While fruitcake is often the dreaded Christmas gift and the butt of bad jokes, I think this recipe might change the perspective of fruitcake haters! This fruitcake is not baked so you don’t have to worry about burning anything. It looks difficult, but is really easy to make. Ingredients are typically easy to find with all the holiday baking goodies at the local grocery.
Holiday time often triggers childhood memories. This year it was the memory of making fruitcake with mom at the kitchen table in this huge pan. It was a treat because it requires a lot of ingredients that are seasonal, such as candied fruit and combined with nuts, dates, raisins, etc. it becomes quite expensive to make. Growing up, we had this for many years and the first year we didn’t have it, I remember mom saying that the ingredients cost too much.
Fruitcake. You either love it or you hate it.
This week I set out on a mission to find my mother’s fruitcake recipe and recreate some memories. This fruitcake doesn’t contain any spirits nor is it baked, but rather made with a prebaked spice cake that gets crumbled up and mixed with all sort of goodies and packed into a 9×13 pan. I was able to get all the ingredients at my local Walmart with the exception of candied red cherries. I called and visited multiple stores in a two county area and no one had them! Well, I was not about to have my plans derailed! I bought some maraschino cherries and made the candied red cherries myself!
I learned that the recipe mom used is a Betty Crocker Recipe that originated in 1957 and was called Mystery Fruitcake. I took a few liberties with the recipe, making some modifications to the quantity of some of the ingredients to avoid waste. I also added a container of candied pineapple as well.
Give this recipe a try and create some new memories and start a new tradition!
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