Missy’s White Fruitcake

For thousands of southern cooks, making fruitcakes between Thanksgiving and Christmas is an age-old ritual that’s as alive today in home kitchens as it was two hundred years ago. Some make dark fruitcakes (with all sorts of dark fruits, spices, and macerated citrus peels), others only white ones (with only crystallized fruits). If you’re still under the illusion that all fruitcakes are by nature heavy, this simply means that you’ve sadly never tasted a light, moist, boozy Southern masterpiece like this white one.

Makes 1 large 5- to 6-pound cake and two 2 1 ⁄2-pound cakes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound (4 sticks) butter, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 14 large eggs
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1⁄2 cups light rum or bourbon, plus more for soaking
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons pure almond extract
• 2 teaspoons pure lemon extract
• 2 1⁄2 pounds crystallized pineapple, coarsely chopped
• 2 1⁄2 pounds crystallized cherries, coarsely chopped, with about 8 whole cherries
• 2 1⁄4 pounds pecans, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 250°F and place a small pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven to provide moisture. Grease one 10 by 4–inch tube pan and two 8 by 41 ⁄2 by 21 ⁄2–inch loaf pans and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer till light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating constantly. Sift together 3 cups of the flour and the baking powder into the mixture and blend thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Add 1 cup of the rum or bourbon and the 3 extracts and blend thoroughly. Mix the chopped fruit and pecans with the remaining 2 cups of flour in another large mixing bowl and fold them into the creamed mixture.
3. Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pans, arrange the reserved cherries in a decorative manner over the tops, and bake till a cake tester or knife blade inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 3 hours. Pour the remaining 1⁄2 cup rum or bourbon over the tops of the cakes and let them cool completely in the pans. Wrap each cake securely in cheesecloth soaked in rum or bourbon and store them in airtight containers at least 3 weeks before cutting.