Yes, folks...This is the fruitcake that everyone warns you about...the stuff that is the butt of Holiday jokes. It's full of candied fruit and nuts. And given the proper conditions, yes, it just might last forever. My aunt cleaned out her freezer a couple of summers ago, and found the fruitcake I had sent her in 2011. It was 5 years old. We had it on the Fourth of July, and it was as good as the day it was made!
I can't exactly remember when I started making this. Christmas 1982, maybe? I got it into my head that I wanted to make this. Maybe it was reading Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory" when I was in Junior High School. Maybe it just sounded exotic. Anyway, because the ingredients were expensive, my mom wanted my Grandma Ethel to help me make it.
Anyway, Grandma and I made Fruitcakes the weekend after Thanksgiving every year, for 9 years. Grandma would sit at the table, and chop the nuts, and do the mixing. I'd cut up the sticky fruit. While the cakes were baking, we'd have borscht (beet soup) and when the cakes were cooling, we'd play cards.
When my Grandma died in 1991, I made the fruitcakes one last time, alone, and then I didn't have the heart to do it anymore. I didn't make fruitcake again until. 2011.
Our pastor made some diminutive remark about fruitcake in church one Sunday. Those of us who like fruitcake banded together in solidarity, and we had a Fruitcake Lovers' Party. My grandmother's fruitcake is the star attraction, but the hosts also buy a fruitcake from a local Trappist Abbey, and we have other Holiday goodies for those imposters who CLAIM to like fruitcake. We usually watch a Christmas movie to round out the night. This year will be our Sixth party. Without further ado, here's the recipe...
1 1/2 pounds dates, sliced
1 pound candied red cherries, halved
1 pound candied green cherries, halved
1 pound candied pineapple, halved (I like the natural color, but if red or green are available they are acceptable)
2 pounds pecans, chopped fine
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, well beaten
Cut up all the "sticky fruit" (dates, cherries, and pineapple) and place in a large bowl. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar, and sift over the sticky fruit. Mix with clean hands until all the fruit is coated with the flour mixture. Drizzle the well beaten eggs over coated fruit. Again, mix with hands until all the fruit is moistened. Add the chopped pecans in two additions, mixing with hands until all the nuts are mixed in. This may take a bit of time and requires stamina, but mix until ALL the nuts are mixed in. Divide fruitcake mixture evenly between five medium greased and floured loaf pans, or one greased and floured 5 pound tin. Pack tightly into pans. Bake 25 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven for 5 loaf pans, or 1 hour for a five pound tin. When cakes are done, remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes. Run knife around edges of fruitcakes, and turn out of pans. While they are still warm, brush all sides with white wine. Any white will probably do, but I like a sweet Riesling, or a Roscato. Let sit awhile to cool, and give cakes a second coat of wine. I wrap twice in plastic, and twice in foil. Put in ziplock bags, and place in fridge for two weeks or more to "cure". These will keep indefinitely in the fridge or freezer. If keeping a LONG time, it may be beneficial to unwrap, brush with wine, and tightly rewrap.
