Mrs. Courtney's Christmas Fruitcake

Mrs. Courtney’s Christmas Fruitcake

Published on November 7, 2014 | In By
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This recipe dates back to 1968 when Dottie was a legal secretary for Jim Courtney at Jones Day (at that time called Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue).  At Christmas, Dottie would give to her co-workers 10 or 12 kinds of Christmas cookies that she would bake each year.  In return Jim Courtney brought some of his mother’s special fruitcake to Dottie at the office that he got while he was visiting his mother in Meadville, Pennsylvania.  Dottie liked it so much that she asked for the recipe, and Mrs. Courtney was happy to oblige, knowing that Dottie was a baker.

Many years later, when Dottie was working as Jones Day’s first paralegal and no longer working with him, Jim Courtney called Dottie out of the blue on a Saturday night while Connie and Pete Hockenberry were over.  He said, “Do you still have that fruitcake recipe, because my mother has forgotten how to make it?”  So Dottie read the ingredients to him over the phone.  At the the time, Jim Courtney was counsel for Hanna Mines. And Pete Hockenberry knew him because Pete worked for Hanna Mines, and everyone commented on the surprise of having Hanna Mine’s chief counsel call Dottie on Saturday night for a fruit cake recipe.

That’s the only fruit cake story we have, and this is the only fruit cake recipe.

What makes this recipe so good is that there is not a lot of cake between the fruit pieces. Everyone wants the fruit, not the cake.

Ingredients

  • 3 - 7-1/4 oz. packages of pitted dates, cut into small pieces
  • 1 pound candied pineapple, cut into small pieces
  • 1 pound whole candied cherries, cut into halves
  • 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 4 eggs, large
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 pounds pecan halves

Nutrition Info

Instructions

  1. Combine date, pineapple and cherry pieces in a giant bowl. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Mix this throughly using your fingers to separate the pieces so that they are all well-coated.
  2. In separate bowl, beat 4 eggs with mixer until frothy. Gradually add one cup sugar. Beat until blended. Add to fruit.
  3. Add pecan halves. Mix together with hands until nuts are well-coated with batter, being careful not to break nuts.
  4. Pack into two greased 9-inch round spring-form cake pans, pressing down with fingers. If necessary, rearrange fruit pieces to fill empty spaces. Bake at 275 degrees for 75 minutes.
  5. When cakes are done, they should look dry. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before removing from spring-form pans.
  6. Can also be baked in two loaf cake pans for 90 minutes.

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