Christmas fruitcake - one hundred year old family recipe - bite (2024)

UPDATE: It’s time to start your Fruitcake so that it’s ready for the holidays. I shared this Fruitcake recipe five years ago but it continues to be one of my most popular posts. If you’ve never liked fruitcake in the past, this recipe will change your mind. If you make it in the next few days, it will be ready for Christmas dinner. XO

It snowed. We’ve gone from gardening in shirtsleeves to frantically trying to find matching winter gloves in one day! The upside; it’s time to make my Christmas fruitcake.

I heard your gasp. “Christmas is almost two months away. Why are you making fruitcake now?”

Simple. Fruitcake needs time to mellow. The mellowing process is called ripening. Fruitcake needs at least one month to ripen. I prefer to give my fruitcake two months.

Growing up, fruitcake was the only holiday sweet that I’d leave on the party platter. It often looked dry and, on the rare occasion when I did take a nibble, I found the taste bitter. The first Christmas that I spent with Ralph, he kept on about his mother’s fruitcake for weeks. When Boxing Day rolled around, all of the Hootons gathered at the family homestead for their annual holiday get-together. The dining room table was literally groaning with desserts. Gingerbread men, shortbread cookies, jam-jams, mincemeat tartlets, caramel corn, cherry cheesecake and, in the middle of all that deliciousness, the dreaded fruitcake.The funny thing was it didn’t look like any fruitcake that I’d ever seen. There was no crusty frosting or almond paste on the outside. The cake part looked dark, rich and moist and the fruit was actually glistening.

True to his word, when the tea was served, Ralph presented me with a slicein front of his mom.I’m going to be honest; had I not liked it, I would have lied through my teeth. There was no way, with all of his family watching, that I was going to gag on their famous Christmas fruitcake!

I picked up a small piece and quickly popped it in my mouth. I figured I’d get it over with in one gulp.I know you know where this is going…The flavour and texture were off the charts! The fruitcake tasted exactly as it looked: just enough moist cake to hold together the luscious fruit.

It turns out, this recipe has been in Ralph’s family for over one hundred years. His great-grandmother, Grammy Price, taught his mom to make it when she was a little girl. Gram was a teetotaler so Ralph’s mom made a few adjustments to the original recipe. I asked her if her grandmother noticed the difference.

“She never said, but she always asked for a second slice…”

For years, Ralph’s mom gave us a whole fruitcake just before the holidays. She’s passed on her grandmother’s fruitcake steamer to me. It’s one of my most cherished gifts. Now, I have the honour and privilege to make fruitcake for her.

So here we go – Christmas 2014.The girls are coming home. They’ve asked to celebrate Coen’sfirst Christmas at the farm so I have a lot of work to do,starting with Nanny Hooton’s Christmas Fruitcake.

NANNY HOOTON’S FRUITCAKE

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THE FRUIT

2 lbs red cherries
2 lbs green cherries
2 lbs seeded raisins, separated
2 lbs pitted dates
2 lbs mixed fruit
1 lb pecans
½ – 750 ml bottle inexpensive Port

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THE STEPS:

  • Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss well.
  • Cover with a tea towel and leave to soak over night.

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THE CAKE BATTER

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ½ cup brown sugar
2/3 cup butter – the original recipe calls for vegetable shortening
8 eggs
1 cup fancy molasses
1 cup cold tea

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THE STEPS:

  • Grease your pans then line them with paper [waxed or parchment] then grease the paper – set aside.I used 2 – 6″ and 2 – 8″ round pans. The cook time stays the same because all of the pans were 2″ deep.

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  • Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, cloves and cinnamon – set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until combined.
  • Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.

Christmas fruitcake - one hundred year old family recipe - bite (9)

  • Beat in molasses and cold tea.
  • Fold in flour mixture until completely blended.
  • Add soaked fruit including any Port sitting in the bottom of the bowl. I use my hands because the batter is too heavy for a spoon to handle.

Christmas fruitcake - one hundred year old family recipe - bite (10)

  • Pour the batter into the prepared pans, full to the top, cover and steam for 2 hours. If you don’t have a fruitcake steamer, place a rack, brick or upside down cake pan on the bottom of a deep stock pot. Fill the stock pot with enough water to reach ¼ of the way up the fruitcake pan.
  • Preheat oven to 300*F

  • Place steamed fruitcake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
  • Remove fruitcake from oven to a cooling rack for 12 hours [TWELVE]

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  • Wrap them in cheesecloth. Sprinkle liberally with Port and seal the cakes in plastic wrap or in plastic storage bags. Once a week, brush the cakes with more Port.

Christmas fruitcake - one hundred year old family recipe - bite (13)

THE LOVE: Make sure the bowl you’re using to mix the fruit with the cake batter is big enough. You don’t want it slopping all over your counter!

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Thanks for reading.

