Fruitcake! Don't Knock It!

Everyone has heard those fruitcake jokes about fruitcake being the least desirable of all the Christmas gifts. Well, I like fruitcake! No, I LOVE fruitcake! There, I've said it!

My Mom found an amazing fruitcake recipe this year. It was supposed to ripen in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks. I decided I would try just one slice (because I couldn't wait to try it) and then I would let the rest ripen in the refrigerator. Well, it was fantastic after one day...and it only made it three or four days in my refrigerator. I'm sure I gained a couple of pounds that week just from that fruitcake. It was that good.

We made ours without nuts since my son is allergic to them...but the cake didn't suffer from it. The fruit in the cake held it together and kept it dense. In fact, the fruit took on a somewhat nut-like texture.

Ooooh. It was good.

Christmas Fruitcake


Ingredients:
Chopped pecans (the original recipe called for 4 cups, my Mom's friend used 1 1/2 cups, and we didn't use any)
1 lb. candied cherries (red, or green, or mixed)
1 lb. candied pineapple (my Mom and her friend used 1 lb. mixed chopped fruit and 1 small pineapple container)
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 lb. butter
1 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons lemon extract (we didn't use the full amount because we didn't have enough and it was still great)

Directions:

Heat oven to 250 degrees F. Grease a 10 inch tube pan; line with waxed paper, and then grease again. Or, you may line and grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.

Chop nuts and fruit into medium size pieces; dredge with 1/4 cup of the flour. In a medium size bowl, sift together remaining flour, and baking powder; set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well blended. On low speed, fold in the flour mixture; mix well. Add vanilla and lemon extract and continue beating on low speed until mixed well. By hand with a spoon or spatula, fold in fruit/nuts, and mix well.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 3 hours for tube pan, or 2 hours for loaf pans. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Note: After fruitcake has completely cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and then cover well with foil. Place in refrigerator. Allow to ripen about a week or two before serving (if you can wait that long!)

Source: My Mom got this from a friend, but I'm not quite sure where she got it from. As mentioned above, we didn't use nuts because of my son's tree nut allergy, but it was still so good. The texture of the candied fruits kind of took on a nut-like texture as it baked. I didn't miss the nuts at all, to be honest with you.

 

Above: 2013 update: Last year, we baked this in a loaf pan. This year, we made it in a tube pan. It works great both ways! We also added almonds this year since my son grew out of his almond nut allergy. Yummy stuff! I would say that the almonds were nice, but didn't make a huge change in the taste or texture of the bread. It is great with and without nuts.