How best to enjoy fruitcake?

[ipsedixit]

I just got in the mail a fruitcake as a gift.

I am told this fruitcake -- from Gethsemani Farms -- is supposed to be one of the better ones on the market. Perhaps even an artisanal fruitcake, if that terms isn't an oxymoron.

So, this time I'm actually going to eat fruitcake.

What I'd like to know is if there are ways to enhance the experience.

Should I heat it up?

Eat it with ice cream?

Top with whipped cream?

Or is it best served and eaten, straight up?

Do tell. Thanks.

[bushwickgirl]

Aren't there fruitcake chucking events in the US? So disrespectful...
I actually like fruitcake, done up like Uncle Bob's.

[Uncle Bob]

We make two cakes each year...About 8 weeks before Thanksgiving...and 8 weeks before Christmas...There's 1/4 cup bourbon in each cake's batter...After baking a jigger of Bourbon is poured over the top and tightly wrapped in foil..Each week thereafter the cake is unwrapped, "seasoned" again and re-wrapped to "cure" .... My suggestion to the OP...Unwrap it now!!! Season with bourbon...wrap it back up...Then do it once more before Christmas....Slice and serve with a good cup of hot coffee!!

Have Fun and Enjoy!

[cycloneillini]

There are actually some ideas in this thread that make me want to use fruitcake for something other than a doorstop.

[Kajikit]

Just plain, with a cup of hot tea or coffee... adding anything else to it is gilding the lily.

[beth1]

Get out your best cheap paring knives, and carve yourself a statue. A Cupid for Valentine's Day. A bust of Abraham Lincoln. Or Barak Obama for an inauguration party.

[puppymomma]

I was just watching the fruitcake episode of Good Eats. Alton Brown eats his toasted with mascarpone cheese. Sounds good to me!

Meryl
http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/

[umbushi plum]

sliced cold and eaten with a little good unsalted butter is fabulous (or at least thats how my mother has it so i do to) and don't forget a cup of tea english breakfast for preferance. :-)

[nolanani]

room temp, thinly sliced with a thin smear of cream cheese

[Will Owen]

I adored my great-grandmother's fruitcake, made shortly after Christmas and wrapped, brandied, tinned and re-brandied throughout the year. Although I have always loved even the cheapest factory-made fruitcake, this was THE special one, a conglomeration of preserved fruits and just a few nuts, with only enough dark, sticky cake to bind everything together. Utter perfection. Eat anything with it? What could possibly stand up to it, aside from a cup of tea or a glass of milk? Even in my pubescent years, when I could have consumed a whole roasted turkey at one sitting, Grandma James's fruitcake was a thing I could eat just one sliver at a time...okay, two.

[latindancer]

From what I know about fruitcake...you don't have to decide today or tomorrow or a year from now what to do with your fruitcake.
I know a friend who pours rum or bourbon over it, wraps it in cheesecloth then wraps it in foil, refrigerates it and brings it out at different times of the year to serve with either whipped cream or vanilla bean icecream.

[NVJims]

Warm slice liberally spread with hard sauce..... WOW!

[PeterL]

Soaked in brandy overnight. No, I take it back. Drink the brandy first, during and afterwards.

[vtnewbie]

Try a good dollop of homemade lemon curd made with lots of butter and salt.

[JungMann]

Unwrapped as a colorful bookend. Otherwise I would moisten it with brandied milk or whipped cream.

[cavandre]

With copious amounts of Bourbon Eggnog!

[Karl S]

Very thinly sliced, with slivers of unsalted butter (to which you could add some coarse sugar or salt crystals if you like for textural and taste contrast) and/or cheese.

[Miss Needle]

I think it would be great with a slice of Lancashire cheese -- kind of like St. John's take on eccles cake and Lancashire.

[Soop]

Hah. I was just gonna say that. Apparantly they do that up north (England).

[Harters]

We do - hence my earlier reference to Wensleydale, which (IMO) works best of the mainstream northern cheeses with fruitcake. It has enough salt and tang to work as a counterpoint to the sweetness of the cake, without being so strong s to overpower.

Personally, I don't see Eccles cake going to well with cheese - the pastry is too flaky and I reckon that would work against the eating enjoyment. Even if St Fergus does it. The similarish but less flaky Chorley cake might work better - in which case get a good mature Lancashire - Kirkhams or, my favourite, Shorrocks.

[Harters]

Assuming it's a really rich dark fruity one, then Wensleydale cheese is by far the best accompaniement.

[Veggo]

With apologies to Claxton, GA, the best way to enjoy a fruitcake is to re-gift it..:)
Actually, I am a fan of fruitcake and enjoyed a delicious one from Bien Fait in Greensboro, VT, last holiday season. Room temp, no adornments, but whipped cream sounds good.

[scubadoo97]

I was going to suggest eating it in the closet to avoid all those fruitcake haters that tell you how nasty it is while you are enjoying it.

[marthasway]

yeah, you've got a good one. a sliver of good cheddar can be nice, too.

[katielp]

Yes, I agree. I like to eat a slice of rich fruitcake with quite a lot of thinly sliced sharp cheddar and a tangy perfumed sliced apple (Cox's, ideally).

[thought_for_food]

Just as is and at room temperature, or with some heated custard poured on. I've ordered a Trappist fruitcake this year, and am looking forward to its advent!

[torty]

I like it very thinly sliced at room temp, no adornments. Accompanied by a cup of black tea. I find the warmth of the tea in your mouth brings out all the flavors.