"Cooking With Friends" Recipe Review #3

Not Your Ordinary Fruitcake
Page 135

I've decided to post the recipe for this, especially since I've already posted it on a couple of forums and my own personal blog. So, there's no secret here. If you don't like fruitcake because of the citron, candied orange peel, and all the other candied fruit, you must try this. I adapted an old recipe my mother found in her mother's papers. My grandmother used fresh fruits, canned fruits, and fermented fruits. I couldn't duplicate her recipe exactly, so decided to make it my own.

1 large jar red Maraschino cherries, drained
1 medium jar green Maraschino cherries, drained
1 large can crushed pineapple, drained
1 small package orange slice candy, chopped
1 (1 lb.) package white raisins
1 (1 lb.) package dates
4 cups pecans, chopped
1 package Craisins
1 (14 oz.) package coconut
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 pound butter
2 cups sugar
10 eggs


You are going to need a BIG container to mix this…I use a jelly kettle. Chop all fruit and nuts and mix together. Combine flour, baking powder, and soda; add to fruit and mix well. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add first mixture and mix well. Bake in two greased tube cake pans at 250 degrees 3 hours. You can also bake this in four loaf pans.

The recipe states to bake this for 3 hours and that is normally what I do. However, this year the loaves were done at 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The good thing about this recipe is that "it ain't rocket science." You can add something else or take something away! The Craisins are a recent addition. A short while back, Mama gave me a bag of dried tart cherries. And, man were they ever tart! We ate a few before I decided that I better seal them and put them in the freezer or they would be gone. When Mama handed me a bag of pecans (they are costly this year and I had decided not to spend that much money for nuts therefore not making the fruitcakes) I chopped the dried cherries and into the mix they went. I didn't put as many Maraschino cherries in this time but still worried about adding the Craisins and the dried cherries...concerned that the batter might be too dry. It's not. Especially if you sprinkle a bit of rum over the fruitcake and put the dome back over the cakeplate.
Submitted by Sherry

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