Christmas Fruitcake

Fruitcake is one of those misunderstood food items.  At this time of year, everyone makes jokes about fruitcakes and a person either "loves 'em" or "hates 'em".  Some fruitcakes are indeed awful, especially the ones commercially made and found in your average grocery store.   Personally, I cannot tolerate any fruitcake made with citron, or some of the glaceed fruits they sell for fruitcake mix that taste like chemical sludge.   For me, a REAL fruitcake uses real dried fruit and real nuts and real juice.  I have tried many recipes over the years, and the best one I have found is from an old Better Homes and Gardens cake cookbook from 1980.  I am typing the recipe here, and if you like fruitcake, please try it!  It takes a while to mix up a good fruitcake, and it takes a while to "mellow out" a good fruitcake.  So it is indeed a labor of love.   I don't make a fruitcake every Christmas, maybe every few years or so.   This insures that when I do make one it is really special!  Nobody ever jokes about MY fruitcakes being used for doorstops!

CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE

3 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder 

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/4 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. salt 

Mix the above in a large bowl and set aside. 

Then in a really large bowl, mix the following: 

2 c. brown raisins

2 c. golden raisins

1 12-oz pkg pitted prunes, snipped into small pieces

1 12-oz pkg dried apricots, snipped into small pieces

2 10-oz jars maraschino cherries, drained (leave cherries whole)

1 c. chopped almonds or slivered or sliced

1 c. pecan pieces

1 c. walnut pieces

Mix the flour mixture and the fruit mix together in that very large bowl.   Set aside.  

     In another bowl: 

4 eggs, beaten (I use either large or extra large)

1 3/4 c. brown sugar

1 c. freshly squeezed orange juice (yes, use fresh it is so much better!)

1/4 c. molasses

3/4 c. butter, melted (stick and a half)

     Mix the wet ingredients together and then mix this into the dry mix.  The batter will be stiff, just keep on mixing everything together until well blended.   Mix by hand with a wooden spoon - do not use an electric mixer!

Next, grease three 8 x 4 loaf pans and line with wax paper all around.  Grease the wax paper and use 2 layers for the bottoms of the pans.  Fill the loaf pans with the fruitcake batter, filling about 3/4 full.  

     Bake in a 300 degree oven for about 1 3/4 to 2 hours until cakes test done with a long tester pick.  Cool, then remove from pans and peel off the paper. 

Now, here's the fun part!  Soak 3 old linen towels or heavy cheesecloth in orange juice (for this part you can use the concentrate stuff).  Squeeze out the excess and wrap the loaves up in a cloth, one at a time.   Put into plastic bags, and store in the refrigerator for a week (two weeks is even better!), although it's still OK to eat after 3 or 4 days of mellowing.   Store fruitcakes in the refrigerator and if the cakes get a little dry, wrap them in orange juice soaked cloths again.   You can also freeze the loaves, but I have never done that because this fruitcake keeps very well, and it never lasts long anyway!  During the holidays it goes quickly and I also give some of it away.    Instead of orange juice you could use apple juice, but I find that orange juice seems to compliment the dried fruit better than apple juice.   Traditional fruitcake is soaked in brandy or rum, but I don't drink and I don't have liquor in the house.   Soaking the fruitcakes in fruit juice makes it so that even children can enjoy this fruitcake!  A very MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!

The fruitcake batter ready to bake in the wax paper lined loaves.

The finished loaves fresh from the oven. 

The loaves are wrapped in juice soaked cloths and put into the refrigerator in plastic bags for a week before eating.  I just use bread bags to store them in.