Fruit Cake

Fruit cake. Oh, the memories of the shopping for the fruit cake ingredients, the making of the fruit cakes, the packing and shipping of the fruit cakes…this was a tradition of Grandma’s all through my early years. I remember the single pound sized plastic tubs of candied fruit and the bright greens and reds of the contents, the hues not found in nature! This recipe from the Favorites envelope is clearly the one she used, there are several notes on it (all included below), including her crossout on the maraschino cherries, but her later inclusion in 1974 of candied cherries. There’s also a name across the top, so we can assume the original recipe came from Elaine Lycan–a name I don’t recall hearing but maybe somebody else in the family will know who she is.

Fruit Cake

1 # flour  (4 C) sifted all purpose flour
1 # butter
1 # br. sugar (2 1/4 C) firmly pakced
1 # raisins
1 # currants
1 # dates
1 # figs
4 1/2 # candied fruit & peel
12 eggs
maraschino cherries
3 tsp nutmeg
1/4 C cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp mace
1 pt. canned peaches
1 1/4 # nuts
1 pt. brandy or blackberry juice (2 C)
1/2 pt wine or cherry juice (1/2 C)
2 tsp soda

Cream butter & sugar. Add beaten eggs, then spices, soda mixed with juice or wine, then most of the flour. Put peaches & fruit through chopper. Add rest of flour to fruits. Mix fruits in batter. Pour into greased pans and bake about 3 hrs at 275°. Place a pan of water in oven to give cake a glaze. Can soak fruit in wine overnight.

Makes 8 in tin foil small loaf pan, 1 hr 45 min [I take this to mean that she bought the small loaf pans as she mailed these out as gifts, and the smaller pans required less baking time].

Nov 1974
3 C wine
2 lbs nuts
2 lbs white raisin
2 lbs dates
2 lbs currants
1 lb dark raisins
2 lbs mixed fruit
2 lbs pineapple
1 lb of canned cherries

Nov 1975
add an extra cup of flour. 4 C does not seem to be enough. Cake is flat not round.

The last thing I remember about Grandma’s fruit cake was that all her siblings swore they loved it, and waited each Christmas season for it to arrive in the mail. Maybe it was the wine.