping tent  - building material  - speed bump  - instead of a jack when changing a car tyre  - step for gym class  - ballast for a hot air balloon  - airliner or caravan wheel blocks  - target practice   My favourite three uses for ...

What a surprise to me, who loves eating Christmas fruit cake, that in a survey about what people did with fruit cake that only 28% said they ate it!  The other results in a survey conducted in "The New York Times"  reported that a research firm polled 1,000 people indicated that:  38% said they gave it away  28% said they ate it  13% used it as a doorstop  9% scattered it for birds  and 8% said they couldn't remember.....   A fairly negative result for the fruitcake in the popularity stakes.  I must emphasise that this survey was completed in USA and some years ago in the late 1990's.  Even in the USA, the fruitcake's popularity differs in the Southern states where about 40% admitted to loving fruitcake. So like all statistics, how well do the figures reflect the reality  and how many factors  need to be considered ? However many surveys on fruitcake we look at - it appears that I was wrong in thinking everyone li...

 What's in a name? I am not sure I would have ever associated "Trudy Fruity" with fruit cake - it sounds far more trendy and frivolous! And are fruitcake cookies still 'fruitcake"?  Yesterday, I introduced you to Claxton in Georgia USA as the fruitcake capital of the world. Today, it's Trudy Fruity , a company also in Georgia, which is famous for "seasonally baked goods and gifts." Trudy was in fact "Gertrude" Gilliard, who was well known for her delicious Southern cooking, and especially "fruitcake" cookies. She baked these cookies every year and shared them with family and friends through the 1950's to the 1990's. In 1990, Trudy gave her son, Gary the recipe for her "fruitcake" cookies, and supervised him in the creation of this Christmas treat. Thus,  the  Trudy Fruity  company was born and  Gertrude Gilliard  has become a household name in USA, especially at Christmas. I can't say that fruitc...