Fruitcake*

All of the jokes aside, what we know of as fruitcake today has a long history in several countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_cake#History My own personal prediction is that it will fade into the history books by the next generation...in the United States at least. I've not been witness to any of those born after my own time period that didn't wince at the mention of it.

My first recollections of this treat were around my own Christmas times. My mother's recipe came from the old worn 'Better Homes and Garden Cookbook, with a few alterations. Now on the 3rd generation it has been fine tuned to my own liking. The cool thing is that mom and dad love what I've done.

After Mom, my grandmother would make her own. They fit perfectly into the tins she'd found for them. She would pour her choice of alcohol on them, seal them up and let them marinate for a year. Years later after her death we discovered why that age old tradition died out...(hopefully not why grandma did, j/k.) Several tins were found in cleaning out her home with moldy marinater's. There may have been a new medical discovery in there somewhere...but we opted for tossing them out.

Sugar is a good preservative for fruits and their peels when prepared correctly. Best left to manufactors these days...yet time may bring back the necessity one day for rediscovering many ways of preserving food that have gone forgotten by the average household. If this occur's then so too will the rediscovery of how sinfully rich this 'treat' really is.

Here is my recipe*

Preheat oven to 325 degree's.

Using 1/4 stick of softened butter, generously grease 1 tube pan. Set aside.

2 bowls are best* (1 very large.)

In the large bowl add...

1+1/2 cups candied cherries whole

1 cup white/red/dark raisins

1 cup candied pineapple chunks

2 cups candied 'citron'. (Various citrus peels sugary sweet.)

1 package chopped dates

1+1/2 cup chopped pecans

Stir together.

Add 1 cup bread flour, stirring well. Incorrporating flour into the sticky mixture will cause it to remain dispursed in the cake and not let it all sink to the bottom...though with this recipe it would be hard to tell, lol!

In the second bowl whisk together 2 sticks softened butter with

1 cup of granulated sugar. When well blended whisk in

4 eggs, one at a time. Now whisk in

1/2 cup apricot nectar and

1/4 cup kayro (clear) syrup. After this is well blended add

2 cups bread flour and incorporate well. Then add your spices...

1 tsp cinnamon (Ceylon where available)

1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg (can substitute already ground)

1/2 tsp fresh grated or ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves.

Add this creamed mixture to the fruits/nuts mixture, making certain to mix it well so that there are no 'dry flour patches'.

Pour mixture into buttered tube pan.

Arrange more nuts and whole fruits into a pattern on top of batter.

In a cup mix together 1/4 cup apricot nectar and 1/4 cup kayro syrup till blended. Use a pastry or clean BBQ brush to cover the nuts & fruits with this mixture till you've used the entire 1/2 cup. It will have standing liquid on top.

Place into preheated oven and cook approximatly 1 hour. Loosely lay a sheet of aluminum foil on top of cake and return to oven. Turn heat down to 250 degrees for an additional hour to hour and a half, or till well browned and aroma is filling the house. (Non fruit-cake lovers will like this smell as well.)

It is best to let the cake cool in pan before using a knife to loosen edge and turn out. Have your pattern side up on plate. Slice carefully with sereated knife* The whole fruit in the cake makes a lovely presentation* (The nuts don't handle as well when cutting whole inside the cake. Outside you can deal with much easier.)

I do not add alcohol to mine...though a tsp or two of rum extract into the batter may have the same affect.