I have lost all of my great grandmothers recipe's. When we moved from Kentucky to NC 2 boxes didn't make it. 1 had electronic tools in it the other 1000's of old time recipe's.

My wife is determined to make a Fruit Cake this year. (I keep telling her the world is full of them...but thats another story)

I know some of you have that perfect recipe. Please share.

Thank you.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), November 14, 2000

Answers

There is no such thing as a great fruit cake is there?

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), November 14, 2000.

Here's one I got from the newspaper a few years back, an oldie but goodie.

************************************** 3 eggs 1 cup sugar 1 cup butter 1/2 cup molasses (not quite) 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. cloves (powdered) 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1 1/2 cup sweet cream (or 1 1/4 cup milk) 1/2 lb. raisins 1/2 lb. dates 1/2 lb. mixed peel 2 cups nutmeats and cherries 3 full cups flour vanilla

Bake 2 hours in slow oven, 250F.

**********************************************

Yep, that's all it says! This one's from 'way back, didn't give the instructions....but here's how I put it together:

Make sure the butter is soft. Beat the 3 eggs, and blend in the sugar, then the butter. Blend in the molasses and sweet cream.

Sift together the dry ingredients: Put flour in a bowl, sift in the cloves, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir this in with the eggs mixture a bit at a time, use hand mixer to blend together and make smooth. Add about a tsp. of vanilla. Stir in the raisins, dates, mixed peel, nutmeats and cherries. Grease 2 loaf pans, and pour in mixture. Bake at 250F for about 2 hours.

**************************************

It surprises me that there is no salt added. I've made this cake for several years in a row, it's quite good. I make about 2 or 3 batches, the extra loaves are wrapped up well and stored in the freezer...and they sure don't stay in there very long!

-Chelsea

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), November 14, 2000.

Fruit Cake. I lllloooovvvveeee fruit cake. Store bought or homemade, makes no difference. Any of you folks who receive a fruit cake in the mail, feel free to redirect it my way. Ate my first fruitcake of the fall season Saturday night at a family reunion, if I'd seen the fruitcake first, I'd a ate nothing else. So fruit cake haters, snobs, derogatorrators (?), fruitcake phobes, etc, contact me for mailing directions.

Dreaming of fruitcakes...Phil

-- Phil (phillipbriggs@thenett.com), November 14, 2000.

Doggonit! Didn't put spaces between those ingredients...hope you can read it!

-Chelsea

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), November 14, 2000.

Blend together Al and George then use a banana bread. would also give you plenty of nuts. gail

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef123@hotmail.com), November 15, 2000.

This one is more fruit than cake. I've been making it for years. It keeps well, in fact, is better after it ripens at least a week or more. Sometimes I bake it in the small disposable aluminum pans with plastic covers and give as gifts to people that I know like fruitcake. 1 cup candied cherries 1 cup candied pineapple 1 lb. dates 4 cups shelled walnuts Cut up the above ingredients in large mixing bowl and mix with 4 tablespoons flour Add 1 can flaked coconut 1 can Eagle brand milk Mix all together and shape into 2 med. loaves (or more smaller ones). Bake 1 hour at 250-275.

-- ruth in s.e. IL (bobtravous@email.com), November 15, 2000.

I looove fruitcake, too! I made this recipe up last year, to sell at the healthfood store where I work. I needed something low fat, healthy, and vegan. It's yummy, and freezes well.

1 lb. dates, pitted and chopped, in 1 quart water. Bring to boil, carefully stir in 1 Tablespoon baking soda-it will foam up, just stir to combine well. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

I use 4 cups total of dried fruits and one cup chopped pecans. Last year I used 1 cup each of golden raisins, cherries, blueberries, and diced pineapple. You cold use any dried fruit or nut you like.

In a large bowl combine 9 cups whole wheat flour with 3 cups fructose. You could use an equal amount of sugar instead.

Add 3/4 cup oil to cooled date mixture. Add grated rind of one orange, and it's juice. Now mix everything together. This makes 3 loaves. Bake in greased pans at 275 degrees. Unfortunately I neglected to note how long it took til they were done! My baking experience tells me....set the timer for 1 hour 15 minutes, and check them. I would judge by the "feel" with my fingertips as to whether they were done or not. I think it will probably take a bit longer (15-20 mins).

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), November 15, 2000.

Thanks everyone

My wife plans on trying all the recipe's.

Thanks again. Were starting a new recipe file on 3.5" disk. Maybe it'll be easier to keep tabs on. :o)

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), November 15, 2000.

No recipe, but a comment. Sugar, fruit, molasses, eggs, what's not to love? I could eat fruitcake every day of the year.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), November 16, 2000.

