Fruit Cake is cringy for some.. for me this tastes of home and Christmas. My mom makes this every year, in her words:

“My mother’s sister, Aunt Ted, always sent me a fruitcake for Christmas after I married. Some years later I realized that this recipe could be lost and asked her to send it to me. She typed it out and sent it. I made it a few times and realized all the work put into it. I tend to make it a few years apart when I have forgotten how much work there is.”

I love that her name is Ted!

{ A little diversion into family history here for my own kiddos to read one day. }

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I’ll endeavour to make this sound easy.. truly the length of time for baking is a bit of a drawback, but it was a perfect time to start wrapping Christmas presents!

It’s almost 5:00 pm here in Canada.. so please forgive the darker photos!

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Tried and true, this fruit cake lacks the dark, heavy crumb with nutty loaf that some adore. But I find it more to my liking because of that. Fruit Cake haters.. you may want to try this one! It’s moist, soft crumb goes well with a cup of Earl Grey Tea.

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A few baking notes:

Use fresh Sultana raisins to skip the soaking part.

Two narrower loaf pans make a lovely, tidy slice when serving. The pans can be found here.

Here is an easy way to line the loaf pans!

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In the Spirit of Christmas.. here are a few recipes from

Christmas Past

There are too many to mention here, so please have a look at my Desserts Page

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Scroll down to Bars and Slices (Cranberry Bliss Bar,  Nanimo Squares and more),

Cakes (Red Velvet Cake, Naked Sugared Cranberry Cake, Mini Gingerbread Bundt Cakes)

 or “Curds, Custards, Puree and Sauces” for one of my most popular and searched at Christmas time, the Swedish treat Risgrynsgröt~Julegrot~Swedish Rice Pudding, I don’t know if it’s entirely traditional, but it is entirely delicious..

and so many Cookie recipes that may be new and familiar treats for your guests this season.

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I’d be remiss in not mention my attempt at baking Scandinavian  Lussekatter St Lucia Buns

the prettiest Swedish Tea Ring, often baked Christmas Eve or morning

In Quick Breads and Loafs there is a luscious Christmas Gingerbread Loaf, inspired by Starbucks. Do they make these anymore??

and the Pots de Créme ‘n Brandied Black Cherry Compote with Whipped Dulce de Leche  

and finally..  Ischoklad ~ Ice Chocolates, a Swedish Chocolate Candy!

Without further ado…

Aunt Ted's Light Christmas Fruit Cake

 

Print

Author: Barbara Barry

Ingredients

• 375 ml Sultana raisins (just over 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 lb mixed peel (two 225 g glace fruit mix with peel, multi colored)
• 1 16 oz jar (or two 250 ml jars) maraschino cherries, well drained, use whole cherries, do not chop
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 1 1/2 cups fine (berry) sugar
• 6 eggs, beat in one at a time
• 1/2 cup carnation milk
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 250F
2. Line bottom and all sides of two longer, narrow loaf pans (13' x 4" x 4") with brown paper (I used thin brown parchment paper). Grease bottom and all sides of the paper well.
3. (Raisins Note: I skipped this step as my raisins were newly bought and plump) If needed, pour boiling water over Sultana raisins, let stand for a few minutes then drain well. Spread on a cookie sheet and dry out in a slow oven (100F) or dry between two tea towels.
4. When the raisins are thoroughly dried, mix all fruit together in a large glass bowl and sift 1/2 cup all purpose flour over, mixing well to coat. Set aside.
5. Mix the batter in an electric mix master in the order given, from the butter through to the vanilla extract, mixing well between additions. Ensure the eggs are added one at a time.
6. Then measure 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to a sifter. Sift into the wet ingredients.
7. Mix at a low speed to blend all of the batter ingredients together.
8. Spoon the batter into the bowl of dried fruit and gently mix together by hand with a large wooden spoon. I used just repeatedly pressed the spoon down gently into the batter to gently mix so as to not break up the large maraschino cherries.
9. Scoop mixture into the two prepared pans 3/4" from the top. Set in the oven.
10. Set a loaf pan filled with water in between the two loaf pans. This will keep the cakes moist.
11. Bake for 2 hours at 250F.
12. Increase the heat to 275F and bake for 45 minutes more. Any different sized pans (angel food, large round cake pan) may require a total of 1 1/4 hours of baking at this higher temperature. Just test after 45 minutes by inserting a toothpick to see if it comes out clean. The top will be lightly browned when done. If not, pop back in for the additional 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the cakes and test them often.
13. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a while. Lift the loaves out using the parchment paper sides. You'll see that the parchment paper soaked up a lot of the "grease" from the loaves, this is why it is necessary to line the pans.
14. If you wish to freeze some pieces of the loaves, do not slice, just wrap a section of the loaf in foil. Foil keeps the moisture in the loaf. Then put the sections in a large ziploc bag and freeze.

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In case I don’t make it back here before the New Year.. I wish you Merry Christmas or a Happy Holiday Season to you and all of your loved ones.

Love,

Smidge