Fruit Cake
 

I am trying to find the recipe for fruit cake like my mom made back in the early 50's when I was a child. She called it applesauce cake but it had raisins, nuts & candid fruit in it. She used dried apples that she put in water & cooked until they looked a light brown. This made a large cake in a tube pan. She would wrap the cake in a dishtowel & pour grape juice all over. These were usually made in November & put in a big blue canning kettle which was on the back porch to stay cold. The cake was a dark brown in color. As a child I wanted layer cake with a gooey icing instead of these cakes that the adults loved. Does anyone else remember these? I grew up in southern Virginia on a farm.

I used to make mine starting in September. I didn't care for the citrus fruit so only added nuts, raisin and candied cherries in both colors. Then I'd soak it in Apricot Brandy. I'd put paper towels aroundit and drench it with the brandy monthly until December and then hand it out to the family members. Loved making it but never cared for the taste of fruit cake.

we made a "white" fruit cake, eggs, a little bit of flour, crushed pineapple, candied pinapple rings (red, green, yellow), marishino (sp) cherries, candied cherries, golden raisins, walnuts. It was loaded with candied fruit but no citrus. We used to make it in the large tuperware "mix and fix it" bowl. We would grease the narrow breadpans in different sizes, cut up brown paper bags, line them into the bread pans, grease them again, and line again with wax paper. That was the hardest part, preparing the pans. They would be baked at low heat for about 3.5-4 hours, then put on the attic steps to age. Pretty sweet! We would slice it very thin, looked like stained glass.

My Mom made a wonderful fruitcake, full of apricots, no candied fruit. I guess you would call it "blond".

I made a blonde one that sounds a lot like yours, sewingpup. It was all candied fruit and no citrus - lots of nuts. I wish I still had the recipe. I know it had a little applesauce, but no spices so it wasn't dark. My children were talking about it recently.

I do not make fruit cake but I love it! One of the very best fruit cakes was made by a co workers mother. The cake was soaked with brandy but then was covered with candied pecans. there wasn't an inch on the outside of that cake that didn't have a pecan half!! I have never had another one as great as that. I am forever looking for a recipe for this type of fruit cake but have never found one like it anywhere.

Recipe: Mom's White Fruit Cake
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C Butter
4 eggs
1/2 C buttermilk mixed with 1/2 t soda
2 C flour
1 lb white raisens
1/2 lb walnuts
1 1/2 lb candied pineapple (2 slices of each, red, yellow & green)
1/4 lb candied whole cherries (red)
1/2 lb candied green and yellow cherries
1 large can of drained crushed pineapple
1 large jar of Marchino cherries
Mix all fruit with some of the flour and then add the rest. bake at 250-300 3-4 hours
We used to line metal pans (the narrow ones of different sizes) with brown paper, grease, line again with wax paper, and grease. filled almost full as doesn't raise much . You can also use two of those aluminum foil pans together greased, lined with wax paper, and greased again.
Maybe this is similiar to the one you remember? Maybe use applesauce instead of crushed pineapple?

Thank you for the recipe, sewingpup!

I found a recipe for pecan fruitcake that might help juliasb enjoy fruit cake again. https://www.themountainkitchen.com/pecan-fruitcake/

or is it pecans throughout like this recipe? https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/...ate-fruitcake/

The fruit cake sounds wonderful with the added, dried apples. I don't have a recipe for it though...sorry.

Thank you for sharing that recipe sewingpup. I'm going to pass this on to my dau. She and I both love fruit cakes, but she likes baking them more than I do...LOL. Maybe she'll make this and give me one of the cakes...I hope, I hope, I hope.