fruitcake love

I like fruitcake. I really do. Fruitcake gets a bad rap, mostly, I think,  because a lot of people don't make it correctly. Last Christmas my cousin gave me a binder filled with copies of old handwritten recipes that were our grandma's and her mother's (my aunt).  They were both wonderful cooks. I was so excited to find a fruitcake recipe in there and couldn't wait for the holidays to come so I could try it out. It did not disappoint and I was really pleased with how it turned out:

I made a few alterations to the recipe. The original called for 1 pound of butter (!) and I just couldn't bring myself to use that much. So, I cut the amount in half and substituted with applesauce. Here is the recipe:

2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cup applesauce

6 eggs (separated)

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup oil

4 cups flour

1 cup orange juice

1/2 lb. orange peel

1 cup candied cherries

1 lb. pecans

1 lb. white raisins

1/2 cup coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream sugar, butter, applesauce, egg yolks, orange juice, and vanilla. Then add fruit, nuts, and coconut. Next add flour, soda, and nutmeg. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in. Bake at 250 degrees for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

This is a huge cake. I used my angel food cake pan and still had batter enough to fill 12 muffin cups.