Fruitcake!

No, I'm not talking about me ... or my husband, silly.  I'm talking about real homemade fruitcake.  I know what you're thinking -- nobody really likes fruitcake.  Well, this one is the exception.  It's moist, tasty and full of chunky goodness.  This recipe comes from my (first) mother-in-law, who was a fabulous cook and baker.

The photo is  not a particularly good one, but I wanted to show you that it has no disgusting green and red candied cherries in it. :)

Theresa's Fruitcake

1 cup oil
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup orange juice
5 cups mixed fruits (I used i cup each of candied orange peel, candied lemon peel, figs, dates, raisins.  I think dried cranberries would be an interesting addition if you don't like the candied peels)
3 cups chopped nuts (I used 1 cup each of walnuts, pecans and almonds)

Combine oil, eggs and brown sugar.  Beat for 2 minutes until smooth.  Stir in 2 cups of the flour, baking powder and spices (feel free to make substitutions here too -- if you don't like allspice, just omit it) alternately with the orange juice.  Mix remaining flour with the fruits and nuts.  Mix into the batter.

Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.  Place a pan of water on the lower oven rack (I'm not sure what affect this would have, but I did it anyway).  Bake at 275 for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  Let stand 15 minutes before removing from pans.  Then cool on wire rack. 

At this point, I wrapped one of the loaves in foil for immediate consumption.  The other loaf has been wrapped in cheesecloth that we soaked in Drambuie (because we didn't have any brandy on hand).  Then it was wrapped in foil and refrigerated.  I'll let you know how that one fared sometime in December!