Banana Fruit Cake

Directions

Prepare two 2 Litre (9” x 5") loaf pans. Preheat oven to 300 F. In a large bowl combine the fruit, dates, pineapple and walnuts. Dredge them with ¼ cup of the flour. Sift the remaining flour together with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the orange rind, orange juice and orange extract. Mash the bananas with a fork. (A food processor will tend to liquefy the bananas and this will change the texture of the cake.) Alternately stir the bananas and the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. Stir in the floured fruit and nuts.

Turn into the prepared pans and bake for 2 hours and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then turn out onto racks.

Yields about 5 pounds of cake.