Fruitcake time

[fuggled 576]

TLDR: I like fruitcake and took pictures.

Growing up, my grandparents and great-grandparents would always have fruitcake in the house for Christmas. It would live on the kitchen table and was up for grabs to pair with your breakfast or a cup of coffee or just as a snack. It generally wasn't for dessert, which was the exclusive domain of pie. Fruitcake always came in a tin, and the tin was always saved for storing and sharing Christmas cookies. As a kid, I didn't have much of an appreciation for fruitcake. I craved straight up sugar, and that's not what fruitcake offered. But, I relished those candied cherries on top and over the years the fruitcake tin on the table became an enduring symbol of Christmas with my family. As I grew up, I eventually learned to appreciate the deliciousness that is fruitcake.  It was a quintessential tradition that I could observe passed down from one generation to the next.

Over the years, life got complicated and it was difficult to get back home for Christmas. We had fewer opportunities to gather together and that shared fruitcake on the table became a less common sight for me. The family elders passed over the years. My last living great-grandmother passed nearly 20 years ago and my final surviving grandparent (my mom's mother) passed away earlier this year. Last year she buried her last living sibling. This year she buried the first of her daughters. I think that was enough for her.  A void's been created that leaves me missing those traditions of Christmases past.

Thus, I felt compelled to bring the fruitcake tradition to my nuclear family and create that experience for my own children (now 10 and 6).  But, does the fruitcake of my youth deserve to occupy the prominent space on my table as the fruitcake of the future? I wasn't so sure. And so, my search began to discover whether a fruitcake exists that can supplant my grandparents' favorite.

Last year I ordered two different fruitcakes and enlisted the family to help me evaluate which is best. The offerings for consideration:

#1 Assumption Abbey Fruitcake from Ava, MO - This is the fruitcake my family would always order.  Probably because my dad's family was Catholic and they valued the connection to the monks.  These are Trappist monks and hence they make Trappist fruitcake.  They make good beer and good fruitcake.  Apparently there are other Trappists in the US making fruitcake, but this is the only one I've tried.  As the traditional fruitcake of my family, it was the first I brought to my own table.
#2 Collin Street Bakery Fruitcake from Corsicana, TX - I've lived in Texas more than 30 years and this seems to be the most widely publicized fruitcake in the state.  Despite living here so long, I've never tried it myself.  After years of driving past their stores, it seems like it's finally time to give the fruitcake a shot.

Our experience and observations are shared here with you to help make the world a better place this holiday season.  My search for life-changing fruitcake will continue, so please share any recommendations you have!

Packaging & Storage
Assumption Abbey (AA) showed up in a round,  white tin with gold trim.  The lid features a simple name and logo for the abbey in black. I'm delighted by the fact that this fruitcake is shelf stable for 2 years, no doubt a result of the booze infusing it.  Getting 2 years of utility out of a 2 lb doorstop, followed by a tasty treat is just good value for your dollar.

Collin Street Bakery (CSB) came in a round, red tin that felt a bit thinner than the one from AA.  The name of the bakery is printed in a stylized white font on the side of the tin. The lid features a festive (some would say busy) collage of Texas related holiday scenes.  This fruitcake came with a brochure from the bakery offering an overview of all their products and handling instructions.  Sadly, the fruitcake only seemed capable of lasting a few months even if stored in the fridge.

Personally, I like the simple, clean packaging from the abbey.  This, coupled with the extended shelf life, gives AA the edge in this category.

 

Appearance
Inside the tins is a different matter. The AA cake is wrapped around the sides in red wax paper. The cake is dark brown with 4 pecan halves and 4 cherry halves evenly spaced on the top.

The CSB cake is wrapped in gold foil. The cake is a bit lighter shade of brown, but it's hard to tell because the top is completely covered in pecans. Several chunks of candied fruit are mixed in among the pecans.

The AA cake looks very clean, but the field of pecans was more appetizing on the CSB cake. So CSB takes this category.

