Fruit Cake: Recipes for the Curious Baker

by Jason Schreiber

Named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2020 by  Food + Wine , David Lebovitz, and Delish.com, and one of the Best Baking Books of 2020 by  Pastry at Home  and  Dallas Morning News
“Jason’s love of shaking up tradition is evident. Adding fruits to bolster flavors in familiar baked goods is groundbreaking . . . steering us to experiment, try new combinations of flavors, and expand our baking vocabulary.” —From the foreword by Martha Stewart Jason Schreiber, one of New York City’s most influential and popular food stylists, combines aesthetic flair and flavor in 75 whimsical recipes that celebrate fruit and cake in all their festive and delicious glory.

In gorgeous photos and dozens of fresh and flavorful recipes, acclaimed food stylist Jason Schreiber shatters misconceptions about that most maligned of desserts—fruitcake—by imaginatively breaking with convention as he pays homage to the delicious combination of fruit and cake. Forget those dried artificially dyed candied doorstops that everyone regifts and passes on. Fruit Cake is a tasty epicurean tour through dozens of cakes and other pastries that use a variety of fruits, combining them with diverse fillings, as well as liquor, nuts, and more. Interwoven with the recipes are stories, anecdotes and asides that are just as charming and intriguing as the lush, full-color photos that accompany them. Each recipe in Fruit Cake showcases one of thirty-eight fruit, whose natural sweetness and juice make desserts that are perfectly moist and sweet without being overpowering. Indulge your taste buds with his beautiful, fanciful creations, Constant Cravings—cakes like Raspberry Tea Cake and Polenta Pound Cake with Spiced Mandarins that will satisfy your cravings at any hour of day Out of Hand—finger-focused treats perfect for pocketing or dressing to impress, such as Mango Coconut Cashew Bites and Blueberry Ginger Studmuffins Showstoppers—cakes for the spotlight that you can humblebrag about “just throwing together,” including Passionfruit Lime Pavlova and Horchata and Roasted Plum Sorbet Cake All Rise—the next best thing to eating sumptuous creations like the Blood Orange Bee Sting Cake or Bourbon Peach Kugelhopf, and other sumptuous creations is smelling the just-risen yeasted dough Soaked—try one slice of these decadent cakes that marinate in booze for days—whether it’s the likes of the Pomegranate Molasses Cake or the Fig, Port, and Chocolate Cake—and you’ll need a designated driver Filled with divine desserts for all seasons, this wonderful cookbook will forever change the way you think about fruit and cake. 

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food, Culinary

272 pages, Hardcover

Published November 10, 2020

Reviews

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In quarantine life I have been reading a LOT of cookbooks, and this one really *takes the cake*! First I read it cover to cover while amassing ingredients and tools and planning my attack, and now I am working my way through the first tier of cakes (for me, Bim's Yeast Cake, Raspberry [black pepper] teacake [with sugared lemon peel], and Apricot Macaroon Cake), and they've been simply divine. The flavor combos almost make me forget the surging case counts. Highly recommend.

[Linds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually checked this book out from the library because I thought it was literally fruitcake recipes for Christmas. Whoops! Not the case.

This cookbook isn’t for the beginning baker, and a lot of ingredients and flavor combinations are “elevated” or “bougie” depending on your point of view. The author uses a lot of Asian or South American fruits that will need to be bought in specialty shops. I like that a lot of these desserts are for grownups and aren’t too sweet, and I’m looking forward to trying these.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully shot, of course, but my favorite are the little poems in between pages.

[Juli Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who prefers fruit profiles in my desserts, I really appreciated this resource. New dessert cookbooks tend toward rich and chocolately flavor profiles (or worse, no flavoring except sprinkles?!), and I find few recipes in them to tempt me. There were a number of excited recipes here that I look forward to trying. I also thought that Schreiber's authorial voice was spot-on: witty without being chatty, and very down-to-earth. I hate bloggy cookbooks with two miles of meaningless text before each recipe, and this book does not fall into that trap, thank goodness.

One thing of note, I was expecting more recipes for traditional, Christmas-style fruitcakes in this cookbook, of which are hardly any. So, if that's what you're looking for, you might want to look elsewhere.

