Rick’s Organic Fruit Cake

Cake:
1 pound Golden Raisins
1 cup figs, finely chopped
1 cup dates, finely chopped
½ cup dried apricots, finely chopped
½ cup dried pears or peaches, finely chopped
½ cup dried cherries, finely chopped
½ cup dried currants or other berries, finely chopped
1¼ cups Jack Daniels Whiskey
½ cup organic flour
2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
1½ cups light butter with canola oil
2½ cups brown sugar
6 cage free eggs
½ cup molasses
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Fruit Glaze:
½ cup sugar
½ cup unsweetened pineapple juice
2 Tablespoons dark rum
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Combine all fruits with 1 cup of whiskey and soak overnight, covered.

Add ½ cup flour and walnuts to the mixture. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, eggs, and molasses. In another bowl sift together 4 cups flour, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and cloves.

Add the creamed mixture to the soaked fruits. Then add back to that mixture, the remaining ¼ cup of Jack Daniels.

Add the sifted dry ingredients slowly and mix well.

Preheat oven to 275°F. Spray three 9”x5”x3” loaf pans with cooking spray. Divide batter into each. Bake for one hour. Reduce heat to 250°F and continue baking for an additional one hour. Place an uncovered pan of water on bottom oven shelf while baking to help keep the loaves from drying out.

Remove from oven and apply fruit glaze while cakes are still warm.

Combine all ingredients for the glaze in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and remove, making sure sugar is dissolved. Decorate cakes with fruit glaze while still hot along with dried apricots, cherries and walnut halves.

Wrap in aluminum foil and refrigerate for two weeks to age.
Yields: 3 3-pound loaves

Recipe provided by Rick Souders (In Memory of Lloyd Souders)