Light Fruit Cake

I really don't want to hear how much you hate fruit cake. You have probably never had a really good fruit cake if that is the way you feel. This is one of my favorite recipes and it's an old Fanny Farmer.

This should have been made back in the middle of October, but I was still canning and freezing then. This will not be ready for Thanksgiving but if you make it now it will be ready for Christmas. Sorry I forgot. If you don't get it made I'll give you two other alternative before Christmas.

This is exceptionally good. Any combination of candied fruit and nuts will do, but the stuffed dates, which you will want to prepare before you start, are really good. Simply fill each date with a piece of nut and roll it in sugar. You will need about 1 pound of dates and a dozen or so extra nuts for this.

Light Fruit Cake
2- 9 x 5-inch loaves
Print recipe

1/2 pound butter
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
7 eggs, separated
2 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
2 cups seedless white raisins
2 cups pecans in large pieces
1 cup candied cherries
1 cup candied pineapple in large pieces
2 cups dates, stuffed with nuts and rolled in sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and lightly flour two 9x5-inch loaf pans. Cream the butter and slowly add the sugar, beating until light. Add the vanilla and the egg yolks and beat well. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder, and stir them and 1/2 cup of milk and beat well. Stir in the raisins and the pecans. Beat the egg whites separately until they are stiff but not dry. Gently stir a third of the whites into the batter, then fold in the remaining whites carefully. Spoon a layer of batter into each loaf pan. Arrange several rolls of candied cherries and pineapple and dates on top of the batter, then cover with the remaining batter, filling each pan one-half to two-thirds full. Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto racks. When completely cool, wrap well and store in a airtight container up to two months.

In my opinion you have to soak the fruit cake in brandy, rum or my personal favorite bourbon. This also helps to preserve it. Soak two large pieces of cheesecloth in, liquor of choice. Wrap each fruit cake in the cheesecloth, covering all sides, then wrap well in foil. Moisten the cheesecloth with additional liquor every few days for about a week to ten days.