Boiled Fruit Cake (with anonymous' boozy tip)

Pat asked for the recipe for the fruit cake.  I photographed the page from the recipe book. Our cups and tablespoons are slightly different but shouldn't make a difference (according to the blurb in the back of the recipe book!). A moderately slow oven is 160*C and 325*F reduce if you are using fan forced. I didn't use it and the cake turned out beautifully. I used the homebrand mixed fruit from Coles. I swapped the sherry for the liqueur and used it instead of water (just added a splash extra water when mixing the wet ingredients and dry together.) All up I probably used just over a cup of liqueur.

And here it is after it had cooled down. I wish you could smell it!

Today was the Men's Shed Christmas lunch. It was really lovely to see the blokes that helped us with our projects. Two women from our Women in Workshops course came along. I would have gone anyway as a wife (first time I was invited!) and there were quite a few wives there. I got to meet another wife who is into craft and we spent the entire time comparing photos of our various projects! I have found another craft group for next year. I think I will try this and give the other a break. 

The only downside was the volume of the music. They had live entertainment which would have been great if the acoustics were better but all they really needed was some background music. It made it hard to chat. The meal was adequate but for $20 no one would complain. I was anxious about going but am glad I did.

Now I really need to think about Christmas presents for the family. The grandkids have so many toys and books but aren't quite old enough to appreciate the joy of a gift card and shopping for yourself.

The mermaid rang last night and we will be spending Christmas afternoon with her again. This has become our new tradition and it is lovely. E's fiancé's father and partner will be there which will change the dynamic a bit but it will still be lovely to sit and catch up. I will bake bread rolls that morning and a fruit cake early in the week.

The boys and their families here on Christmas Eve and my brothers and their wives one day after Christmas and that is it for festivities chez merlot. 

The Verdict

The boiled fruit cake is an outstanding success. It tastes delicious. It is moist and not crumbly. And whoever anonymous is who suggested doubling the booze ... thank you thank you thank you!! I won't use expensive liqueurs in the future (unless, like this one, they are a gift and too sweet for us) but I think a cream sherry would do just as well. I would like to try it with a smokey rum or bourbon, too. Oh, the options. I do want to try the other recipes but they make a larger cake and this is enough for the two of us. it says it will keep for a couple of months in the fridge. I can't see that happening unless I can lock the fridge to keep Himself out!

As I mentioned before, I used a recipe from a cookbook first published in 1984. Considering it was titled Best Recipes from, it is safe to assume some, if not all, the recipes come from as far back as the 70s. Maybe even earlier. All of the recipes have much smaller serving sizes. All the ingredients are the sort you would find in your grandmother's pantry. They don't give oven temps - rather slow, moderate, high, etc. In the back of the book you get the interpretation for *C, *F and gas mark! Who remembers gas mark? Gas mark 4 was the go to for most baking adventures.

Gas mark	degrees Fahrenheit	degrees Celsius	Descriptive
1⁄4	225	107	Very slow/very low
1⁄2	250	121	Very slow/very low
1	275	135	Slow/low
2	300	149	Slow/low
3	325	163	Moderately slow/warm
4	350	177	Moderate/medium
5	375	191	Moderate/moderately hot
6	400	204	Moderately hot
7	425	218	Hot
8	450	232	Hot/very hot
9	475	246	Very hot
10 (omitted in most tables)	500	260	Extremely hot

Times are "approximately", "about", "until cooked/browned/a skewer comes out clean" and so on. 

It reminded me of old-fashioned cooking where you really use your sense of smell, taste, sight and touch and don't depend on technology to tell you when something is done. Pinger pinged? It must be ready! 

I wonder how many people who claim they can't cook are just blindly following a recipe and not trusting their ability to sense if something is done. I feel so sorry for the generation(s) that have been brainwashed into thinking that they can't do it unless someone else tells them what and how and when. Just look at child-rearing. And then you get conflicting opinions. No wonder people give up and blame themselves when things don't work out and praise the "experts" when they do.

Hmm. How did I get there from baking a cake?!

A cake in pictures.

Trusty recipe book

The recipe ... and the substitute for sherry.

Fruit, liqueur, sugar, mixed spice and butter. Waiting to melt and then boil.

And here it is bubbling away.

While it cooled I prepared the tin

and weighed and sifted the flours.

Eggs, marmalade, more liqueur and the flours ready and waiting

Mixing in the wet ingredients

and then adding the flours.

Whoops, nearly forgot to take a pic after it was poured into the pan

2 hours in a 160C oven - no fan forcing here, this is an old recipe book.

And she is out. A bit more liqueur drizzled on the top then covered with foil and left to cool.
 

If the smell of the house is anything to go by, it will be delicious. 

It reminds me of a poor kid pulled over for a random breath test and registered alcohol when he was on a 0.0 licence. He had had some of his girlfriend's Nona's tiramisu.

I doubt we will get to try it anytime soon as it is taking a long time to cool down. Himself has a rather strange interpretation of cool and reckons it's good to go now! Maybe a late night nibble.

I will report back tomorrow. 

It was so easy to make and I will definitely be making more fruit cakes.

And I am a bit embarrassed  to say that it was only very recently that I realised that what I made today was in fact a 'boiled fruit' cake as opposed to a boiled 'fruit cake'! 

If you eat my fruit cake, then drive, you're a bloody idiot.

