Willis Davidson’s Famous Fruitcake 2 Recipe

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toronto star

Servings: 5 cakes
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Ingredients

  • dried fruit mixture
  • 2 1/2 cups chopped pitted dates
  • 2 cups chopped candied citron peel
  • 2 cups seeded raisins muscat or lexia
  • 2 cups thompson or sultana raisins
  • 1 1/2 cups currants
  • 1 1/2 cups blanched whole almonds
  • 1 1/2 cups drainied ( reserve syrup) maraschino cherries chopped
  • 1/2 cup brandy or apple juice
  • Pineapple mixture
  • 1 can 19 oz crushed pinapple undrained
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup strawberry jam
  • 1/2 cup syrup from the cherries
  • flour mixture
  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp ground allspice
  • butter mixture
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups unsalted butter at room temp
  • 12 large eggs
  • for aging
  • cheesecloth
  • brandy or apple juice

Directions

  1. Day 1:
  2. In large bowl, mix together dates, citron peel, raisins, currants, almonds and cherries. Stir in 1/2 cup brandy or fruit juice. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature overnight. In saucepan, combine pineapple and 2 cups sugar; bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, 30-40 minutes or until mixture thickens. There should be about 2-1/2 cups of pineapple mixture. Remove from heat, stir in reserved cherry liquid and jam; cover and refrigerate overnight.
  3. Day 2:
  4. Generously grease and line 5 9” x 5” loaf pans or 3 standard wedding cake pans with waxed paper, parchment paper or aluminum foil; grease lining. In bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves and allspice; set aside. Add 1 cup of flour mixture to date mixture and toss to thoroughly coat fruits. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and 2 cups sugar; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, blending well after each addition. Alternately stir in small amounts of flour mixture and pineapple mixture into butter mixture and blend well. Stir in date mixture. Spoon batter into prepared pans. Place a large, shallow pan of water on bottom rack of oven; fill half full with hot water and preheat oven to 275°F. Place loaf pans on middle rack and bake 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until tester inserted in centre comes out clean – test often as ovens and baking pans vary. Remove cakes from oven; cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan, peel off paper and cool. Wrap individually in cheesecloth soaked in remaining 2-3 tbsp. brandy. Wrap in plastic wrap then aluminum foil. Store in cool place and moisten cheesecloth occasionally with additional brandy.
  5. Note: This fruitcake is the most requested of all holiday recipes published in The Toronto Star.
  6. Notes:
  7. Baking times will vary if using wedding cake pans; check often after 1 hour.
  8. Recipe makes 5 cakes, about 2-1/4 lbs. each
  9. Aging is optional for this cake – cuts perfectly the day after baking.
  10. Cake can be served with or without icing.

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Comments

  • Rosemary A White
    December 17, 2020
    This version of Willis Davidson's Fruitcake is the authentic one. The other recipe on this site also called Willis Davidson's Fruitcake is missing 2 cups of Lexia/muscat raisins.
    Those two cups of seeded raisins make a big difference to the outcome in terms of texture and flavour.
    I've used this recipe for 37 years with great success.

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