Thoughts of Christmas and memories of those bygone days…recollections
of my mother’s “Black Fruitcake” began to creep into my head and tease my taste
buds. I’ve searched all her old
cookbooks and never been able to identify her secret formula. So with some input from my Aunt, a retired
home economics teacher, and my sister, I decided to make another attempt at
duplicating the lost recipe.
Returning from the store with dark brown sugar, black strap molasses and
a plethora of ingredients from the candied fruit section…I plumped up the
raisins in a solution of #12 George Dickel’s Tennessee sour mash.
After an overnight soak…I began to mix and blend the entire
concoction of ingredients until it resembled the stuff they refer to as 3500 PSI
ready mix. I popped it into a
300-degree oven and waited for three hours.
I recall the agonizing process my mother used to doctor this
special delicacy. It would start before
Thanksgiving and last until Christmas.
She sealed the cake in a can wrapped in a dishtowel soaked in spirits. Every few days she would
open the can and moisten the towel with a jigger of secret sauce. No one was ever allowed to partake,
sample or in any way test the product until we had celebrated the birth of the
Christ child. The anticipation was
intense. I was too young to understand the meaning of the season.
But it was a lesson in waiting.
Now my dilemma is…do I go though the same agonizing process of saturating the cake with George’s #12 or do I do the taste test now?
I think in need a little Christmas spirit now.
Merry Christmas everybody. May Christ be the light of your life. Peace and Joy to all.
