Are you the fruit cake in your family? Before you raise your eyebrow, I would suggest you read on to know what I mean.

The fruit cake has tantalized the world for centuries. When you take a lip smacking bite, you will experience the taste of culture and valued traditions. The fruit cake which I would love to offer you will be an ideal one, with a high content of fruits and nuts in proportion to the batter. You will taste the rich content of French cherries, almonds, California nuts, pineapple, orange peel and lemon. To make it more mouthwatering how about a dash of brand and liquor added to it?hmmm, expensive and irresistible, isn't it?

If you want to go for a stronger aroma and sharper flavor, then relish the darker version of the fruit cake. The dark fruit cake contains prunes, dates, cherries, walnuts, brown sugar and molasses.

If you love the subtle taste, then you can go for the light fruit cake. The delicate taste is attributed to the presence of granulated sugar, golden raisins, pineapple, apricots and light corn syrup.

When you go for your treks and campaigns, tuck in a pack of fruit cakes. Your friends will love you for this. The best thing about the fruit cake is that it has a tendency to last for months and still retain its intrinsic flavor. You will be pleased to know that the fruit cake has a tendency to freeze very well. However it is ideal to have a time gap of a month before freezing.

Enough of preaching about it. Now let me treat you with a fruit cake.

Whoever said 'take your own sweet time' must have said it with reference to the fruit cake. First I will prepare the nuts and fruits. Then I will pour the liquor to be used over them. Let me keep the mixture well covered for two or three days. Sorry to keep you waiting, but then if you want it sweet and nice; you will have to kill time. Okay then, I will prepare the batter and bake your cake. I need to remember that the fruit cake should be baked at a low temperature. I will coat the pan with waxed paper so that the sides of the cake do not get burned. You see the fruit cake involves long baking time. When I am done, you can take the cake tester and insert it in the center of the cake. If you see that it is moist and not doughy, then you are ready to pop a piece into your mouth.

You may think of the fruit cake as a typical Christmas dish. But as I told you before, the fruit cake has a centuries old tradition behind it. Did you know that during the 13th century, dried fruit began to arrive to England from Portugal and the east Mediterranean? During the later half of 1700s, England distributed fruit cake slices to women who sang Christmas carols. The fruit cakes were frequently used in celebrations from the turn of the 18th century. It remains a custom in England for unmarried wedding guests to put a slice of dark fruitcake under their pillow at night so they could dream of the person they will marry.

If you want to know the oldest fruit cake company in the United States, then I would suggest you visit the Collin Street Bakery, Corsicana, Texas. It was set up in the year 1896. So much has been the impact of the fruit cake through out the years, that the oldest family in the household is called the fruit cake.

So now you decide, who is the lovable and respected fruit cake in your home?

Nina Romanov

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