Mom's Old Fashioned Dark Fruitcake
Oct 21, 2017
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Most of the time, when someone mentions fruitcake, it's a joke. I have to tell you though, my Mom has made a tradition of baking fruitcake for many years, and I think it's wonderful! I'm not particularly fond of any of the commercial fruitcake products - they're all too dry or doughy - but Mom's cake is very different.
I believe she made a fruitcake for Christmas the first time in 1960 or 1961. I was about ten years old, and we lived in the unincorporated community of Colesburg, Georgia. Mom had developed a penchant for baking during the previous year, and continued to try out new recipés as time and money permitted. This particular one had its origin in a popular homemaker's magazine, although over the years it has evolved into something entirely different.
If you've ever liked fruitcake, you'll love this one, and even if you have some psychosis against it, you should try this one, because it isn't like any fruitcake you've ever had before. Without further ado, here it is :
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Suggested Equipment:
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Food chopper
- Loaf pans - 2 ea
- Parchment or oiled brown paper
- Waxed paper
- Mixing bowl 4-quart or larger
- Hand-held electric mixer (optional)
- Common kitchen tools and measures
Ingredients:
- If muscats are unavailable, you can substitute more common, seedless, dark raisins
- Mom often doubles this recipe, and when she does, she frequently substitutes green candied cherries for half of the red cherries.
- For a doubled recipe, Mom will substitute walnuts, Brazil nuts, and/or filberts for half of the pecans and almonds
| Item | | Amount |
|---|
| Flour |
All-purpose, pre-sifted |
2½ |
cup |
| Raisins |
Common, white or dark, seedless |
½ |
lb |
| Raisins |
Muscat, seeded1 |
½ |
lb |
| Dates |
California, pitted |
1 |
lb |
| Candied fruit mix |
Assorted candied fruits |
2 |
lb |
| Candied cherries |
Red, whole2 |
½ |
lb |
| Pecans |
Shelled, halves3 |
½ |
lb |
| Almonds |
Shelled, whole, unblanched3 |
½ |
lb |
| Salt |
Common, granulated |
1 |
tsp |
| Baking soda |
|
½ |
tsp |
| Butter |
(or margarine) |
1 |
cup |
| Sugar |
Brown, packed |
1¼ |
cup |
| Egg |
Medium |
5 |
ea |
| Wine |
Concord grape, kosher |
½ |
cup |
| Jelly |
Concord grape |
1 |
cup |
Directions:
Rinse and drain the raisins; coarsely chop the dates; and dice the mixed candied fruits. Leave the candied cherries whole.
Chop or grind the nuts, or not, as desired, and mix all the fruits and nuts together for an even distribution of the components.
Prepare loaf pans by lining with 2 thicknesses of oiled brown paper or parchment, and one of waxed paper.
Beat the eggs and stir in the dry ingredients. Add the wine and jelly in small amounts, alternating one with the other to make the batter.
Thoroughly mix the prepared fruit and nuts into the batter. If you have chopped or ground the nuts into small pieces, you may be able to use the electric mixer; if not, this needs to be done by hand, in order to avoid breaking up the whole nuts..
Fill the prepared pans with the mixture, and bake in slow oven (300° F) for 2 to 2½ hours, until the toothpick test indicates that the cake is done in the center.
Cool the cake and remove all paper, then re-wrap it in several thicknesses of wine-soaked cheesecloth.
Refrigerate the wrapped cake in an air-tight container, and check the state of the wrapping cloth frequently, moistening with additional wine as needed.
Mom's first fruitcake cake was baked in a "biscuit pan" rather than a loaf pan, and it worked pretty well for making a large, single-layer cake. She also used a tube cake pan, a time or two.
This cake freezes well. We have enjoyed having it with our morning coffee months after having saved it in our deep freezer.
Dessert, Cake, Holidays, Comfort Foods