 

Taste Test
AA is a dark, moist cake with a deep, complex flavor. Chunks of fruit and nuts are evenly spread throughout the cake. The cake itself has just a bit of crumble to it, but holds together nicely. The cake is definitely sweet, but this is balanced with some tart, bitter and roasty flavors from the wine, currants, citrus peel and rum.  There's a bit of cinnamon in the cake, but it's not heavily spiced.

CSB is a whole different animal.  CSB Fruitcake : cake :: circus peanuts : peanuts

From the moment I sliced this, it obviously had a completely different texture.  This was apparent in the tasting as well, where my wife and I felt this ate more like a fudge than a cake. It's a smooth, creamy and sticky texture that doesn't have any sense of crumbs in it.  The flavor matched this. It really came across more like candy than the semi-sweet cake that I'm used to. There was no ingredient list provided, but the website brags that pecans are the biggest ingredient along with fruit and honey. That's how it tastes. I would even say it was cloyingly sweet. My kids loved it. And served in small portions like fudge, it worked well.  But, I didn't get any of the bite that comes from wine, currants and rum.  I wouldn't eat it with my coffee in the morning.

 

The winner is a matter of preference here. If you're going for a no-chocolate, nut fudge, CSB is solid. But I'm looking for something much different and the complexity of the AA was more to my liking. My wife agreed on this one.

Conclusion
For my money (BTW, both cakes were ~$38 with shipping), AA is the better cake.  Yes, I'm clearly biased because this is what I grew up with and there's a strong nostalgia factor.  Don't care.  I'm still open to trying something new and different, but I'm hanging on to this one as my favorite for the time being.

[texasdago 7585]

Wow.  I mean, that's impressive.  I have to admit I like fruitcake although haven't had it in a loooong time.  When we did, it was always Collin Street Bakery.  My family used to stop there on the way to Dallas but we would just go to buy cookies and other baked goods, not the fruit cake. 

[52-80 19270]

47 minutes ago, fuggled said:

 

Just like my grandmaw used to make: with lots of sorbic acid, sulphur dioxide, and sodium propionate added as a preservative

[Jerry Callo 8734]

11 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

Just like my grandmaw used to make: with lots of sorbic acid, sulphur dioxide, and sodium propionate added as a preservative

Well it doesn't last two years just because it was formed by a bunch of monks.

[Jerry Callo 8734]

Pos rep for the thorough food experiment and the use of cloyingly.

[Bevo&Pevo 5222]

Rep just for being honest enough to admit liking and eating fruitcake.

[conVINCEd 21469]

Fruitcake sucks.

[Blotto 23584]

39 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

Fruitcake sucks.

Could i interest you in some jello salad? 

[fuggled 576]

43 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

Fruitcake sucks.

[texashorne 1178]

I hate it when fruitcake haters shit on the fruitcake thread. Happens all the time around here. 

 

[LW Goatman 1125]

Its good with cheese. 

 

Edited November 29, 2021 by LW Goatman
1234

[Brisketexan 105446]

Who you callin' fruitcake, cream puff?

[SimonBolivar 10960]

 

 

[Mo Horn 8855]

I love fruitcake. I make my mother's recipe, and can't wait.

[Chewbacca 7787]

My MIL makes a fantastic fruitcake. She sends us 2 every year. One is mine and one is for everyone else.

[CHIEF 5095]

I have my maternal great grandmother's recipe. After she passed, it was always my father that made them. Now that he has passed, I guess I'm gonna have to take up that mantel. I absolutely love them. My Dad would alter the recipe to have a little more of the candied red cherries than other candied fruits. He would make about $2500 or so around Christmas time baking a bunch and selling them.

CHIEF

[idigTexas 2291]

I thought we already had an unpopular opinions thread.

[fuggled 576]

On 11/29/2021 at 4:30 PM, Mo Horn said:

I love fruitcake. I make my mother's recipe, and can't wait.

