Rouses_FINAL-November-December-2017

the Holiday issue

years.The reporter was informed that more people would eat that fruitcake than would ever read the guy’s article. Rum cakes never got a similar bad rap. American rum cakes today tend to be pound or butter cakes with rum in the glaze and, sometimes, the batter. Compared to fruitcakes, the rum cakes we know today are mere youngsters.The incredibly popular Bacardi Rum Cake, based on a yellow cake mix, was introduced in 1976 — relatively speaking, fairly recently. The cake was created when Bacardi’s then- president William Walker was entertaining at his home inMiami, according to the best- selling The Cake Mix Doctor . A neighbor invited to a party at Walker’s house brought a cake made with Bacardi’s dark rum in the batter and glaze. It was such a hit that the company’s corporate chef made one to serve to Bacardi executives. A vigorous advertising campaign ensued, and everyone was crazy for Bacardi Rum Cake. An exceptional version of rum cake, known as Satsuma Rum Cake and created by the late Antoinette Ragas of Buras, Louisiana, was discussed by author Jude Theriot in his 1983 La Meilleure de la Louisiane/The Best of Louisiana cookbook. The recipe took third place in the 1976 Plaquemines Parish Fair & Orange Festival’s Women’s Division, and Mrs. Ragas had several other winning recipes that year, in “previous years and for many years after,” according to Paula Cappiello, past secretary for the annual fair and festival. “Mrs. Ragas was a wonderful cook, baker and craftsperson,” wrote Cappiello. The cake recipe includes in its ingredients the grated zest of two satsumas and a lemon in the batter, and the juice of both citrus fruits in the glaze. It tastes like a Gulf Coast holiday. Buttermilk in the batter gives it a wonderfully tender crumb. Fruitcakes have been around since the Middle Ages and possibly even as far back as Roman times.The advantage of fruitcake is its keeping quality. They can be made up to three months in advance and aged in a tin or foil, improving with repeated spritzing or dosing with liquor. In these enlightened times, we can appreciate fruitcake for its history, utility and, yes, its deliciousness. The haters never had a good homemade fruitcake with just

Baking Spirits Bright by Judy Walker

P eople who love to bake do so year- round, but the holidays are when bakers really pull out all the stops. Once a year, we indulge our families and friends by creating rich, indulgent desserts with expensive ingredients — often dishes that a great-great-grandmother or a favorite aunt made. It’s the taste of tradition. The great holiday cakes are in their own special league, and fruitcakes and rum cakes are in another category altogether. Both

use brandy, bourbon and rum to flavor and preserve them. In the 1970s and 1980s, late-night comedians led the anti-fruitcake chorus. It became fashionable to decry the fruitcake. Some smart-alecky Times-Picayune reporter had the bad taste to say something snippy about fruitcake to one of Greg Sorensen’s forefathers. Sorensen’s family, owners of Baker Maid, has baked Creole Royale Fruit Cake in New Orleans for more than 50

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2017