Fruitcake Taste Test (Christmas 2014)
In September of each year, I bake a lot of fruitcakes. It wont be totally incorrect to say that I plan my whole year around this event. It is all so engaging: buying the fruits and other ingredients, chopping fruits and weighing currants and berries, aging the fruits in liquor, mixing the batters, baking the cakes, and the best parts, aging and feeding the cakes with alcohol. In September of 2014, I decided to bake 4 different types of fruitcakes: Caribbean Black Fruitcake, Creole Christmas Fruitcake, Southern Fruitcake and a Traditional Christmas Fruitcake. Aside from the Traditional Christmas Fruitcake, this was my first time of baking the other 3 types of fruitcakes. During the holidays, I invited 2 of my “foodie” friends to do a taste test of all 4 fruitcakes. I joined in the taste test. Each person discussed his/her likes and dislikes about each cake and we all ranked the various cakes 1st -4th, 1st being the highest and 4th being the lowest. In spite of the various rankings, all the fruitcakes tasted great. Below is a combination of our analysis of the various fruitcakes.
(1) Creole Christmas Fruitcake
This is a Creole style fruitcake in which the fruits and nuts are soaked in 4 different types of alcohol for a week before baking. It has a spicy note to it as it contains ginger, cloves and grated nutmeg. Half of the fruits were blended after the pre-soak. It was aged for 3 months with Jamaican Spiced Rum. The recipe for Creole Christmas Fruitcake can be found here.
Comments:
– A good cake with a unique taste.
– More spicy than all the other 3 fruitcakes. Spices not overwhelming though.
– Best texture of all 4 fruitcakes. Feels “cake-like.”
– Well balanced fruit/nuts to cake ratio.
– Heavier than the other 3 cakes.
– Not as flavorful as the other 3 cakes.
Ranking:
Tester A: 3rd
Tester B: 2nd
Me: 2nd
(2) Caribbean Black Fruitcake
This Caribbean style fruitcake is rich, dark and moist. Like the Creole Christmas Fruitcake, it contains spices like cloves and grated nutmeg. It also contains some cinnamon. The fruits were soaked in dark rum and port wine for 2 weeks before the cake was baked. Unlike all the other cakes, this cake contains burnt sugar syrup or browning. It was aged for 2 months with dark rum. The recipe for Caribbean Black Fruitcake can be found here.
Comments:
– More flavorful than the other cakes/Flavor is concentrated.
– Fruits taste is the richest of all the cakes.
– Taste very different from regular fruitcakes.
– The nuts are somewhat crunchy, not as crunchy as Southern Fruitcake though.
– Very moist. Someone said “too moist.” I just had a slice today, March 11, 2015 (5 months after baking, 3 months without feeding, not refrigerated), still moist with deeper flavor.
– The fruits blend well in the cake making the cake look really dark (Positive/Negative?).
– A slight fermented taste.
Ranking:
Tester A: 2nd
Tester B: 3rd
Me: 3rd
(3) Traditional Christmas Fruitcake
This is a traditional English fruitcake which is packed tightly with fruits and nuts with just enough batter to hold them all together. It has a lot of citrus notes from the candied mix peel, and lemon and orange zests. Unlike the other cakes, it contains some almond flour. It was aged for 3 months with Grand Marnier. The recipe for Traditional Christmas Fruitcake cane be found here.
Comments:
– Lovely texture.
– Not as moist as Southern Fruitcake and Caribbean Black Fruitcake.
– More fruits than the other fruitcakes.
– You can actually taste the various fruits.
– More colorful than the other fruitcakes.
– Deep flavor.
– Taste like you would expect a fruitcake to taste (Positive/Negative?)
Ranking:
Tester A: 1st
Tester B: 4th
Me: 1st
(4) Southern Fruitcake
This fruitcake uses ingredients common in the southern parts of the United States such as pecans and peaches. It is the only cake which uses a fruit nectar (peach nectar) and some honey. Unlike the other cakes, this fruitcake is packed tightly with pecans, lots and lots of pecans. It has spices like cinnamon and allspice. It was aged with Southern Comfort for 3 months. The recipe for Southern Fruitcake can be found here.
Comments:
– Very moist.
– Taste very different from regular fruitcakes. Its a “fresh taste.”
– Lots of nuts. Dominating taste from pecans.
– Most “crunchy” of all the cakes.
– The Southern Comfort left a bit of a “fruity” taste.
– Alcohol is not too overpowering.
– The cake part has a lovely texture.
– I must add that I just had a slice of this cake 7 months after (Mid May) and the flavor was richer. I’m certain it would have fared better in the taste test had the test been carried out much later.
Ranking:
Tester A: 4th
Tester B: 1st
Me: 4th
Overall Ranking (Using Individual Average Rankings):
1st: Traditional Christmas Fruitcake
2nd: Creole Christmas Fruitcake
3rd: Caribbean Black Fruitcake
4th: Southern Fruitcake
Look out for fruitcake season in September of 2015 when I will be trying other new fruitcake recipes.
Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.
Nice one. I also have a fruit cake I’ve been aging since Nov 2014. I want it get to at least 6months. Fruit cakes taste better when aged. Bravo bro
Thanks. Yes they definitely taste better. I still have 2 from my September batch.
Nice one terry. But I have one question. How are cakes aged? Staying 6 months without getting spoilt.
Thanks. You can find the answer to your question here.
Hi Terry,
I have a question concerning your photos. Are they available for use in other digital forms or do you require a purchase of the content?
Thank you,
Krystal
Hi Krystal, I have responded to your email. Thanks
I would like to ask if you have had another Fruitcake Taste Test since 2014 where the “Kerala Plum Cake / Indian Christmas Fruitcake” was included?
If not, how would you personally rate it (1-5) compared to the 4 you tested in 2014 and what would your comments about it be?
Regards.
I did one last year (2005) but I am yet to upload the results. The Kerela cake was not included as it is not a traditional fruitcake per say and does not require aging.