 

On 11/29/2021 at 7:59 PM, Chewbacca said:

My MIL makes a fantastic fruitcake. She sends us 2 every year. One is mine and one is for everyone else.

 

On 12/2/2021 at 9:41 AM, CHIEF said:

I have my maternal great grandmother's recipe. After she passed, it was always my father that made them. Now that he has passed, I guess I'm gonna have to take up that mantel. I absolutely love them. My Dad would alter the recipe to have a little more of the candied red cherries than other candied fruits. He would make about $2500 or so around Christmas time baking a bunch and selling them.

CHIEF

 

Would any of you be willing to share your recipes?  I've never tried making my own, but think I might want to give it a show someday.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21948]

Fruitcake seem like it would good to eat while drinking eggnog.  Wash down the world's nastiest cake with the world's nastiest drink.

[Chewbacca 7787]

2 hours ago, fuggled said:

Would any of you be willing to share your recipes?  I've never tried making my own, but think I might want to give it a show someday.

Wife doesn't have it yet.  I mentioned to her that she better get it soon just in case something happens to her mom.  Gotta have priorities, you know.

[Sbbruin 21898]

 

[Mo Horn 8855]

5 hours ago, fuggled said:

 

 

 

Would any of you be willing to share your recipes?  I've never tried making my own, but think I might want to give it a show someday.

[fuggled 576]

Well, hello there, beautiful. Come here often?

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[HouTex 1894]

The recipe in Cook’em Horns, the cookbook published by the Texas Exes in 1981 is very good. Everyone here should own the book.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21948]

[Mo Horn 8855]

Not able to find any candied fruits at the store. Supposed to be coming in this week. It's usually available by now. If not, then no fruitcake this year. 

[DalTxHornFan 3118]

1 hour ago, Mo Horn said:

Not able to find any candied fruits at the store. Supposed to be coming in this week. It's usually available by now. If not, then no fruitcake this year. 

You say that as if it is a bad thing.

[Mo Horn 8855]

1 hour ago, DalTxHornFan said:

You say that as if it is a bad thing.

Absolutely. You will see above that I'm a huge fan, and even posted a recipe. 

[CHIEF 5095]

On 12/3/2021 at 2:15 PM, fuggled said:

 

 

 

Would any of you be willing to share your recipes?  I've never tried making my own, but think I might want to give it a show someday.

I'm getting my G-Grandmother's on Thursday, I'll post it. It will probably look a lot like Mo Horn's.

CHIEF

[Mo Horn 8855]

Made my mom's fruitcake last night. Haven't tried a full piece yet, but the bits left in the bundt pan tasted good. 

[fuggled 576]

Sorry, it took me a while to eat and review this new fruitcake.  Fortunately, you're not missing too much if you don't get a chance to order one of these this year.

Thanks to a gift from work, I was able to order a new variety of fruitcake from Goldbelly this year.  This one is a 3 pound cake from Eilenberger's Bakery in Palestine, TX.  I expected this East Texas offering to be about 20% more racist than other fruitcakes, but otherwise I had high hopes.

Packaging & Storage
The Eilenberger fruitcake came in a round, green tin with a turn of the century scene on the lid.  The design is nice, but the tin itself was thin and flimsy.  You can sort of see next to my beer can where the tin was dented in shipping.  So unfortunately, I'm not expecting to get much reuse out of the tin.  This fruitcake didn't come with much direction on storing it, but we learned as we ate it that it actually dried out fairly quickly once it was opened.  Finding a better way to store/seal it might have been helpful.

Appearance
The top of this fruitcake is absolutely covered with nuts and fruit.  That's not surprising since the first 3 ingredients in the fruitcake are pineapple, pecans and cherries.  It definitely looks delicious inside the tin.

