Here is one of the most alluring ideas and recipes for Christmas fruitcakes. A Dark Christmas Fruitcake recipe yields a holiday dessert that melts in mouth almost instantly.

Dark Christmas Fruit Cake

• 1 lb - Blanched Almonds
• 3 lb - Seedless Raisins
• 2 lb - Currants
• 1 lb - Candied cherries (cut in half)
• 1 lb - Dried Figs (chopped)
• 1 lb - Dates (cut-up)
• 1 ½ lb - Chopped and mixed Candied Peels
• 1 lb - Candied Pineapple (cut-up)
• 1 cup - All-purpose Flour
• 3 cup - Soft Butter
• 3 cup - Brown Sugar (packed)
• 12 - Egg Yokes (separated)
• 12 - Egg Whites (separated)
• 5 ½ cup - All-purpose Flour (sifted)
• 1 tsp - Salt
• 2 tsp - Cinnamon
• 2 tsp - Mace
• 2 tsp - Allspice
• 2 tsp - Nutmeg
• 1 tsp - Cloves
• 3 tsp - Baking Soda
• ¾ cup - Prune Juice
• ¼ cup - Brandy

• Mix nuts and fruit in a very large bowl or roasting pan.
• Add 1 cup of flour and toss by hand to coat fruit with flour.
• Cream butter well.
• Add sugar and beat until fluffy.
• Beat in egg yolks and transfer mixture to a large bowl.
• Sift 5 ½ cups flour with salt, spices and soda and add to creamed mixture alternately with prune juice and brandy.
• Mix with a wooden spoon.
• Add this mixture to the fruit and nuts and blend well.
• Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into mixture.
• Measure into prepared pans and press well into the corners.
• Heat oven to 275 oF.
• The recipe makes about 28 cups of fruit cake batter and can be baked in a number of different sizes of pan.
• Bake cakes in 8x4x3-inch pans for about 3 hours to make several small cakes for gifts, in 9x5x3-inch pans or Bundt pans for about 3 hours and 15 minutes and in 10-inch tube pans about 3 1/2 hours.
• Let stand in pans a few minutes then turn out on racks and cool.
• Strip off paper and wrap cakes in cheesecloth dampened with brandy and then in foil and store in a cool place.
• Makes about 15 lbs of fruit cake.