Mom’s Fruit Cake

paula

10 years ago

The beginning of December meant the beginning of the candy making/baking season for my mom. The first item she usually made was fruit cake (aka. fruitcake)…so it would be ready to eat by Christmas.

Baking fruit cake for Christmas was a family tradition that both she and her oldest sister continued; however, there was one notable difference between them…the use of alcohol on the “maturing” cake. My mom was a strict “teetotaler,” and her sister liked her cakes soaked in brandy or bourbon (she also made awesome bourbon balls). In fact, my aunt was so proud of one of the last (if not the last) fruitcakes she made because the cake had been so well imbibed with bourbon. As she opened the tin containing the cake, the smell of the alcohol singed my nose hairs in the next room. After just one bite, I was confident that the fruit had had been so well imbibed with bourbon that it was at its saturation point :). Several years later, after my mom told the doctors that she had never had drink of alcohol in her life, I joked with her that “drink” was the operative word and reminded her about Aunt Dot’s cake.

To be quite honest, fruit cake was not a childhood favorite of mine. However, I must say that I liked my mom’s a lot better than the store bought favorite of a great aunt. By the time I was a teenager, I started to really like mom’s fruit cake. Today, it is a memory-filled Christmas tradition that I decided to start again.

Fruit cakes have a bad reputation of being heavy and tasting awful. Well, this fruit cake is heavy (the one pictured weighs approx. 6 lbs.), but it tastes great.

I think the recipe originally may have called for citron, but my mom did not like its flavor and omitted it. The recipe also calls for 3 slices of candied pineapple. Sliced candied pineapple is not as easy to find as the pineapple wedges. The equivalent is approximately 1/2 lb. of pineapple wedges or even mixed candied fruit will do as well.

Recipe: Mom’s Fruit Cake

Ingredients:

1 lb. brown sugar
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. applesauce
2 c. nut meats, chopped (pecans or walnuts)
1 lb. raisins
3 slices of red, white, and green pineapple
1/2 lb. red cherries
1/2 lb. green cherries
(+ another cup of flour)
1/2 lb. red cherries

Instructions:

Cream shortening and sugar in a large bowl.
Add eggs one at a time and beat.
Sift flour, salt, spices, and baking soda together in a separate bowl.
Alternate between adding flour and applesauce to sugar mixture. Blend well between each addition.
Once mixture is light and creamy, add nuts and raisins.
Place at least one cup of extra flour in a zip closing plastic bag. Shake to lightly coat all of bag.
Cut fruit into smaller pieces, reserving a few cherries and/or pineapple for decorating the top of the cake, if desired.
Place cut fruit into flour in bag. Close bag and toss fruit to coat thoroughly with flour.
Spoon batter evenly into a heavy flu (tube) pan that has been greased and floured.
Bake at 300 degrees F for 2 to 3 hours until a toothpick or other tester comes out clean after being inserted in the center of the ring.
Allow to cool in pan for a while before removing.
*If you want to add extra shine, brush the top with apple juice or brandy, whiskey, etc. when it is still hot from the oven.
*If you want to add liquor to cake as it matures, create several small holes with a toothpick or skewer in top of cake and brush with liquor of choice after it cools completely. Continue ever day/every few days as desired.
Wrap cake in cheese cloth, muslin, or “flour sacks,” then in foil. Place in tin or other large container to store. Keep container in a cool, dry place.
Allow to mature for a week or two before serving.
*It will keep a few weeks without liquor and even longer with.

* Not in the original recipe