“My grandmother, Jane Marie Lengel, was a wonderful cook who grew up on the Eastern Plains of Colorado and lived out her years at her and my grandfather’s retirement farm south of Greeley,” says Audrey Lengel.
“I found this fruitcake recipe in one of her vintage cookbooks, and immediately thought of her, since honey is used to sweeten the cake and bees were hived on the farm in Greeley. Grandma was one of the lucky recipients of my fruitcake up until her death a few years ago.”
Equipment: You’ll need four 1-pound metal coffee cans, three 8-by-4-by-3-inch loaf pans, or your preferred pans.
Ingredients
1/2 cup dried prunes, chopped
1 2/3 cups dried apricots, chopped
1 1/2 cups dried figs, chopped
1 1/2 cups dates, chopped
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups currants
1/2 cup diced candied orange peel
1/2 cup diced candied lemon peel
2 cups honey
1 1/2 to 2 cups whiskey, brandy, rum, or liquor of choice
1/4 cup sliced candied pineapple
1/4 cup shaved preserved citron
1/2 cup sliced candied cherries
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup almonds
1 cup butter, softened
3 eggs, beaten
3 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Directions
One week before you intend to bake the cakes, combine all of the ingredients in Part One in a glass or ceramic bowl, stirring to coat. Cover and let stand at room temperature. Stir daily.
On baking day, add pineapple, citron, cherries, pecans, walnuts and almonds to the fruit and liquor mixture. Set aside. Cream butter and eggs. Add the fruit/nut mixture, beating well.
Sift dry ingredients together. Add them to the wet ingredients in four parts, incorporating each addition well. Note: This gets pretty tough and you’ll need a large bowl!
Fruitcakes need to bake in a moist oven. To create this condition, place a pan containing 1 inch of water on lower oven rack. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Grease pans, then line with a double thickness of waxed paper. Fill each pan with the batter to about 1 inch from the top. Press additional almonds onto the surface, if desired.
Bake the cakes on the middle oven rack, about 2 hours for the 4 coffee cans and about 2 1/2 hours for the loaf pans.
Cool until you can handle the pans. Remove the cakes from the pans, then cool completely on a rack. Wrap well in cheesecloth soaked in brandy or the liquor you used, then wrap in foil or place in a Ziploc bag. Store in a cool place. If desired, soak with additional liquor before serving.
