The best thing about blogging is “meeting” people who leave comments. Their personalities come through and we are like-minded or they’d never return. So sometimes they will include links to articles or videos they enjoyed, suspecting (correctly) I might also and so might those who read but are too shy to comment. From time to time, they are willing to share a favorite recipe, like this one.
Barbara mentioned this white fruitcake recipe in comments following my recipe for fast pumpkin butter. She said even people who swear they hate fruitcake — our national joke at Christmas — love this. Having had white fruitcake once, I knew how good it is and how different from the dark bricks that tend to be re-gifted, so I asked if she’d share the recipe. She graciously posted it there but I’d like it to have more exposure so here it is again.
It’s an old recipe, she told me, passed from one church lady to another and eventually into their church cookbook. Her daughter Cack makes it for friends and I have a hunch this is one fruitcake that does not get re-gifted. It looks delicious. I asked how Cack measures her flour, since no two Americans seem to do it the same way, and my notation and flour weight reflect that.
Barbara also assured me the lack of salt is not a mistake, although in all honesty I would add 1/4 teaspoon. It’s not only a flavor enhancer, it makes sweet things sweeter. I don’t bake without it and fruitcake recipes usually include it.
So thanks again to Barbara and Cack. Perhaps fellow blogger shoreacres will leave her grandfather’s fruitcake recipe that she mentioned! And if you have a favorite fruitcake recipe, please feel free to post it in comments, but please don’t violate anyone’s copyright. Maybe we’ll end up with a repository of great fruitcake recipes and prove the naysayers wrong.
Cack’s White Fruitcake
Thanks to Barbara and Cack
1 pound shelled pecans
1 pound golden raisins
1-1/2 pounds candied pineapple: 8 oz.red, 8 oz.green, 8 oz. yellow
1 pound candied cherries: 8 oz, red and 8 oz. green
1 pound butter
6 eggs, separated
3 cups/12-3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, spooned into the cup and leveled
2 cups/14 ounces granulated sugar
2 ounces lemon extract
You will also need cheesecloth and apple juice for the finished and cooled fruitcake.
Set a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 250F/120C/very slow oven. Grease or spray a tube or loaf pan and line bottom with waxed paper.
Cut cherries in half and pineapple in little pieces.
Cream together butter, egg yolks, and sugar. Add flour and mix well. Add lemon extract and mix thoroughly. Add fruit and pecans; mix.
Beat egg whites into soft peaks. Fold into batter.
Spoon the batter into prepared pan. Bake 1-1/2 hours at 250F, then increase heat to 325F/165C/Gas 3 and bake 30 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan. Turn out and remove the waxed paper.
Wrap the fruitcake in cheesecloth that has been saturated with apple juice, then in plastic wrap and finally, aluminum foil. Store in cool place.
Ages well and will keep for a full year.
Copyright (C) 2008 From Scratch All Rights Reserved 
Print This Post
