Fruitcake

[Constance]

Does anyone here like fruitcake?

My mother's recipe is so good. It has just enough batter to hold the fruit and nuts together...4 cups of pecans make two full sized loaves. It calls for whole bottles of extracts, mucho butter, and of coarse, all that candied fruit.
I used to make it up in smaller containers, the week before Thanksgiving, wrap ithe loaves in cheesecloth, put in a big cooler, and douse with Apricot Brandy once a week.

My beloved hates fruitcake, (though he's never tasted mine), so I don't fix it anymore. But if anyone wants the recipe...it's a good one.

 

[Sandyj]

I love fruitcake. My Auntie Sylvia used to be the family's dedicated fruitcake maker - we eat them mostly around Christmas and at weddings, christenings and other special occasions. Poor old Auntie Syl is not doing too well at the moment - I'm going to have to hunt up her recipe and if I can't find it, give her a ring before she completely forgets. I think I'll try my hand at a fruitcake this year.

Please post your recipe, Constance!

My mom and Auntie Syl also douse their fruitcakes with brandy - as well as put an apple in the cake tin, once the cake has been cut.

 

[mish]

I want to like it. I really really do... but the candied fruit - I just don't care for. I can't help but giggle whenever I hear the name "fruit cake" because of all the jokes like - nutty as a fruitcake, use it as a door stop, a recylced gift, and on and on. Without the fruit, it's okay.

 

[Andy M.]

I'd like to try making my own fruitcake. I love it.

 

[licia]

I don't like bought fruitcakes or even the homemade with all the filler stuff in it. My recipe only calls for lots of pecans, candied cherries and pineapple and we love it. I always make it in October so it will be ready for Christmas.

 

[Ishbel]

I make a traditional British christmas cake which is a dark, rich moist fruitcake, covered with marzipan and then iced. I also make Dundee cake, a Scottish cake which is rich with fruits.

 

[thumpershere2]

I'm with mish, rather spend my time making something good. I have never tasted a good fruit cake. Maybe there is a good one out there someplace.

 

[ronjohn55]

Yep! we like it, it's already made, and now we're in the process of getting it drunk!

(And boy, do we EVER get it drunk!)

We have to card my wife's cousins to make sure they're of legal age before they get any of the fruitcake...

John

 

[Constance]

Mama's Fruitcake

Here's my mother's recipe:

1 cup sugar
1/2 lb. butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour.
5 large eggs
1 oz vanilla
1 oz lemon extract
3/4 lb. candied cherries
1 lb. candied pineapple
4 cups pecans.

Mix flour and baking powder with butter. Mix eggs with sugar and extracts. Combine mixtures. Stir in fruit and nuts. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans or 1 bundt pan. Bake at 200 degrees till toothpick comes out clean...about 2 hours for a large cake. Cool, remove from pans, and wrap in clean tea towel soaked in apricot brandy. Store in an airtight container for one month. Open lid and add more brandy once a week. Keep in a cool place.

 

[Andy M.]

Thanks, Constance!

 

[ronjohn55]

I'm curious, what's the popular vote for a liquor to soak the fruitcake in?

I see a lot of recipes that mention apricot brandy. We use a mix of the simple syrup we rehydrate the fruit in, bourbon (This year it was Knob Creek small batch), and just about every other polish fruit brandy we have in the house... (Apricot, cherry, blackberry, Grand Manier/Triple Sec, etc..)

Like I mentioned before, we like our fruitcake to be really drunk by Christmas...

John

 

[Hyacinth]

Flour in this fruitcake recipe?

Here's my mother's recipe:

1 cup sugar
1/2 lb. butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
5 large eggs
1 oz vanilla
1 oz lemon extract
3/4 lb. candied cherries
1 lb. candied pineapple
4 cups pecans.

Mix flour and baking powder with butter. Mix eggs with sugar and extracts. Combine mixtures. Stir in fruit and nuts. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans or 1 bundt pan. Bake at 200 degrees till toothpick comes out clean...about 2 hours for a large cake. Cool, remove from pans, and wrap in clean tea towel soaked in apricot brandy. Store in an airtight container for one month. Open lid and add more brandy once a week. Keep in a cool place.

