Mother's Fruitcake

Fruitcake is too much maligned. That's because so much of it is inferior in quality. Most people today, certainly all those who deride fruitcake, have never tasted a good fruitcake. They have no idea what it is! My mother's fruitcake, made from a recipe handed down from her mother and her mother's mother, is dark, moist, and colorful, served in thin slices like stained glass. The only commercially available product that is comparable in taste is a real plum pudding. And you have to go to England to get it.

Check out these quantities: you make several fruitcakes and give them away (to people who know the value of the gift, if you can find any). Or I leave it to you to do the arithmetic to reduce the amount. The job of making fruitcake is hugely simplified today because all the fruits are sold already cut up. That used to be the time-consuming part. However, note that to make a good fruitcake you must be sure the fruit is cut up into small enough pieces. Big chunks of fruit are the telltale gaucherie of inferior, store-bought fruitcakes.

The original recipe: 3 lbs. raisins 1 lb. figs 2 lb. citron 1 lb. butter 1 lb. dark brown sugar 1 lb. almonds 1 dozen eggs 1 lb. flour 1 teasp. each cinnamon, mace and allspice, soaked in wine (rec. sherry or cognac) 1/2 lb. candied cherries

Mother's instructions: "There are no mixing or baking directions, but the way I remember it is that we cut up the raisins with scissors or a knife and cut up the figs and cherries and almonds. Sift the flour and mix it with the sticky fruit. Cream the butter and brown sugar, and add the eggs one at a time. Add the fruits with flour on them and add the spices which have been soaking in a wineglass of wine. Line the baking pan[s*] with brown paper which has been buttered or with silverfoil and bake in a slow oven until the top looks solid. Sometimes you have to cover the top of the cake to keep it from burning."

*You'll need several pans. Use the traditional circular pan with a hole in the middle or loaf pans.