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Rich Dark Fruitcake

SUBMITTED BY: Carol

"This is my mother's very old recipe, at least 60 years old. My mother baked this for my wedding, and it sure is delicious and also a great Christmas cake. This is a very long recipe, but well worth the trouble. If 2 cups of butter seems too much for you, substitute shortening for 1 cup of the butter. Other fruit juices can be substituted for grape juice. You can also use 1 cup of drained maraschino cherries in place of the candied cherries. Originally submitted to CakeRecipe.com."

RECIPE RATING:

Read Reviews (7)

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Original recipe yield 1 - 3 tiered wedding cake

SERVINGS

(Help)

Servings
USMETRIC

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

6 cups sultana raisins
3 cups dried currants
1 1/2 cups pitted dates
6 cups raisins
3 cups candied mixed citrus peel
1/2 pound candied cherries
2 cups almonds
2 cups butter
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground allspice
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon almond extract
2 cups white sugar
12 egg yolks
1/2 cup molasses
12 egg whites
1/2 cup grape juice
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee

DIRECTIONS

Wash and dry the raisins and the currants. Wash, dry, pit, and chop the dates. Chop the raisins and the citrus peel. Slice the cherries. Blanch the almonds, and slice them lengthwise. Combine fruits and nuts in large bowl.
Grease and line 3 standard Christmas cake pans (these round pans are at least 3 inches deep and come in a set of three sizes- 5, 7, and 9 inch across) with 4 layers of heavy waxed paper, or 3 layers of brown paper. Grease again. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices onto a piece of waxed paper. Remove 1 cup of this flour mixture, and combine with fruit and nuts. Mix until fruit is well coated.
Cream the butter until fluffy. Add extracts. Gradually add sugar, mixing until creamy. Beat egg yolks until light and lemon-colored, and beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the molasses, and beat together well. Add half of the remaining flour mixture, and blend thoroughly.
Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry; fold into batter. Stir in lightly the remaining flour mixture alternately with combined fruit juice and coffee. Add floured fruit and nuts, blending in until fruit is well distributed.
Turn batter into prepared cake tins, filling each about 2/3 full and spreading batter evenly. Bake in center of oven. Bake small cake 2 1/2 hours, medium cake 3 1/2 hours, and large cake 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and allow to stand 5 minutes, then turn out on wire rack to cool.

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REVIEWS

Reviewed on Dec. 23, 2003 by PHEATHERQYLL

Having lost my mother's recipe years ago, I was thrilled to find this one so close in content.... MORE

Reviewed on Mar. 5, 2006 by U3616234

best fruit cake !! I cooked this fruitcake for my sister who is the fruitcake-mania. it will... MORE

Reviewed on Dec. 31, 2007 by daisyk

Full Review

The reviewer gave this recipe 4 stars. This recipe averages a 0 star rating.

daisyk
Dec. 31, 2007

My parents have a hallmark fruitcake made in Texas, the memory of which I was working against in making this recipe at my father's request. Given that there are only three of us sharing Christmas, I halved the recipe and took some liberties because of what we had in the kitchen, as well as trying to match the Empress Fruitcake of Yore. I added dried apricots and some withered blueberries, because of what we had on hand, and omitted the sultanas and currents, going heavier on dates. I also substituted pecans for almonds. My father also wanted the taste of burbon so I soaked the raisins in burbon for a few days, drained them well and used the burbon-raisin juice instead of coffee and grape juice. I suggest that you read the recipe carefully for the myriad of steps -- beaten egg whites, beaten egg yolks and the flour mixtures all in separate bowls that converge quite quickly. It makes for a BIG project and heavy clean up. The recipe also calls for three differently sized "Christmas cake" pans, the like of which I've never seen and do not see the reason for -- it's not a stacked cake, after all. I used loaf pans and baked the minimum 2 1/2 hours. I used two layers of greased brown paper but only on the bottom of the pans; after running a sharp knife around the greased edges, the cakes dropped out easily. The next time I make this (and I think I will -- it did, essentially, match that acme of fruitcakes from my childhood) -- I won't chop the fruit and nuts as small as I

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2 users found this review helpful

My parents have a hallmark fruitcake made in Texas, the memory of which I was working against... MORE

Reviewed on Dec. 5, 2007 by meebe

This fruitcake is delicious but costs a fortune to make - definitely a once a year item! I... MORE

Reviewed on Apr. 12, 2008 by SkyCook

Had a hankering to taste the flavor I remembered from my childhood in the late '50s from an... MORE

Reviewed on Nov. 29, 2006 by CyBrazil

This is the best fruitcake - ever! MORE

Reviewed on Jan. 21, 2008 by Sharonl1

I made this recipe for Christmas; I gave one of the cakes to my mom, she and my father love... MORE