I have made this one for years.

Fruitcake

1 cup buttery oil (now I have to use popcorn oil)
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
3 c. flour
1 teas. baking powder
2 teas. salt
2 teas. cinnamon
2 teas. allspice
1 teas. cloves
1 c. orange juice
1 c. candied pineapple
1 c. candied cherries
15 oz pkg white raisins
3 c. chopped nuts

Heat oven to 275
Combine oil, sugar and eggs, beat well.
Add flour,baking powder, salt and spices alternately with orange juice. Add fruit and nuts.

Oil loaf or angel food pan and line with waxed paper. Cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

After I make these I soak white paper towels in either brandy or rum and wrap cakes, then wrap in foil and refrigerate.
I resoak the towels about every 4 days until its time to eat them.

Wesson used to make a buttery flavored oil, but I haven't been able to find that for years. The buttery flavored popcorn oil works well. Also I like the mixed candied fruit taste so I use that for part of the fruit.

I'm not a fruitcake lover either but the one above does sound good. This recipe is from another BB and got a good review:
Stirring Fruitcake

1 pound of butter
2 c sugar
6 eggs
4 c self-rising flour
1 t of each: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
1 pound of candied cherries,rough chopped
1 pound of candied pineapple,rough chopped
1 big box of raisins
6 c roughly chopped pecans
5 oz. orange marmalade

Preheat oven to 350*
Cream butter and sugar, then add the eggs. In another BIG bowl add the flour, spices, fruit and nuts. Stir to coat. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture, mix well. Place batter in a pan. Bake for 15 minutes, take out and stir. Bake 15 minutes, take out and stir. Bake 15 minutes, take out and stir. Bake 15 minutes more, stir and pack down in a greased tube pan. I used a potato masher to pack it in. Let set on the counter overnight. This is really good!!!! My Kitchen Aid 4.5qt wouldn't hold all of the batter. I put the batter in a 13 by 18.5 inch pan, the biggest pan I had.I added the rest of the flour,fruit,nuts and orange marmalade by hand. I baked as directed. The cake weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz.

Holy smokes, Roslin, that's a BIG fruitcake.

I'm baking the fruitcake this weekend too. When Grandma became very ill, she handed me the recipe card and said "you'll have to make the fruitcake this year". I've done it every year since, in spite of the fact that I don't really like fruitcake. They are always made on Thanksgiving weekend, just like Grandma taught me, and always brushed with blackberry brandy (although Grandma didn't drink at all, LOL). I always leave the citron out because Mom doesn't like it, I just sub more of the other fruit. The fruitcake mix candied fruit can be used as long as it totals 2 1/4 lbs approximately. The only other change I make is that Grandma wrapped the cakes in cheesecloth, unwrapping them for their brandy baths. I put mine in Tupperware, just pop the lid, brush the cakes, and put the lid back on.

GRANDMA'S YELLOW FRUITCAKE

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/12 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup orange juice
9 eggs
1 lb. candied cherries, cut into halves
1 lb. golden raisins
2 cups candied pineapple, cut up (12 oz.)
2/3 cup candied citron, cut up (4 oz)
2/3 cup candied orange peel, cut up (4 oz)
3 1/2 cups nuts, your choice (we use a mix of walnuts, pecans, almonds and brazil nuts, you can use what you have or what you like)

Heat oven to 275F. Line 2 9x5 loaf pans with waxed paper, greased. Beat all ingredients except fruits and nuts in large bowl on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 3 minutes. Mix batter into fruits and nuts in large bowl. Spread in pans.

Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean 2 1/2 to 3 hours. If necessary, cover with aluminum foil during last hour of baking to prevent excessive browning. Remove from pans, cool. Brush with brandy and wrap in several layers of cheesecloth or in aluminum foil. Brush cakes a couple of times per week until Christmas, being sure not to make them too "soggy". Store in the refrigerator.

Make sure to "test" the brandy before each use, it makes you happier. LOL That wasn't part of the recipe, it's my own personal addition. ;-)

Happy Holidays.

Annie

Annie, I was hoping you'd post your grandmother's recipe, after reading about it on the Harvest forum. I'm saving it for next year. This year I'm going to re-liquor the 2004 model; no one in my family eats fruitcake except me and my son.

Truthfully, I've learned to trust Annie's recipes, so I will probably make her grandma's recipe for the big cake. It looks very similar to what my grandma might have used, but I'll never know because the recipe is history, and I've never been able to duplicate it. Hopefully this year will make a keeper for me.

(Annie, won't it be a true spirit of our love if someday our little precious monkeys speak of our cooking and the love we share with them with this same reverence and loving comfortable memories? What greater legacy is there??)

And, I think I might give the buttery oil one a shot too. I thought it sounded interesting, and it would obviously be very moist and good. So, nannybird, your recipe is going to go into the oven too!

