Mom's Fruitcake

This is the real-deal, pounds-of-fruit-and-nuts fruitcake that takes two pans to hold. Golden raisins, maraschino cherries, glaceed pineapple, citron, candied orange and lemon peel, a full quart of pecans, and flaked coconut all get folded into a rich butter batter spiked with bourbon (or rum, your call).

The clever measuring trick here is pure home-cook ingenuity: cream softened butter with a box of powdered sugar, then refill that same box with flour to the same level. No scale, no measuring cups for the flour. It’s imprecise in the best way, and it’s worked for generations.

Tossing half the flour over the chopped fruit and nuts before mixing them into the batter is a must. That flour coating prevents the heavy pieces from sinking to the bottom of the cake during the long, slow bake. Without it, you’d end up with a plain cake on top and a dense fruit layer on the bottom.

Kitchen Tips

• Bake at 250°F (120°C), not higher. This cake is dense and needs low, slow heat to bake through without burning the outside. Two hours is about right, but check with a skewer.
• Line the pans with foil and grease well. Fruitcake sticks ferociously to bare pans, and you’ll never get it out cleanly otherwise.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat after each. Dumping them all in at once breaks the emulsion and the batter curdles.
• Wrap the cooled cake tightly and brush with extra bourbon every few days for up to a month. It only gets better with age.

Variations

• Swap bourbon for dark rum for a more tropical, molasses-rich flavor.
• Add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a pinch of allspice to the batter for a spiced version.
• Replace coconut with an equal weight of chopped walnuts if coconut isn’t your thing.