Thank you for the info/link to the Trappist monks. It sounds really good and $35 isn't unreasonable considering what it costs to make them--and we'd never eat by ourselves all that one batch makes. So all we'd really "need" is one fruitcake for ourselves.
They do use walnuts. I'm allergic to walnuts so I use pecans. I don't know why that's okay but it is. Also currants, fruit but nothing green, dark and
light raisins, chopped dates, and I, too, bake it slowly over many hours, over a big pan of water to keep it moist. The only flour that goes into it is what I use to keep the fruit from sticking together. I mix it in my biggest mixing bowl, which is large enough to bathe a baby.
To keep this camping-related, I do not make fruitcake in Peanut. Someone clever could probably figure out a way to make it in a clay flowerpot over a campfire, though, and I bet it would be really good. The spice aromas wafting over the camp area for hours would be lovely.
I know baking it scents the house of Christmas like nothing else quite does.
BEST
Kathleen
"K"