Sook's famous \"christmas memory\" fruitcake

1 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2½ pounds Brazil nuts
2½ pounds White and dark raisins, mixed
½ pounds Candied cherries
½ pounds Candied pineapple
1 pounds Citron
½ pounds Blanched almonds
½ pounds Pecan halves
½ pounds Black walnuts
½ pounds Dried figs
1 tablespoon Nutmeg
1 tablespoon Cloves
2 tablespoons Grated bitter chocolate
8 ounces Grape jelly
8 ounces Grape juice
8 ounces Bourbon whisky
1 tablespoon Cinnamon
1 tablespoon Allspice Batter
2 cups Butter
2 cups Sugar
12 Eggs
4 cups Flour

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

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