From Diana Rattray,
Your Guide to Southern Food.
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Fruitcakes get an awful lot of bad press, especially the mass produced varieties, but a rich homemade version can be incredibly delicious.

The South, with it's great love for baking cakes, has offered many fruitcakes through the years. In Mary Randolph's "The Virginia Housewife" (1824), there is a recipe for "A Rich Fruit Cake" with a pound cake batter and 9 pounds of assorted raisins, currants, almonds, and citron. "Mrs. Hill's New Cookbook" (1872) gives recipes for five, including a "Cheap Fruitcake," "Confederate Fruit Cake," and "Black Cake."

Generally, fruitcake is a mixture of fruits and nuts with just enough batter to hold them together. When wrapped in cloth and foil, saturated with alcoholic liquors regularly, and kept in in tightly closed tins, a fruitcake may be kept for months or even years.

Have It Your Way...
If there are certain fruits you don't like, you can always include more of another, or some of your own favorites. Dried fruits cooked in juice can take the place of candied fruits, and seeds can replace nuts. To convert a favorite "dark" fruitcake recipe to a "light" fruitcake, leave out the dark spices, use light colored fruits (golden raisins, dried apricots, etc.), and replace dark corn syrup or molasses with light corn syrup.

Fruitcake-Making Tips

To prevent overbrowning, line the bottom and sides of the pan with foil. If you leave extra foil overlapping the sides, it will be easier to remove the cake.

When baking, set the fruitcake pan in a baking pan (13x9-inch) half-filled with water to prevent burning around the edges.

Let fruitcake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

For long-term storage, bury the linen and foil wrapped fruitcake in a tin filled with powdered sugar.

Fruitcake Recipes and Related Cakes and Cookies

Spiced Dark Fruitcake
White Fruitcake
Easy Fruitcake
Fruit Cake Cookies
Christmas Lizzies
Ambrosia Cookies
Fruit Jewel Cookies
Chocolate Fruitcakes
Southern-Style Christmas Fruitcake
Holiday Steamed Fruitcake
Wedding Fruit Cake
Icebox Fruitcake
Icebox Fruitcake II
Icebox Fruitcake III
Marmalade Cookies
Whole-Wheat Christmas Fruitcake
No-Bake Fruitcake Balls
Tomato Soup Cake
Kentucky Bourbon Cake

Related Recipes
Cake Recipes
Cake Mix Dessert Recipes
Christmas Recipes
Cookie Recipes
Pie Recipes
Dessert Recipes Index