Sook's famous \"christmas memory\" fruitcake

1 servings

Ingredients

QuantityIngredient
poundsBrazil nuts
poundsWhite and dark raisins, mixed
½poundsCandied cherries
½poundsCandied pineapple
1poundsCitron
½poundsBlanched almonds
½poundsPecan halves
½poundsBlack walnuts
½poundsDried figs
1tablespoonNutmeg
1tablespoonCloves
2tablespoonsGrated bitter chocolate
8ouncesGrape jelly
8ouncesGrape juice
8ouncesBourbon whisky
1tablespoonCinnamon
1tablespoonAllspice Batter
2cupsButter
2cupsSugar
12Eggs
4cupsFlour

Directions

Cut the fruits and nuts into small pieces, and coat them with some of the flour. Cream the butter and sugar together, adding one egg at a time, beating well. Add the rest of the flour. Add the floured fruits and nuts, spices, seasoning, and flavorings. Mix by hand.

Line a large cake tin with wax paper, grease, then flour. Pour the mixture into the pan and put it in a steamer over cold water. Close the steamer and bring the water to a rolling boil. Lower the heat and steam the cake for about four-and-one-half hours. Preheat oven to around 250 degrees, and bake for one hour.

From "Sook's Cookbook" ISBN 0-929264-56-8 and made famous in Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory"

Sook, a teetotaler herself, got the bourbon whisky from an Indian bootlegger who operated a "place of sin". During Prohibition she had to settle for moonshine corn whisky made by a full-blooded Apache (who, some said, also ran a whorehouse). The account of this small, frail woman doing this in order to turn out a fruitcake is, by today's convention, remarkable (right, Scarlett?). Converted by MMCONV vers. 1½ Submitted By NANCY COLEMAN On 10-21-94