Christmas cake

[vaneramos]

As requested by handlebear, here is my fruitcake recipe. I used to make it every year when I was younger, but haven't done so for a long time until this year. I substituted red wine for grape juice.

½ lb. currants
1 lb. raisins
½ lb. candied cherries
4 oz. preserved citron
4 oz. mixed fruit peel
1½ candied pineapple rings
¼ lb. dates
½ lb. almonds
2 cups flour
½ lb sugar
½ lb. butter
¼ cup molasses
5 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. each cloves, nutmeg, allspice, baking soda, salt
½ cup grape juice
½ orange juice
½ cup lemon juice

Wash currants and raisins. Halve cherries. Chop citron, peel, pineapple and dates. Combine all fruit with almonds. Dredge in ¼ cup flour. Allow to stand for 8 hours.

Cream sugar and butter, add molasses and eggs and beat well. Sift remaining flour with dry ingredients. Add to sugar-butter mixture alternately with juices. Beat thoroughly. Pour over fruit and blend well.

Prepare Christmas cake pans by greasing thoroughly and lining with 2 layers of foil. Bake cakes at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes.

Makes 12 pounds of cake.

Comments

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

can there really only be 2 cups of flour for all that fruit? wow! this must be gorgeously rich and sweet. mmmm. :)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Yes, there's just enough cake to hold the fruit and almonds together. :-)

[handlebear.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Oh my 12 lbs of cake lol.

[handlebear.livejournal.com]

What type of Cake pans?

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I have used different kinds and sizes depending on what was available. This recipe would fill about three large loaf pans, but smaller loaf pans would be better sizes for gifts, four or five of them maybe. The large loaf pans take about 40 minutes in my oven. When the cake is done it will start to look dry in the middle, and a skewer stuck in the middle will come out clean.