Can fruit cake be dehydrated or

or is it too dense and is dry as its going to get?
thanx, bill

Not as dry as you can get it. Time in the dehydrator will dry it out more. But what dries out first will be the alcohol--the ony reason to eat fruitcake to begin with.

And the next thing might well be the binder that keeps it from crumblig into pieces.

Yes, it's the brandy/rum/whiskey (depending on recipe) that gives fruit cake the flavor. Also, the big weight sources in a good fruit cake recipe are butter and candied fruits, neither of which will dehydrate. Dehydrating fruit cake will give you the equivalent of stale fruit cake, something that most people toss in the garbage.

Stale fruit cake can be rejuvenated by steaming a little and adding hard sauce. That basically turns the fruit cake into Christmas pudding. Hard sauce is made of butter and brown sugar creamed together, cream in booze of your choice (usually lots of brandy) and refrigerate until hard. Put a small scoop of hard sauce on the hot steamed fruit cake just before serving and watch it melt. It's certainly a concentrated calorie source!

So fruit cake can never die? Must be a great favorite with vampires.....

Maybe not.

They have so much available as blood soup, sausage, pancakes, pudding, etc., that they don't HAVE to eat fruit cake.

CM

Hmm someone read Garveys Book I think. He was sponsored bye Claxtons fruit cake company , and ate it every day on the AT!

Fruit cake isn't nearly as inedible as it's made out to be. I suggest using good quality dried fruit, as opposed to the horrid candied fruit many people seem to use. Also, the best homemade fruitcake gets a couple of months of gentle aging in rum- or brandy-soaked cheesecloth.

As for the OP, fruitcake should be dense enough, and keep well enough, that it doesn't need dehydrating, and would only suffer if you tried it.

As a rare lover of fruit cake, I can tell you it will last like a Twinkie, nuclear bomb proof, and all. Unopened fruitcakes will outlast humanity. I've never seen one refrigerated and have enjoyed them for weeks/months after they were opened. Can't imagine drying a fruitcake. I don't think any critter but a human is capable of eating such an aggregate. If in doubt, dump some rum or bourbon on it to sterilize.

Or brandy! Lots of it!

My mother-in-law made my wedding cake out of fruit cake. That thing was potent and delicious. We saved some for our 5th anniversary. Still good after all that time.

Oh but you do need to beware when driving.
5oz wine = 12 oz beer = 1.5oz liquor = 1 slice of wedding cake.

With the appropriate amount of liquor added to the cake (after baking), you definitely want to eat it only in the evening before bedtime!

I love that "appropriate amount"!

I don't even think about dehydrating it. I buy lots of fruit cake after Christmas when it is on clearance. I will either store it in a dark cabinet or put it in the freezer until I want some for a trip.

I was in a Amish country store back in Oct and bought a fruitcake from them. Expiration date was Oct 2012.

I agree with all of the above. My ex father in law used to make his fruit cake a year in advance. He kept it in a sealed tin covered with cheese cloth soaked in Rum and a shot glass in the center of the cake was kept full of rum as well. The cake would be checked every couple monthes as it would absorb the rum. The older the cake gets the better it is. Yes no yucky candied friut, use quality dried fruits! As always MORE RUM, or Brandy, or Cognac

My college boyfriend was a good Catholic Irish boy-o with the mom made southern fruitcake every year. She'd start baking at minimum a month before. Every day she'd drown the cake in booze. OMG, that cake was so good. 1 slice and it was nighty night time. You would breathe out booze fumes.

I LOVE fruitcake - if made with natural dried fruit or candied fruit (no dyes please). I make an awesome white fruitcake as well. I am drooling right now. No booze cake this year due to the baby in the oven but next year....mmmmmmmmm!

And PS: fruitcake doesn't have to be dry. It can be moist and last