Jessica's Real Fruit Fruitcake

Fruitcake jokes are standard Christmas fare. It's really too bad that most people's experience of fruitcake doesn't go beyond the stale supermarket variety studded with strangely-colored, globs that look like something from Mars and don't taste much better.

Real fruitcake is a different animal. This recipe shuns blue orange peel and neon-green cherries for natural dried fruits and tasty nuts. Stuff you would nibble gladly any day of the week. The combination makes a dark, moist cake- a flurry of deep, rich colors and flavors that is truly delectable.

This recipe uses much less sugar than the usual fruitcake recipe. You don't need much added sugar with so much dried fruit in every bite.

Beware: This fruitcake can be habit-forming. Make it once and you may find you have to make it every year. I usually wind up doing a second baking- no matter how many times I double the recipe, we seem to need more...both to give as gifts and to enjoy ourselves.

-Jessica Wagener

• 1/2 cup each- black raisins, golden raisins, dried cherries, dried apples, dried apricots, dried pineapple (cut into small pieces with scissors or knife before measuring)

• 2/3 cup each- macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios (use unsalted nuts only), all coarsely chopped

• 1/2 cup rum
• 1/2 cup Triple Sec liqueur
• 12 T butter, softened
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tsp. grated orange zest
• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. fresh, grated nutmeg (you don't need a special grater; just scrape it with a paring knife blade)

• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/4 tsp. mace

Mix the fruit, nuts and liquor together and let stand covered for at least 24 hours. Stir several times.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease 2 regular-size and 4 mini-loaf pans. Line them with foil or parchment paper and grease the lining.

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs, orange zest, and maple syrup and mix well.

Combine the dry ingredients and spices and stir into the batter.

Add Fruit and nut mixture, blend well, and put into loaf pans. You'll have to smooth the top of the batter once it's in the pans.

Bake at 325 F. - 1 hour 20 min. for a regular loaf, less for the mini-loaves. The top should be browned and springy and a toothpick should come out clean.

Cool the cakes in the pans, the remove. The tradition is to age the fruitcake for several weeks with rum, brandy, etc. but it's also delicious fresh from the oven. (Thanks to the heat of baking, the fresh cake contains very little alcohol.)

Of course, traditionalists claim that aging improves the cake (although it may also contribute to it's negative reputation). The handy thing about aging is that you can bake it weeks or months in advance, which can be convenient in the busy Holiday Season.

If you want to age it, here's how:

Wrap each cake in cheesecloth dipped in rum or brandy. Place the cakes in a tightly covered container- a metal box, etc. Every few days, dampen the cakes with more liquor and close the container tightly.