Dot point Sunday

• It was another warm day
• We went to the shops. On a Sunday. 3 weeks before Christmas
• We are officially crazy
• I bought the ingredients for my boiled fruit cake but will do it tomorrow. see point #1
• We bought a decent bread knife. Himself likes to "save" money so bought a cheap piece of shit from Coles that shredded the bread.
• I found the last two crumpet rings in the shop
• We came home and played scrabble
• I am now going to water the garden as it's a tad cooler
• The barometer is dropping and I feel like crap.
• See you tomorrow.

Sunny Saturday

This cat is so laid back I was able to smooch him and he didn't even wake up. Look at how relaxed that tail is. It has taken a few months but I think he feels at home with his people. He has long felt at home with his dogs. 

I had a hankering to try my hand at crumpets. They have always seemed a bit like magic but they are in fact, very easy to make. Three sent me his Jamie Oliver recipe and they worked a treat. I won't cook them in the paella dish next time (it was the only cast iron thing I had) and I need to find an oil that has no flavour at all (canola was still a bit too strong). 

I wasn't sure if Himself would like them but he ate 8 of them so I guess the verdict was positive! I still need practice but they are so much nicer than the store bought ones and do have a bit of the "wow look what I made" factor.

Today is our first really warm summery day. Of course, Himself thought it was a good idea to continue working on stripping the paint from the balcony. He then decided to clean the outside light fittings which disintegrated when he touched them so off to Bunnings to buy replacements. 

I have just ordered a couple of dresses online after buying one and liking it. These are the largest sized dresses I have ever had to buy. Something needs to change but I just cannot find the motivation. Even though I hate intensely dislike what I see in the mirror, can't walk 100 metres without getting out of breath and everything hurting, none of my clothes fit properly ... I just can't find the mojo to do anything about it. This is never a good time of year for me so I think I will plan to make some significant changes in January (NOT a new year resolution) and make some lists of things I will do. I like a list.

Now I shall make a list of the ingredients I need to make a Rich Boiled Fruit Cake. I really like Celebration cake but that calls for a lot more butter and eggs and fruit and stuff. I shall try the first and if it works I will give the other a go. The Grand Marnier Fruit Cake sounds divine and you soak the fruit in a syrup made with sugar and orange juice and Grand Marnier for 10 glorious days. Definitely one to try for next winter. (These are all recipes from The Australian Women's Weekly "Best Recipes from the Weekly" which was published in 1984 before we all went silly with our serving sizes and started to eat food that was made in factories).

I do love my old cookbooks. The internet is all well and good but nothing beats the memories of looking at tried and true recipes from times gone by. 

Friday on my mind.

Two sent me this photo of Audrey and her baby brother, Henry. I wonder if the novelty will wear off!

When he face-timed me when Henry was not even two days old I commented on him (Henry) looking a little jaundiced (and he was tired all the time and not feeding well, other common signs). Mads said the midwife had been and he most certainly was NOT jaundiced (I forgot that Mads doesn't like her mother in law commenting on anything child rearing related). The next day the midwife said Henry was jaundiced and here he is getting some good old fashioned sunshine for the UV qualities. Granny didn't say a word. 

Alice was dropped off at 8.30. Around 9 she starting screaming and crying and was inconsolable. Something was causing her pain and all I could do was hold her and soothe her as best as I could. As suddenly as she started she stopped and was all smiles for the rest of the day. I am thinking teeth as she is cutting some pretty impressive molars at the moment. She slept from 10 - 12.30. I could have got her down again this afternoon but Mum was coming to pick them up and I was more than happy to see them go!

Here she is doing a "high five".

I gave Sally her socks and she was thrilled with them. I got lots of hugs. What looks like a dress is in fact a pair of very flared pants her mum made her.

We popped into craft and Sally was so excited to see the ladies again. We went to the park and she had a good swing and a chat to little boy who was there with his granddad. Granddad seemed a bit bemused by Sally's constant chatter - wee Jacob was a very quiet little boy. Sally did some painting and Alice ran around the house and we played climb the stairs over and over again.

Granny is exhausted.

The weekend is forecast to have temps over 30C. As long as the humidity stays low I won't complain. Too much.

Countdown

 

1st December. First day of summer (yeah right). 25 days to Christmas. 

I had planned a quiet day at home.

Around lunch time Amy rang to say that daycare had contacted her to say Alice had the squits. Granny and Grumpy to the rescue.

We went to Amy's work and swapped cars. Went to daycare where I couldn't remember Alice's name for the life of me. "I am here to pick up a child and I can't remember which one!" Would that be Alice? I had walked in saying to myself "Alice not Sally Alice not Sally" and then forgot all of them!

Alice fell asleep in the car, was transferred to her pram and slept until I woke her so her mother and sister could take her home. She slept for nearly 3 hours which she never does - or so I'm told. 

Because of the supposed upset tummy she is excluded from daycare for 24 hours so we will be having her tomorrow as Amy is working from home and can't wrangle a noisy baby as well. She is working from home because Sally has a curriculum day so I have a feeling that when Sally knows Alice is being dropped off here she will want to stay. We shall see.

Not the day I had planned tomorrow either. I hope I will be able to pop into craft if Grumpy can handle the kid as I want to drop the resin stuff off to the others and K has a Harry Potter pop up book for Sally. Fingers crossed she will go down for a nap around 11.30.

I won November scrabble. Tonight we start a new month's challenge. Time to set up the board and pour a gin.