 

Taste Test
As you'd expect based on the ingredient list, this cake is extremely heavy on the fruit.  So much fruit!  And lots of good sized chunks of nuts.  There's actually so much fruit that the cake can collapse a bit when slicing it, so chilling it might have been a good idea.  This cake has a really good flavor, definitely centered on the fruit.  It's not as dark and complex as Assumption Abbey, but it's not as super sweet as Collin Street.  It's somewhere in between those two.  There's definitely a cake texture to this one, which I prefer.  Because there is so much fruit, the cake tended to crumble a lot and the cake started drying out fairly quickly for some reason.  I was often left with a pile of cake-coated fruit that I was trying to scoop up with my fork (see the second photo below).  It didn't have the moisture to stick back together.  So, overall, the flavor was good but not very complex and there was more crumble than I'd prefer.  My wife really liked the flavor of this one.

This was a decent cake, but not my favorite so far.  This one was also quite a bit pricier at $72 (including $15 for shipping), as opposed to ~$37 for Assumption (including shipping).  Collin Street was about $37 last year.  As far as I can tell, Eilenberger only ships through Goldbelly, so there's probably a considerable markup in there.  It's definitely not good enough to justify being twice as expensive as these other fruitcakes.

[deadshank 24653]

[WhatTheBuck 28808]

On 12/3/2021 at 3:15 PM, fuggled said:

Would any of you be willing to share your recipes?  I've never tried making my own, but think I might want to give it a show someday.

There’s actually only one fruitcake. It just gets mailed around from person to person every year. It has the density of uranium. 

[Sbbruin 21898]

 

[Mo Horn 8855]

1 hour ago, fuggled said:

Sorry, it took me a while to eat and review this new fruitcake.  Fortunately, you're not missing too much if you don't get a chance to order one of these this year.

Thanks to a gift from work, I was able to order a new variety of fruitcake from Goldbelly this year.  This one is a 3 pound cake from Eilenberger's Bakery in Palestine, TX.  I expected this East Texas offering to be about 20% more racist than other fruitcakes, but otherwise I had high hopes.

Packaging & Storage
The Eilenberger fruitcake came in a round, green tin with a turn of the century scene on the lid.  The design is nice, but the tin itself was thin and flimsy.  You can sort of see next to my beer can where the tin was dented in shipping.  So unfortunately, I'm not expecting to get much reuse out of the tin.  This fruitcake didn't come with much direction on storing it, but we learned as we ate it that it actually dried out fairly quickly once it was opened.  Finding a better way to store/seal it might have been helpful.

Appearance
The top of this fruitcake is absolutely covered with nuts and fruit.  That's not surprising since the first 3 ingredients in the fruitcake are pineapple, pecans and cherries.  It definitely looks delicious inside the tin.

 

Taste Test
As you'd expect based on the ingredient list, this cake is extremely heavy on the fruit.  So much fruit!  And lots of good sized chunks of nuts.  There's actually so much fruit that the cake can collapse a bit when slicing it, so chilling it might have been a good idea.  This cake has a really good flavor, definitely centered on the fruit.  It's not as dark and complex as Assumption Abbey, but it's not as super sweet as Collin Street.  It's somewhere in between those two.  There's definitely a cake texture to this one, which I prefer.  Because there is so much fruit, the cake tended to crumble a lot and the cake started drying out fairly quickly for some reason.  I was often left with a pile of cake-coated fruit that I was trying to scoop up with my fork (see the second photo below).  It didn't have the moisture to stick back together.  So, overall, the flavor was good but not very complex and there was more crumble than I'd prefer.  My wife really liked the flavor of this one.

This was a decent cake, but not my favorite so far.  This one was also quite a bit pricier at $72 (including $15 for shipping), as opposed to ~$37 for Assumption (including shipping).  Collin Street was about $37 last year.  As far as I can tell, Eilenberger only ships through Goldbelly, so there's probably a considerable markup in there.  It's definitely not good enough to justify being twice as expensive as these other fruitcakes.

Thanks. And, we had those Mikasa plates at one time,