[Heribero Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It is officially one of my favorite cookbooks. The blackberry Breton is divine, you can add basically any fruit. I have tried with plums and figs, and it was a hit in my wedding (for my next wedding, I would request the coconut cielo cake). The stollen has become another favorite of mine, I bake dozens during the Holidays and give them to family and friends. Some other favorites, blood orange bee sting cake, banana bread, honey yuzu cake, Irish soda bread, polenta pound cake with spiced mandarins etc. I strongly recommend this book.

[Calvin Eaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful book but felt completely inaccessible to actually practically bake from it and I am a prolific baker. From the several difficult to gather fruits and ingredients so many of these cakes demand to the way the recipes are designed in the page to the teeny tiny font, this book feels more art piece than kitchen stalwart meant to live on your kitchen counter. Those prose is excellent. The photography is also highly stylized

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of fruit cakes. I chose the book because I was intrigued by the description "curious baker". So I wasn't surprised that the recipes didn't appeal to me.

I did enjoy the commentary by the author. Those asides, explanations and options were funny.

[Brindi Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

The BEST thing about this cookbook (besides the mouth-watering photos) is each one comes with storage/leftovers information. Brilliant! This is one I'll be checking out from the library when I want to attempt a fancy cake :)

And the little poems throughout are funny and helpful :)

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this book because I wanted to know what the cake on the cover was (key lime cake FYI and totally making that!)
Recipes lean more on the art side of baking.

[Lisa]

Some of the Soaked category look good. Wrong time of year to make fruit cake. Other cakes just not a match for me at this time.

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artsy, a bit unusual, lovely book full of fruity bakery. Looking forward to making and tasting these recipes.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be trying two of these cake recipes, and I am still laughing after reading the poem on page 85. Mr. Schreiber worked with Martha Stewart, who he says doesn't waste anything. I can admire that!

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy, you certainly can tell that Mr. Schreiber worked for Martha Stewart. Some interesting ideas, but a little too finicky for my taste.

[Catherine]

Baked: chocolate orange babka

Recipes include difficulty level at the top of the page which is nice and has so many options for different styles of fruit forward cakes. Tested my limits by making my own marmalade and maybe over proofing the dough. Babka had a slight panettone scent because of the zest and spices in the dough. Would watch the babka closely as mine looked like it was done around the hour mark. Overall a good bake and because of the difficulty levels it’s fun to see where you land with your baking expertise!

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

5/21/21 Pineapple cakes were delicious. 5/24/21 pineapple jam today. Oh my *****

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This certainly is for the curious baker! There are fruits I’ve never heard of, and the entire chapter of Soaked cakes (aka booze) is not one that I need, haha. But it’s fun inspiration, and there’s a few simpler recipes I’d like to try before I return this library copy. (Like blueberry ginger muffins, peanut butter strawberry cake, maybe a roulade!?)

I like the stylized photography, and it passes my cookbook test—a photo for every recipe, yay! However, I think some more complicated techniques would have benefitted from how-do/demonstration/assembly photos as well. I do appreciate his jokes and humor woven into the recipe writing. I wish every bake had the required pan size on the first page; only the ones marked as “special equipment” were highlighted above the first step. I’m also intrigued by his “pan goo” that is used in place of Pam/oil spray cans.

I’ve always wanted to make my own jam (without chia seeds, lol) and this book has a pineapple version! And jalapeños are thrown in for good measure.

If I make anything before it goes back to the library, I’ll try and remember to update here.

I didn’t try any recipe, but I did make “pan goo” to grease my pans without parchment. Basically mix flour and oil together, store in the fridge for a couple weeks. It works! The edges don’t get as brown as they do with oil spray, but it’s especially nice if I don’t want to line my 6” round pan with paper.

[Lucy Doughty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well-written, love the voice in the basic sections, but let's be real - nothing in there is ever going to stand up to the classic crow favorites, so I won't waste my time.

[Linda Ries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, So many new and different things to try out!

If you are tired of ordinary cakes, this is the recipe book for you. Not only are these recipes unique and with easy to follow instructions they have beautiful photos, making them so desirous to create on my own. I can't wait to pick one and get started baking!

[K Whipple · Rating 5 out of 5]

You like fruit. You like cake. You'll like Jason Schreiber, who sounds like everyone's very funny best friend who will bake for them (I wish). Made the Jamaican fruit cake for twelfth night.
Definitely on my "need to buy" list.