In a previous post about the tasty contents of my Christmas box, I missed out the fruit cake component because I hadn’t yet tried it.
I can now report that the cake has been consumed, and slipped down nicely with some Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea.
Here’s the cake as it was when whole: a round of fruit-filled cakiness decorated with a thick lid of fondant icing and a gold snowflake supporting a white star:
On cutting into it a layer of marzipan was revealed between icing and cake:
This piece of cake might look quite small, which it was, but it was also very rich:
It was stuffed with cherries, sultanas, raisins, apricots, brandy and other delicious ingredients:
As I was writing this post, I felt inspired to bake.
Initially I thought I’d make a fruit cake but, given the inordinately long time it takes to cook, I opted for the quick fix of fruit scones instead:
Your scones are gorgeous…rustic and so appealing. Your cup and saucer are stunning. I’m now ready for a cup of tea in a china cup with a fresh, hot scone. Yum
Thank you Linda! Those cups and saucers were an absolute bargain in a second hand shop. I bought them with the intention of selling them on at a fair, but nobody bought them so I’m happy to hang onto them. I’m having a cup of tea in a china teacup with my scone right now, very civilised.
you are making me hungry
I made myself hungry too, that’s the worst of photographs of food. Happy munching!
ha ha
That Christmas cake looks SO good! As do your scones. If I hadn’t already made a cake this morning, I would have to do so after reading this! I’m glad the Christmas cake was nice – it does look very moist and packed with fruit. A lovely time to enjoy it, with some spring sunshine outside! Love your tea set too, not surprised you decided to keep it!
Thanks Jo, what kind of cake did you make? I’m seriously considering making a fruit cake, now that I’ve dealt with my immediate hunger pangs. The sun is shining up here today, long may it continue!
Hi Lorna, I’ve made a lemon & coconut cake and a carrot cake. Having visitors, at least that’s my excuse! Glad the sunshine has found you.
Two cakes?! They both sound delicious. Visitors are a great excuse for baking. No visitors here today but I’ve stuck a fruit cake in the oven all the same. Enjoy your nibbles!
Yes, well they might be very hungry!
Hope your fruit cake turns out well – I’m sure it will!
Whenever I visit your blog, I leave hungry for those luscious treats you capture so well. At least I’m not adding pounds through my eyes! Delicious looking delicacies-wish I was there to sample
Sandi
Thank you Sandi, I would deliver them to you post haste if I could. That’s a good point about feasting with the eyes only, certainly better for the figure!
Those scones look perfect.
That’s very kind, thank you. They’re not too bad, but far from perfection, I fear. I’m constantly hoping to creat the perfect scone but I’m still on the learning curve.
I have never cared for fruitcake, and most of the people I know don’t particularly like it! I grew up in the deep South (USA) and the ‘older’ generation always served fruit cake when we stopped by! Perhaps because we only tasted it during the holidays, it seemed too foreign for us?
The one featured in this post looks worthy of casting aside lifelong opinions and trying it again!
Well, I’m delighted if you might have another bash at fruit cake, given your less than joyous and deep-rooted memories of it. They do vary enormously but I like the ones that are more fruit than cake, because they’re moist and I can persuade myself that despite the butter they’re a healthy option.
a little decadence now and then won’t negate a healthy diet! we’re healthy so that we CAN enjoy those amazing desserts and not feel guilty. the next time i’m offered fruitcake, i’ll try it just in your honor!
z
I do feel honoured, thank you! I hope you enjoy it.
I’d comment on that pretty fruitcake and those fluffy scones, except I’m totally distracted by that GORGEOUS tea set!! Love it! Is that Tuscan china? :0)
Of course that’s what catches your eye, oh great china guru! It is in fact Royal Stafford bone china (that’s what it says on the bottom of the cup) but there’s no sign of a design name.
“Guru” is a nicer word for it than “nutter.” Hee hee.
And far more applicable, if I may be so bold as to say so.
I’m also from the South, and fruitcake has been a subject of holiday humor all my life. I’ve tried what we have here-and it’s horrible. What YOU describe sounds yummy!
And where did you get the tea set? Absolutely beautiful.
I’m surprised by this holiday humour aspect of fruit cake, we’ve completely missed out on that in the UK. The tea set was purchased in a second hand shop in a small town called Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland. It wasn’t a complete set but there were 19 pieces, so plenty really. The gold on some of the cups is a bit worn, but nonetheless it was an absolute bargain.
The Christmas cakes looks amazing. No way would that have survived into January let alone February in my house!
It only survived that long because there was so much other Christmas cake to eat up first. Stacks of the stuff!
The fruitcake and scones both look wonderful! The layer of marzipan sounds really yummy
Thank you, I must say I like a bit of marzipan too.
