This is my Mom's recipe, a family favourite for decades, revised 2019.
Makes one 5x14" Pullman pan plus two 5x9" loaf pans plus perhaps a little bowl left over.
Oven temp 275°F
Put the driest fruits in a bowl, such as:
12 oz dried apricots, cut small
12 oz dried prunes, cut up
8 oz currants
12 oz dried figs, cut small
Add a bit of apricot brandy to these to moisten and stir
sometimes while you chop nuts.
In another bowl, mix together:
2-3 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (I used two cups)
2 cups chopped almonds (I recommend part slivered and part
flaked)
2 cups pecans. Make 3-4 cuts crossways to preserve the "w" shapes
instead of random chopping.
Other fruits in another big bowl:
2 cups light raisins
2 cups dark raisins (in the old days we used muscats)
After the first fruits have softened, add them to this bowl of other fruits and stir in 2 cups flour.
Combine the following in another large bowl:
2 + 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 + 1/3 cups dark brown sugar
2 + 1/3 cups softened butter
Have these up to 75°F so that you can beat them until light
and fluffy.
Add in 7 eggs and continue beating, then stir in:
16 oz apricot jam
1/2 cup apricot brandy
1 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp orange extract or zest from an orange
Stir in the nut mixture
Gradually add the following sifted ingredients and stir in
well:
3 cups flour
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
Dump in the fruit mixture and beat only until fully incorporated.
Spoon the batter into paper-lined pans, leave about 3/4" head
space.
Bake in preheated oven at 275°F, around 3 hours until brown,
check with cake tester.
Best stored for a month before eating. When cakes have cooled, pour on more apricot brandy, wrap in good plastic wrap and seal in FoodSaver bags.
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