My dirty little secret. . .

My name is Tracy and I love fruitcake. Yes, you heard me, I love, love, love it and I don't care who knows! I don't feel the Christmas spirit until I get a whiff of that bowl full of golden raisins, currants and dried fruit macerating in brandy. I was in heaven when I lived in Ireland and my mother-in-law would trot out Halloween brac and Christmas pudding and cakes, and mince pies, all derivatives of the fruitcake base. Call me sick, I surrender to it. I thought I was the only one who felt this way, then my granmother admitted her affinity, and my best friend's boyfriend. Imagine my joy! I could share the love. For anyone else who wishes to partake, here is the recipe on Food Network.

The cake itself is very fragile until it has cooled, so here are some additions I made to the recipe--line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper before baking, and you may need to tent with foil to prevent overbrowning. Let the cakes cool completely in the pans, run a knife around the edges and whack the bottom to get the loaves out, and peel off the parchment paper. It's a lot of work but worth it for the fruitcake lover.