2 1/2 lb Brazil nuts 2 T Grated bitter chocolate
2 1/2 lb White and dark raisins, 8 oz Grape jelly
-mixed 8 oz Grape juice
1/2 lb Candied cherries 8 oz Bourbon whisky
1/2 lb Candied pineapple 1 T Cinnamon
1 lb Citron 1 T Allspice
1/2 lb Blanched almonds -Batter
1/2 lb Pecan halves 2 c Butter
1/2 lb Black walnuts 2 c Sugar
1/2 lb Dried figs 12 Eggs
1 T Nutmeg 4 c Flour
1 T Cloves
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?).
Yields
1 servings