Dec 24, 2007
I have made this recipe for 35 years but we moved this past summer and I lost my recipe box. I was so happy to find it again. This fruitcake is meant to be solid fruit and nuts, so DON'T double the batter. Try this instead: Sift together the dry ingredients. I use kitchen scissors to cut the dates and cut them into a very large bowl (I sometimes use a large roasting pan). Then take about a half cup of the flour mixture and sift it over the dates. Toss the dates to coat each piece with flour. Repeat for the pineapple, the cherries, and the pecans. By now all the fruit and nuts should be mixed together and coated with flour.
Now wisk the sugar, eggs, and vanilla together and then pour it as evenly as possible over the fruit and nuts. You can try using two spoons to mix it all together, but I quickly switch to my clean hands and work the sticky stuff throughly to dampen all the flour. When throughly mixed take it up by the handful and pack it into the loaf pans. Pack it in so there are no gaps among the the ingredients. Bake, cool, cut thinly, and enjoy! (You can add liqour after it is baked by wrapping the cake in cheese cloth, soak throughly with your favorite liquor and store it in an air-tight container until ready to serve.)
—pajlyman