Here's a recipe for my great granny's graham cracker fruit cake 1 box graham crackers,mashed up 2 c. raisins 1/2 lb. butter 5 eggs 1 lb. mixed nuts 1 tsp. vanilla 1 c. sugar 2 c. mixed fruit,cherries & pineapple 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. cloves 1/2 tsp.allspice 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix all together; if cracker crumbs are not all wet add up to 1 cup of milk.Pour into a bundt pan. Heat oven to 250 and put water in pan under cake. Bake 1-1 1/2 hours till done.

Even people whom hate fruit cake will love this cake.

-- Sandy(Fl.) (MANDARINHILLBILLYS@prodigy.net), November 16, 2000.

Well! Now we can see the TRUE difference between homesteaders and "normal" people -- we LOVE fruitcake! I especially like the homemade kind . . . . yummy!

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), November 17, 2000.

All those recipes sound real nice..I made my first fruitcake last year and that thing must have weighed 7 pounds!! It was soooooo bad the chickens wouldn't eat it and they will gobble anything up...may just try one of these that are posted.

-- Lynn (mscratch1@semo.net), November 18, 2000.

FRUIT CAKE RECIPE

One Cup Water One Cup Sugar Four Large Eggs Two Cups of Dried Fruit One Teaspoon of Baking Soda One Teaspoon of Salt One Cup of Brown Sugar Lemon Juice Nuts One Bottle of Whiskey (High Quality)

Sample the whiskey to check for quality. Take a large bowl. Check the whiskey again. To be sure it is the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar and beat again.

Make sure the whiskey is still okay. Cry another tup. Turn off the mixer. Break two leggs and add to the bowl and check in the cup of drier fruit. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers pry it loose with a drewscriver.

Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of sale, or something. Who cares? Check the whiskey. Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever you can find.

Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window. Check the whiskey again and go to bed.

Thanks to Jim Davis for this fun recipe!!

-- James (Jamesj1592@about.com), November 18, 2000.

Just as aside from the question. My mother, who was English, would make fruitcakes around Thanksgiving, wrap them in a cloth soaked in brandy and put them in brown sugar in a 5 gal. coffee can. She would resoak the cloth two or three times through the year. She made them a year ahead and they were out of this world.

-- Duffy (hazelm@tenforward.com), November 20, 2000.

That recipe for fruitcake wrapped in brandy was the only fruitcake recipe I had ever seen. Since I don't drink, I had never made it,but will buy fruitcakes from the store since I have never seen brandy listed there. I want to make a fruit cake, but the ingredients are so expensive!! sigh...My mother always brings me a fruitcake for Thanksgiving so I can look forward to that! YEA MOM!! She better live A LONG time. tee hee

-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), November 20, 2000.

Here is a recipe that was shared on another board and you will notice that it is full of fresh fruit not the candied fruit. I have not tried it but I think that I will do this one for sure.

Mom's fruitcake 1 cup butter, 2 1/4 cup sugar, 6 eggs, 1 bottle of rum or brandy flavoring, 4 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 2 cups raisins, 2 cups marachino cherries, 1 cup dates, cut up, 1 cup prunes, cut up, 1 cup chopped walnuts. Cream butter & sugar, add flour, eggs, spices, & flavoring, mix well. Stir in fruit & nuts. Usually you will have to use your hands to get it all mixed in. Bake in 2 loaf pans for about 2 hours at 275 degrees, or till done. Done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. You may want to brush the tops with Karo syrup, or honey 1/2 hour before done. Norma

I love the "store bought" out of corsicana, TX..They are wonderful..

http://www.collinstreetbakery.com/ They are very famous all over the world for their fruit cakes...

-- Ruthie Guida (RuthieG@mediaone.net), November 21, 2000.

this recipe is so good that even people who swear they don't like fruitcake ask for more.

Teacher Karen's Fruitcake

2 lbs. pecans, chopped pretty fine (about 8 cups) 2 lbs. chopped dates (commercially chopped is fine) 2 C coconut 1/4 C flour 4 oz candied pineapple, chopped 4 oz candied cherries, chopped (I use 2-3.5 oz packages of both cherries and pineapple and it works fine) 2 cans Eagle Brand

In your largest bowl, mix the pecans, dates, coconut, and flour (I use my fingers to break up and mix). Then add the candied fruit. Mix in the sweet milk a little at a time (1/2 can) and smush together (hard stirring with a spoon--and I think I remember breaking a wooden spoon. . . and I know that kneading works!).

Makes 2 loaf pans. My original recipe says "butter any tin"; I have used the Eagle Brand cans and those little metallic muffin papers so I have giveaway sizes.

Bake at F 275 for 45 minutes. (I used an old commercial bakery mini-loaf pan; makes 20 small loaves.

-- christianna in iowa (ciwhite@iastate.edu), December 20, 2000.

'Great fruitcake.' Isn't that an oxymoron?!!!

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), December 21, 2000.