Roselin32, by the time I'm finished with the recipe you gave, I would have at least a 6 pound baby in my arms! LOL But, I might have my husband look at it from a mathematical point of view with me, and cut that sucker down to size and give it a shot too.

Honestly, I love all fruitcakes, and will probably be happy with all of them, but I really hope to duplicate as much as possible what my memory of my grandma's fruitcakes were like.

I wonder what it is about fruitcake that I like so well, and what it is that others detest?

I like nuts in mine too. I guess I just like fruits and nuts and berries, and seeds and all the foods of the forest animals! LOL

My manners are stretched to the very limits whenever I'm offered fruit cake. I can't even stand the smell of it!! But I've made quite a few of them, under extreme duress, for special people. I've rarely stuck to a recipe, but tend to toss in lots of extra nuts and fruit (I've added dates and dried figs and crystallised cherries etc), and I'm generous with the rum and/or brandy. I've usually made the cakes several weeks before Christmas, and every couple of days I use a skewer to poke holes in the cake, and pour on a couple of tablespoons of brandy or rum - by the time Christmas comes around, it's very boozy indeed, and would probably last for a couple of decades! This, apparently, is how it's supposed to be done.

The Pumpkin Fruit Cake was a particular favourite of an Ex. Since it combined the two things I detest the most (pumpkin, and little dead black flies!) it's no wonder the relationship had to end!

Wedding or Christmas Cake
250g butter
500g brown sugar
10 eggs
500g plain flour
125g self raising flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
2 tablespoons golden syrup or treacle
50g raisins, cut up
500g sultanas
750g currants
250g chopped dates
125g mixed peel
125g almonds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup red cherries
1 glass wine
1/2 glass rum

Combine all the fruit and cover with wine and rum. Leave for 5 days, stirring occasionally. Preheat oven to 108C. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then golden syrup. Cover the fruit with sifted flour, cinnamon and spice, and leave for a little while to mix into the creamed mixture. Then add all the fruit and nuts. Have a 500g tin lined with brown paper, pour in the mixture and decorate the top with almonds. Place into preheated oven, reduce temperature to 150C and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Reduce temperature to 140C and continue cooking for a further 3 1/2 hours.

Ginger Peach Fruitcake
2 cups self raising flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla brandy or vanilla
2 1/2 cups sultanas
1 cup crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped
2 2/3 cups dried peaches, coarsely chopped
3 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
2 to 3 cups brandy or dark rum, as needed

To make vanilla brandy, soak two vanilla beans, cut up, in a small bottle of brandy and let steep for about a week. Preheat oven to 110C. Line 2 23x12cm loaf tins with greaseproof paper, leaving about 4cm above the rim of the tins. Butter the paper. Sift 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla brandy and mix thoroughly. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Gradually beat in the flour, being careful not to over mix. Toss the sultanas, ginger and peaches with the remaining flour. Fold into the batter along with the walnuts. Divide the batter between the prepared pans; smooth the tops. Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre of the loaves emerges clean, 2 1/4- 2 1/2 hours. Cool the cakes in the pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Unmould the cakes; peel away the waxed paper and turn right side up. Cool completely on the racks.

Lay 2 large sheets of aluminium foil on a work surface. Cut a piece of cheesecloth large enough to wrap each cake; place each on top of a sheet of foil. Place 1 cake on each piece of cheesecloth. Baste the top and sides of the cake with 1/3-1/2 cup of brandy or rum, brushing it on and letting it soak in for a few minutes. Brush again twice. Wrap the cakes in the cheesecloth then in the foil. Refrigerate for 1-2 months to age and ripen, brushing them with more liquor through their cheesecloth about once a week.

Pumpkin Fruitcake
(Suitable for Diabetics)

1/2 cup unsweetened apple orange juice
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup dried figs, chopped
1 cup mashed cooked pumpkin
2 tablespoons sugar substitute
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
pinch ground cloves
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 teaspoons granted orange rind
Combine the juice, raisins and figs in a bowl. Let stand for 1 hour or overnight. Beat together the pumpkin, sugar and oil. Stir in the fruit mixture. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and spices. Mix well. Add the nuts and orange rind. Stir to blend well. Pour the batter into a lightly oiled loaf tin. Bake at 180C for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Wrap in foil and refrigerate until ready to use.

Oh my gosh, that Ginger Peach one sounds nothing like my grandma's recipe, but it really twisted my taste buds to look front and center!!!

I love ginger, I love peach, and I love the richness of fruit cake, and putting that all together could be mouth nirvana! LOL

I love chutneys too, and I think fruitcake is so "chutney-ish" to me.

Love those rich rich flavors.. tingling and dancing on my taste buds.

(I am hopeless for Fruitcake obviously.. ho humm..)

Oh, geez, and I realize I made a mistake in my recipe. That should be one and one half (1 1/2) tsp baking powder, not 1/12th. Geez. That's what happens when I'm copying a very, very old recipe card. Yeah, that's what it is. (grin)

Christine, I hope you have the right amount of ingredients and not depend on my typing. Sigh.

