aurelia’s fruitcake

There’s magic in making a recipe that you haven’t tasted in more than 40 years, from a beloved baker who hasn’t been around to guide you through a recipe for a quarter century. It’s like finding seeds in an archeological dig and testing to see if they’ll grow.

That’s how it was making my Mom’s fruitcake this year during the COVID-19 holiday lockdown. Mom passed away in 1995, and this was the first time I’d tried making it myself. The recipe came by way of my sisters, with measurements like “a package of” that I had to guess at just how big a package Mom had used. I adjusted the recipe below with the way I measured the ingredients.

Growing up, I never knew that people didn’t like fruitcake, because I loved my mom’s. Aurelia Kempster made this moist, spicy cake with juicy fruit and nuts throughout. It always made the house smell of great holiday spices, and was a favorite dessert for me and my siblings.

Of course Bob, my home chef husband, is looking at the finished product and thinking, “that would be great with a drizzled white icing, or a maple ice cream…or foie gras!” I tend to agree with him about all the above, especially the foie gras. And I was kind of wondering about a rum ice cream instead of maple.

But this morning, when I cut a slice to have with a double espresso, I realized something I wouldn’t have even thought about as a kid. This isn’t a dessert, as much as a coffee cake. After a savory meal, it’s flavors are muted and it seems less moist. As a dessert, it does need something like an ice cream to sweeten it and wake it up, or a rum bath! But as a coffee cake this morning, all of the spices came through richly and it was perfectly moist. Just perfect.

Here’s the recipe:

Aurelia’s Homemade Fruitcake
Makes two regular loaf pans, three 1 pound loaf pans, or one bundt pan.

Combine and boil together for 3 minutes:
1 cup brown sugar
1½ cup raisins
1 8 oz. pkg chopped dates
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 cup water
⅓ cup shortening
⅓ tsp cloves
pinch salt

​Let cool.

When cool stir in:
1 tsp baking soda that has been dissolved in ½ cup water

then add:
2 cups flour sifted with ½ tsp baking powder.

Add
1 8 oz. container currants
(my sister Em substitutes ⅓ of a container of the Old English Mix)
6 oz pecans or walnuts
1 tsp vanilla

This forms a somewhat stiff mixture.

Line loaf pans with wax paper that has been lightly greased. Or, for the bunt pan, skip the wax paper and simply lightly grease the pan.

Bake at 325/350° for 45/60 minutes.

Merry Christmas, everyone!