1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup strong coffee or grape juice
1/2 cup tart jelly (used apple)
1/2 cup molasses
1 lb raisins
1/2 lb dates
1/2 lb candied red cherries
1 lb mixed candied fruits
1/2 lb walnuts
1 lemon, juice plus grated rind
1 orange, juice plus grated rind
Cream butter and brown sugar; beat in eggs. Stir the dry ingredients together. Stir coffee, jelly and molasses together. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar alternately with the liquid mixture. Blend in fruit and nuts.
Line an angel food pan or 2 loaf pans (9″ x 5″ x 3″) with parchment paper and grease well. Fill prepared pans almost full.
Bake at 300 ° for 2.5 – 3 hours; 30 minutes less for loaf-sized cakes. Cover with brown paper after the first hour. Bake until a wooden pick thrust in the middle comes out clean. Cool.
Wrap cakes in brandy dampened cloth. Store airtight in a cool place for several months.
Note: this is a dark, moist fruit cake that my mother made every October to eat at Christmas.
2025: Included 1/2 tsp mace that was in original and didn’t care for it. Edited out of recipe above. Walnut pieces were only roughly chopped, and I thought they were too large.