Susan, you are right. I hope Makayla and Alicia look back some time and say "Grandma taught me to make XXX", or "This is Grandma's recipe". It's a connection through the generations for me, and one I hope will continue.

Some day Makayla might make that blueberry crisp or the family fruitcake and say "This was my great-great Grandmother's recipe".

Annie

Think my fruit cake is about the best I vwere tasted....it's pretty solid with fruit and nuts....then thef ruit and nuts are tossed with sugar and flour and spices......eggs are beaten and added to moisten.....not much cake at all!
I am not at home now....but will be on Monday....if the snow's not flyign!
Remind me if you still want it....it had a slice of the fruitcake I made last year last week.....definitly improves with age.....and a regular dosing of brandy!
Linda C

Linda, I would love to have your recipe. My grandmother's roots are from Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, so it is likely her fruitcake recipe is derived from that part of the world.

Susan, I love fruit cake too. I thinking that Linda's recipe with not much flour is the type I might try this year. Guess I'll hold off till she posts it. Frankly I could make every recipe and enjoy.
This time of year I always stock up on containers of the candied fruit. I use it for a candied fruit bread I've made for years. It makes the best toast.

Nancy

I made the buttery oil fruitcake that I posted the recipe for last night. They smelled so good cooking. I made it twice so I can give some to my sisters for Christmas. They are now in the frig soaking in rum. Can't wait until they have soaked up enough. This is the first time in about 4 years that I've made them. Expensive little things.

Nancy

I have seen several standard recipes but I have one that calls for 3 cups flour and 2 cups brown sugar with 5 eggs and most of the others only call for 1 1/2 cups flour w/1cup br sug and 5 eggs. Its suppose to make 2 loaf size cakes. I'm worried it will be too cakey?

Finally getting back to this thread! LOL!
Here's the recipe as written.....and made by me for a lot of years.
But in recent years I have modifyed it.
You will notice that it is basically 3 cups of nuts and 3 cups of fruit...plus 1/2 cup raisins.
So I make up the 3 cups of nuts out of pecans, walnuts and hazel nuts....I don't particularly like Brazil nuts and I love hazel nuts!
And I don't like marischino cherries at all.....so I make up my 3 cups of fruit with candied pineapple, cut up pieces of dried apricots....some candied peel and candied cherries and dried cranberrys.....and of course the raisins....got to have raisins!! Then proceed as directed

Fruit cake....makes 1 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf
1 1/2 c. shelled whole brazil nuts

1 1/2 walnut halves ( I use 3/4 c walnuts and 3/4 c. pecans)

1 c. pitted dates.

1 c. candied orange peel ( I also, substitute some candied pineapple for
some of the orange peel)

1/2 c red marischino cherries, drained a long time!!

1/2 c green marischino cherries...NOT the mint flavored kind!! also drained

1/2 white sultana raisins

3/4 c sifted flour

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

3 eggs

1 t. vanilla

Mix fruit and nuts. mix dry ingredients and sift over the fruit and nuts,
tossing to coat evenly. Beat eggs until light and fluffy, add vanilla, and
add to the fruit mix, tossing to mix but gently!!
Butter a loaf pan ( actually you should have done this before you started!)
line it with parchment and butter the parchment. Place mixture in pan,
pressing down to eliminate air bubbles and bake 300deg. for 1/1/2 to 1 3/4
hrs....test with a toothpick. I soak with brandy and wrap in cheese cloth
and foil and a plastic bag and store in the refrig. for at least a month.
Keeps for years as long as you replenish the brandy from time to time to
keep it from molding!
Of course you can save some of the nut halves to decorate the top before
baking if you want to be fancy schmancy.
Enjoy!!
Linda

I used to think I hated fruitcake. Then I realized not all fruitcakes HAVE to have those candied cherries and whatnot.

I tried and loved Alton Brown's Free Range Fruit Cake. It's full of real butter, freshly ground spices, uncandied lemon peel, and dried blueberries/cherries/cranberries. Rum and brandy, too!

Man, is it good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alton Brown's Free Range Fruitcake

Hi everyone, I am new here and this looks like a great place to be. I loved looking at all the recipes. I also love fruit cake, so maybe some of you can help me. My husband has made fruitcakes every year for years, but we moved to the country last Dec. and some of our things are still stored, including the fruit cake recipe. LOL
The recipe was on a Karo syrup jar years ago. It was a light fruit cake(only in color) and didn't have much flour either. If any of you have that recipe would you please share with me. I am dying to have a slice and a cup of herb tea. I hope it's alright to ask on this thread. Thanks so much and it is a pleasure to be here.
P.S. I checked with the Karo syrup site and they didn't have this recipe.

Hugs from Mommalou in the Lone Star State