What a pretty fruitcake Lorna and I love the china! I am not a fan of fruitcake simply because I am one of those weird people who dislike raisins and sultanas. When I do make it, I use more cherries and other dried fruit like cranberries instead of raisins. (but then it isn’t the traditional fruit cake) Your scones look fabulous. I would love to pop over for a cup of tea with you.
Thanks Darlene, that’s not weird, I’ve met other people who don’t like them. Quite tricky at Christmas I would imagine, with them being sneaked into all sorts of things. I think cranberries and cherries are an excellent substitution, and you would be more than welcome to pop in for tea. I would make some cherry scones specially.
Now that is very tempting!
This is one of my favorite holiday desserts! Orange pekoe sounds fantastic too!
Looks very decadent and delicious.You got to post the recipe for your scones every time you bake these delicious treats and visually treat our craving appetites
Mine too Aparna, a rich fruit cake manages to feel decadent and healthy at the same time (or so I tell myself). I will gladly post a recipe for scones. In fact, I did once upon a time, not long after I started this blog: http://lornastearoomdelights.com/2012/02/28/lornas-spiced-pear-scones-recipe/ The actual recipe I use varies a bit depending on what kind of scones I’m making but it’s basically very similar to that one.
Thank you Lorna!
Those scones look gorgeous. I’m imaging one fresh out the oven and still warm with a thick layer of butter on and a cup of Earl grey to go with it!
Ooh, Earl Grey, a perfect accompaniment, you make me crave it with your delightful description!
Your bakes look so good….I now have a craving for scones!
Jolly nice of you to say so, thank you!
I wish I had Wonkavision on my laptop. You know, where you can just reach in and help yourself, like in the first Chocolate Factory movie?
Wonkavision, that’s exactly it! Often’s the time I’ve wished I had that on perusing delicious photographs on other blogs. Why hasn’t that been invented yet?
As luscious as that beautiful little fruitcake is…I’ll take those home-baked scones over it any day of the week!
I totally agree, Annie!
Thank you Annie and Nicole, I think you can usually taste the difference between home-made and commercially produced baked goods, no doubt due to preservatives. Fresh scones are most definitely best eaten on the day of making.
You’re such a tease, Lorna!!! I just wanted to lick my computer screen that cake looked so good…
And then you made scones. Pah. Now all I can think about is scones and tea. Mind you, that’s a lovely thought to have. {{{HUGS}}} xoxo
Ha ha, I couldn’t agree with you more Nicole, tea and scones is a tip-top thought to fill your mind with (and the reality is an even better thing to fill your tummy with).xoxo
Thank you so much for you excellent posts. I look forward to every one of them..
Thank you for such a generous comment, I’m chuffed to bits!
oh wow, how absolutely lovely. your side picture of the cake is superb …. all that delicious moist cake and marzipan and icing. yum yum.
Thank you Alison, you can fairly lose yourself in all that fruit and marzipan, not a bad way to spend a bit of time, in my opinion.
The fruit cake looks so delicious! Your scones look wonderful. I like what you wrote in another post about proper “stretch marks” on the side of a scone. Your scone is definitely an A+ from the looks of it. I shared the link to your blog with my sisters and now they read it too.
Thank you Julia, that’s a rating I hardly think my scones deserve but it’s jolly nice of you to give me it. Thank you also for sharing my blog with your sisters, I’m delighted to hear that they’re reading it too.
Mmmm and I just had a bacon bap at Bond heliport.
Sounds as if you need a cakey thing to finish things off, but I don’t suppose they’ve got much to offer at the heliport.
Lorna, I love your cups and saucers. I can’t believe they are second hand, they are beautiful, why would someone have given them away?
The cake looks delicious as do your scones.
Thanks Heather, I don’t know but perhaps someone was down-sizing. I wonder for how much longer these sorts of things will appear in charity shops because they’ve belonged to a generation that’s dying off. My grandparents’ and parents’ generation took care of things in a way that’s often lacking now. Dishwashers often damage china and the modern love of one-use disposable items makes people careless sometimes.
Beautiful scones Lorna. There has been a considerable amount of butter eating around these parts too
Thank you. It’s the cold weather isn’t it? You feel you need the extra fat. I’ve put on a few pounds since Christmas, and I think it might have something to do with increased consumption of treats.
Exactly! I’ve also got a thing for cheese at the moment. I think it ust be deep in the genes
Those scones look very tasty (they have good stretch marks too!).
Awfully kind of you to say so, thank you.
that mini fruitcake with icing looks wicked – seriously rich and I cant smell or taste it
Sorry Scott – it’s all gone now too!
Hahaha, I was so hungry for the food I cannot have right now that i slipped back to your blog and trawled through all the cake and scone and toastie pics. It was almost as good as eating
Much love to you, lovely Lorna xoxo
I’m sorry to hear you can’t eat these things just now, I hope that improves for you very soon. To be cake- and scone-less is a terrible thing!
See, I knew you’d understand
{{{HUGS}}}