I was going to make this until I realized there was no mention of how much flour to use - does anyone have any idea?

Thanks!


Hyacinth

 

[Constance]

I am so sorry! I copied the recipe incorrectly. It calls for 2 cups of flour.

Ronjohn, I generally used Apricot Brandy, but a good Bourbon would be delicious!

This is a wonderful fruitcake...there is just enough batter to hold the fruit and nuts together. By the time it's soaked with alcohol, although very rich, it's quite a treat. I suggest you slice it thin, as a little goes a long way.

By the way, I always grease my pans and then line them with parchment paper. It makes them come out more easily.
Mom used to bake the cakes in 1 lb. (that would be 13 oz now) coffee cans for gifts. She left them in the cans for mailing.

 

[licia]

Constance, that is the same recipe I use, but mine says to use the 1/4 cup of flour to dust the fruits and nuts - and put the other 1 3/4 cups in the batter. It is really a good recipe. Even some who don't usually enjoy fruitcake like this one. I believe mine is called Mrs (somebody's) fruit cake. I can't remember her name.

 

[Hyacinth]

I am so sorry! I copied the recipe incorrectly. It calls for 2 cups of flour....

...By the way, I always grease my pans and then line them with parchment paper. It makes them come out more easily.
Mom used to bake the cakes in 1 lb. (that would be 13 oz now) coffee cans for gifts. She left them in the cans for mailing.

Thank you very much Constance - I'm really glad you saw my post!! Was so disappointed (I'll live tho - hehe) while I was at the grocery today buying the ingredients listed in your recipe and all of a sudden realized there was no flour measurement mentioned- lol!! I do love fruitcake and your mom's recipe sounds just right for my tastes (no citron/lots of pecans/not too much spice) I'm going to start making it this weekend.


Again, thanks for the additional info.


Hyacinth

 

[Hyacinth]

Constance, that is the same recipe I use, but mine says to use the 1/4 cup of flour to dust the fruits and nuts - and put the other 1 3/4 cups in the batter. It is really a good recipe. Even some who don't usually enjoy fruitcake like this one. I believe mine is called Mrs (somebody's) fruit cake. I can't remember her name.

Thanks for mentioning this licia - my dad was the fruitcake chef at our house when I was growing up and I do remember now that he always "dusted" the fruit and nuts before turning into the batter - I think so they wouldn't all fall to the bottom of the pan? Anyway, I will do this too.


I'm really excited now to get started on this fruitcake!!


Hyacinth

 

[philso]

i use the traditional pound cake recipe for my fruit cakes: equal amounts by weight of flour, butter, sugar and eggs, along with a little salt and vanilla.

i don't care for the commercial candied fruits with all those dyes (and besides, i'd have to travel about an hour and a half by train to even get it here). i do use candied orange and lemon peel, dried cranberries, raisins or currants, and other dried fruits i can find locally. i chop them up in early november and soak in brandy for 2 or 3 weeks and try to make the cakes by or around the beginning of dec. i use pecans. i don't measure the fruits or pecans, just keep adding them till it looks "right". i use brandy to soak the cakes, because they're already sweet enough for me without using liqueors or the brandy i soaked the fruits in.

the large amount of brandied fruit is way more than i need for fruit cakes. i use it from time to time for muffins or bread pudding, etc.

 

[Hyacinth]

Constance one final question? Did your mom always use the lemon extract in her fruitcake, like it calls for in the recipe? I'm not a huge fan of lemon flavoring, but maybe you can't even taste it in this recipe...just curious, but no biggie if you don't know.

Thanks again for the recipe - I'm just getting all giddy now planning my fruitcake baking day - lol!


Hyacinth

 

[Barbara L]

My mom made the only fruitcakes I ever liked (I loved hers!), but your recipe looks really good Constance. I will definitely have to try it.

Barbara

 

[XeniA]

I'm curious, what's the popular vote for a liquor to soak the fruitcake in?
John

Whiskey/bourbon only. Call me a purist.