With the holidays approaching, I thought I’d share some of my family’s Christmas recipes. The first is from my mother. My hand-written recipe book shows I made it as a newly-wed in Italy in December 1979 and have made it most years since then. It’s a boozy but delicious cake. The applesauce keeps it from being as heavy as most fruitcakes and helps keep the loaf moist and appealing.
Mom’s Applesauce Fruitcake
Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups hot applesauce
4-1/2 cups sifted flour (sifted three times with other dry ingredients)
4 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
2-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1 pound raisins
1 fund dates, chopped
4 cups nuts, chopped (being Texans, we use pecans)
1 pound candied fruit
Brown paper
Cheesecloth
Directions:
Mix the butter, sugar, and HOT applesauce in a large bowl and let set out overnight. (Not to be a snob, but I make my own applesauce by chopping six large apples in 1/2 inch chunks, peels and all, and placing in a pan. I add 1/4 cup of the cake’s sugar to make the juices flow. When the apples are tender, I dump into the butter and sugar mixture and mix well).
Preheat oven to 250°F.
Line three 8×5 inch loaf pans with two layers of brown paper.
Sift flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves together 3 times.
Add to applesauce mixture, blending well.
Spoon into loaf pans.
Bake at least three hours until cake tester inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes, then invert loaves onto a cooling rack.
Heat 1/2 to 1 cup of cognac and spoon over loaves.
When loaves have cooled completely, wrap each in cheesecloth and sprinkle the fabric with cognac.
Wrap loaves in foil or store in tins at least one month, adding cognac once a week.
