Grandma's Prized Blue Ribbon Fruit Cake

Grandma Little was a wedding cake maker and did so until the age of 76. I have been entrusted with her handwritten recipe collection. In it I have found her personal fruitcake recipe (dated 1940) and believed to be her mother's recipe. This cake has won countless awards and was used for every wedding cake made (over 400). I share this with you and in so doing remember Grandma Little, a woderful woman who loved baking as much as I do. She is dearly missed, with this recipe, her memory lives on in my home.

• Ready In: 4 hrs 20 mins
• Yields: 2 cakes

Ingredients

• 12  ounces  mixed peel
• 16  ounces  glace cherries
• 8  ounces walnuts, chopped
• 8  ounces  almonds, chopped
• 16  ounces pitted dates
• 8  ounces crushed pineapple, well drained
• 16  ounces raisins
• 16  ounces butter
• 6  ounces sugar
• 1  cup honey
• 10  eggs
• 3 1⁄2 cups plain flour
• 2  teaspoons salt
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 2  teaspoons allspice
• 1  teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⁄2 cup  orange juice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1⁄2 cup rum

Directions

1. Chop all the dried fruit and nuts. Place in a bowl and set aside.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and honey.
3. Mix the rum, orange juice and eggsin a bowl.
4. Add the wet ingredients alternatley with the sifted dried ingredients. Stiring well after each addition.
5. Add the fruit and nuts. Stir well to combine.
6. Pour into two 9 inch round cake tins or one large 30xm square tin, greased and well lined up to the rim(s).
7. Bake at 130oC for 4 hours, turning once.
8. Cool in tin.