Christmas fruitcake - one hundred year old family recipe - bite (15)

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Christmas Fruitcake

Rating: 3.2/5

( 115 voted )

Serves: 20 Prep Time: Cooking Time: Nutrition facts:200 calories20 grams fat

Ingredients

2 lbs red cherries
2 lbs green cherries
2 lbs seeded raisins, separated
2 lbs pitted dates
2 lbs mixed fruit
1 lb pecans
½ - 750 ml bottle inexpensive Port4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ½ cup brown sugar
2/3 cup butter - the original recipe calls for vegetable shortening
8 eggs
1 cup fancy molasses
1 cup cold tea

Instructions

  1. Place all of the dried fruit, nuts and port nuts in a large mixing bowl and toss well.
  2. Cover with a tea towel and leave to soak over night.
  3. The next morning, grease your pans then line them with paper [waxed or parchment] then grease the paper - set aside. I used 2 - 6" and 2 - 8" round pans. The cook time stays the same because all of the pans were 2" deep.
  4. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, cloves and cinnamon - set aside.
  5. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until combined.
  6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.
  7. Beat in molasses and cold tea.
  8. Fold in flour mixture until completely blended.
  9. Add soaked fruit including any Port sitting in the bottom of the bowl. I use my hands because the batter is too heavy for a spoon to handle.
  10. Pour the batter into the prepared pans, full to the top, cover and steam for 2 hours. If you don’t have a fruitcake steamer, place a rack, brick or upside down cake pan on the bottom of a deep stock pot. Fill the stock pot with enough water to reach ¼ of the way up the fruitcake pan.
  11. Preheat oven to 300*F
  12. Place steamed fruitcake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
  13. Remove fruitcake from oven to a cooling rack for 12 hours.
  14. Wrap the fruitcakes in cheesecloth. Sprinkle liberally with Port and seal the cakes in plastic wrap or in plastic storage bags. Once a week, brush the cakes with more Port.

Notes

THE LOVE: Make sure the bowl you’re using to mix the fruit with the cake batter is big enough. You don’t want it slopping all over your counter!

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Christmas fruitcake - one hundred year old family recipe - bite (2024)

FAQs

What is the oldest fruitcake ever found? ›

Even older is the fruitcake left behind in Antarctica by the explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1910. But the honor for the oldest known existing fruitcake goes to one that was baked in 1878 when Rutherford B. Hayes was president of the United States.

Why was fruitcake outlawed? ›

Fruitcakes were so rich, they were considered sinful and were outlawed in Europe in the early 18th century. Restrictions eased later in the century.

Can fruit cake last 100 years? ›

And in 2019 the Detroit News reported that a Michigan family treasured a then 141-year-old fruitcake as an heirloom. And you could theoretically still eat these century-old cakes without harm—if you can get past the nauseating, rancid smell.

What alcohol is good for fruit cake? ›

Other good choices of booze include brandy, rum, or whiskey. Feel free to use one or a mix of these to best complement your fruitcake. Once you've chosen the liquor, bake the cake, poke holes throughout the whole thing, and pour a few tablespoons of the alcohol over it. Or, you can brush the cake with the alcohol.

How old was the fruitcake lady when she died? ›

Marie Rudisill died in Hudson, Florida, on November 3, 2006, at the age of 95, just before the publication date of her last book, Ask the Fruitcake Lady: Everything You Would Already Know If You Had Any Sense, on November 7.

How long can you keep fruitcake? ›

[Note: not all fruitcakes are made this way, see the safety note below.] The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that fruitcake will last two to three months in the refrigerator without spoiling, and will maintain its quality if stored up to a year in the freezer.

What is the derogatory meaning of fruitcake? ›

Slang. a crazy or eccentric person; nut.

Why does fruitcake have such a bad reputation? ›

When commercial mass production of mail order fruitcakes resulted in dry bricks being delivered to people's homes as a last-minute Christmas gift. When Johnny Carson made his infamous joke on "The Tonight Show"about how there's only one fruitcake in the world and it's passed from family to family.

Why does fruitcake last so long? ›

Fruitcake is no ordinary cake. It can stay fresh and edible for months after baking. What typically makes fruitcake last so long is its super dense texture. This texture prevents, let's say, less than appetizing things from setting up camp in the cake's crevices.

Who invented fruitcake? ›

A forerunner of the fruitcake actually fueled Ancient Roman warriors who carried a mixture of barley, pomegranate seeds, nuts, and raisins mixed with honeyed wine. The cakes — called satura — sustained them through their long marches to the furthest corners of the empire.

Can I freeze fruitcake? ›

Fruit cake can be frozen probably for about a year or even longer. Just make sure it is completely defrosted before decorating.

What is fruitcakes real name? ›

Fruitcake is not her real name, but a sweet nickname given to her affectionately by Fred. The Two Million Pound Menu star has not revealed her real name or what she does for a living as he keeps his private life guarded.

What is the very old fruitcake? ›

A 141-year-old fruitcake, baked by Fidelia Ford, in 1878, sits in the home of Dorothy Ford, in Tec*mseh, Mich. Fidelia died before the cake was served and the family, out of respect of her memory, decided not to eat it and has instead passed it down for generations.

What is the oldest cake in the history? ›

The world's oldest known cake, baked during the reign of Pepi II in Egypt between BCE 2251 and 2157. Alimentarium, Vevey, Switzerland.

What is the oldest fruit to exist? ›

Scientists and historians have found evidence of fig cultivation dating back over 11,000 years ago in Jericho on the West Bank.

What is the original fruitcake? ›

The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash. In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added. Fruitcakes soon proliferated all over Europe.

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