Ancestry Magazine

When I was a little girl I loved to help my mother cook, especially at Christmas. One of our family favorites is fruitcake—yes, my family really does like fruitcake. This recipe is from my grandmother, Myrtle Waits Jesse (1884–1963).

Grandma was a fantastic cook, and every year at Christmas, she made this cake as a special treat for the family. Mother said that during the 1930s when times were hard, it was difficult to get all the fruit necessary to make the Christmas fruitcake, so Grandma substituted her own home-canned fruits and jams for the expensive fruit called for in the recipe. The recipe and techniques have been handed down from mother to daughter for the past four generations. Today—even four decades after my grandmother’s death—Grandma’s fruitcake is still one of our favorite holiday traditions.

Grandma’s Fruitcake
5 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/3 c. light brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 ½ c. light molasses
1 c. melted butter
1 ½ c. thick applesauce
1 c. orange marmalade
1 c. strawberry preserves
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. chopped dates
2 c. chopped nuts (I use a mixture of walnuts and pecans)
2 c. raisins
2 c. candied fruit—mostly cherries and pineapple and just a little mixed fruit

Sift dry ingredients together. In a large bowl, combine eggs, molasses, sugar, butter, marmalade, preserves, applesauce, and vanilla. In a third bowl, mix the fruit and nuts with 1 cup of the sifted dry mix. Blend the remaining flour mixture into the molasses mixture. Stir in the floured fruit and nuts.

Pour into a greased, waxed-paper-lined, 10-inch tube pan and one small loaf pan, or into four 8 ½-inch greased loaf pans. Put a small pan of warm water in the oven with the cake to keep it moist while baking. Bake at 250 degrees for 2 to 2 ½ hours. Cool completely in the pan before removing.

Wrap in a cheesecloth soaked in peach brandy* and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least a month. Add a little more brandy, if needed, after two weeks. Cut slices thin to serve.

*Grandma used grape juice or homemade elderberry wine. Mother used Mogan David grape wine, and my daughter and I use peach brandy to soak the cheesecloth for wrapping the cake. Incidentally, this was the only time alcohol was ever allowed in our home when I was growing up.