Fruitcake Aging

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

Okay, so I've tried making fruitcake for the first time, and I've got my baked cake ready to age.

Does anyone have experience aging fruitcake in a humid climate? Most of the recipes I've seen are worried about it drying out - I live in a sub-tropical climate, and things tend to mold really easily. We don't have indoor heating, so dry indoor winter air is not an issue. I'm not sure if I should seal it up with some dessicant, or leave it wrapped in foil and a towel, or what.

[wyogal]

I just put it in plastic bags in the back of the fridge, taking it out every now and then for a bath in amaretto or gran marnier.

[Athena]

I too live in a sub-tropical climate and have never had a problem ageing fruitcake - though mine are English and not American fruitcakes - not sure if that makes a difference. When they come out of the oven I poke a few holes with a skewer and drizzle black rum over the top. When cool, I dip cheesecloth in black rum then wrap the cakes in that, followed by wax paper and tinfoil. Between the rum the fruit soaked in for weeks before making the cake, the post-baking rum and the rum-wet cheesecloth I have never had mold form - I do not put them in the fridge. I do check it after a couple of weeks to make sure the cloth hasn't dried out.

[travelerjjm]

When I was I kid my mom did something similar. She had a bottle of inexpensive brandy and a "stopper" in the top with a top like a mini shower head ( I think it was designed for sprinkling clothes while ironing). When she first stored the fruitcakes she'd sprinkle the fruitcake with the brandy, then wrap it a torn up chunk of bedsheet(!) then in foil. Every few days she or I would add a spritz or three of brandy. We kept them in the crisper drawer of the fridge in the garage.

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

I"m not sure where mine fits on the American-English divide. I used mainly dried fruits rather than candied, due to the general nastiness of commercial candied fruit - raisins, sultanas, prunes, cranberries, blackberries, guava and mango (adapting a bit for local ingredients), soaked in rum and then cooked with sugar and butter and some orange and lemon juice and zest, spices, and just enough flour and egg to bind it together, then a slow bake. I poked holes and did the rum brushing, and wrapped it in foil and a towel.

I think I'll keep brushing it, and put it in the fridge if we get a hot spell.