Old-Fashioned Dark Fruit Cake

Old-Fashioned Dark Fruit Cake

3 cups seedless raisins
3 cups seeded dates
2 cups shelled walnuts
1 pound candied fruit mix
1/4 cup honey or molasses
1/4 cup sweet wine or fruit juice
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Rinse raisins in boiling water; drain thoroughly.  Quarter dates and chopped buts.  Combine with candied fruit mix, molasses or honey, and wine or fruit juice.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time.  Add creamed mixture to fruit and nuts.  Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, cloves and mace; mix into fruit mixture.

Grease a 10-inch tube pan or pan of equivalent size, or two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans; line with aluminum foil.  Grease foil.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake in 275-degree oven about 2 1/2 hours with a shallow pan of water on lower rack of oven.  Cool and store to ripen.  Decorate before serving. 

Yields about 5 pounds of fruit cake.