• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Kitchen Essentials
  • Client Projects
  • About
  • Contact
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Vimeo
Rosemary Mark

Rosemary Mark

Recipes tried and true by RecipeRose

  • Appetizers & Snacks
  • Beverages
  • Breads
  • Sweets
  • Entrees
    • Breakfast
  • Soups, Salads, Sides
  • Vegetarian
  • Brands
  • Cranberry Sauce Upside-Down Cake

    What do you do with leftover cranberry sauce after the turkey is gone? Cranberry sauce…

  • Breakfast Date Cake for Mom

    – Follow my blog with Bloglovin Sweeten your Mother's Day breakfast or brunch with this simple coffeecake…

  • Golden Fruit Salsa-Chutney

    Fruit salsa, chutney – or can it be a sundae topping?  Take your pick! It’s…

  • Fruit Salsa
    Jalapeno Fruit Salsa -- for dessert!

    Finely diced jalapeno adds a touch of heat to fruit salsa and ice cream. A…

  • Cranberry Sauce Upside-Down Cake

    What do you do with leftover cranberry sauce after the turkey is gone? Cranberry sauce…

 

Not a ‘Funny Fruit’ Cake

Sweets

Share
Pin
Tweet
Email
Print
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Fruitcake. Dark, moist, dense, boozy, studded with colorful ‘funny fruit’, inevitably the brunt of re-gifting jokes.  Not this fruitcake! It’s chock full of sunshine raisins, bright maraschino cherries and crunchy walnuts. Nothing funny!

Good Housekeeping recipe 1960

This is the fruitcake I grew up knowing, and never understood the distasteful reputation of fruitcakes.  I have a yellowed copy of the recipe my mother clipped probably in the early ‘60’s from Good Housekeeping magazine. She adapted the recipe to a loaf pan from the original Bundt pan, to simplify gift-giving, for which there is always a raucous rally of bartering to keep the cake not pass it off at our family gift exchanges! She also swapped some of the natural raisins for goldens to offset a little sweetness and add color.  Thanks Mom – we think of you with every fruitcake.  🙂

Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Raisin Cherry Fruitcake

Not a Funny-Fruit Cake! The sweetness in this cake is from natural and golden raisins, and maraschino cherries. Lots of walnuts round it off for a cake I think is irresistible even if you think you don't like fruitcake!
Prep Time40 mins
Cook Time1 hr 15 mins
Servings: 24 thin slices

Ingredients

  • 1 jar 16 ounces stemmed maraschino cherries, drained (generous 1 cup)
  • 1 1/2 cups (225g) natural raisins appx 150g/cup
  • 1 1/2 cups (225g) golden raisins appx 150g/cup
  • 1 cup (100g) coarsely chopped walnuts
  • 2 1/2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour, divided use If cup measuring, fluff the flour then spoon into cup and level with a knife. I use 120g/cup
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) (113g) salted butter, softened
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 large eggs

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 300ºF.  Coat two 9×5-inch loaf pans with cooking spray.
  • Cut each cherry in half. Pat cherries completely dry on paper towels. Place cherries, raisins and walnuts in a large bowl. Toss lightly with 1/4 cup of the flour. Set aside.
  • Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy in another large bowl.  Beat in eggs one at a time.
  • Gradually beat in remaining flour, mixing until smooth.  Gently combine batter with fruit and nuts.  Mixture will be very stiff.
  • Divide between prepared pans. Pans will be about 1/2 full.
  • Bake about 1 hour 15 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Edges will be well browned with lighter color top. Cool in pans 15 minutes. Turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.
  • Slice in 1/4-inch slices to serve. Cake slices easier when chilled. 
  • To store: Wrap un-sliced loaf tightly in foil and plastic wrap or bag and refrigerate. Best served within 3 months. Slice thin and serve cold or room temperature.

Notes

Food Trivia
  What is a maraschino cherry?  A maraschino cherry is a varietal that originated in Croatia.  For centuries the fruit was brined then preserved in the maraschino liquor that was distilled from the cherries and pits. Today, Queen Anne or Ranier are used to make the bright red jarred cherries that are first brined in a salt solution to leach the color, then soaked in a colored sugar syrup – FDA approved red, green or other colors  – and usually flavored with a little almond.

 

Share
Pin
Tweet
Email
Print

12 Comments

Previous Post: « Peppermint Ice Cream Stars
Next Post: Butternut Squash Soup — Deliciously Simple »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. Dianne Jacob says

    December 19, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    Love the photo of the yellowed clip. I have some old recipes like that.

    How come there is no booze in yours, and how does that affect the taste?

    Reply
    • Rosie's Kitchen says

      December 19, 2010 at 8:40 pm

      Dianne –
      My mom didn’t care for liquor so that may be why she was attracted to this recipe. I think the cherries lend a touch of boozy flavor and the alcohol isn’t missed.
      I enjoy your stories of ‘yellowed’ recipes clippings too!

      Reply
  2. Dorothy A says

    December 19, 2010 at 6:02 pm

    Dear Rosie, So happy to get your Mom’s recipe for fruit cake.. I’m going to make a half recipe.
    It tugged at my heart to read about it. Love amd Merry Christmas. D.

    Reply
    • Rosie's Kitchen says

      December 19, 2010 at 8:30 pm

      Dorothy – you probably remember Mom making her fruitcake in the early years! I know you’ll enjoy it with sweet memories.

      Reply
  3. Reeta says

    December 20, 2010 at 11:10 am

    I too, have always enjoyed fruitcake. Just a few bites are so satisfying and fruitcake lasts for months. Have you ever tried this in 4 or 6 mini loaf pans? That way I can keep one for myself and share the others. You can’t re-gift a tiny fruit cake!
    Years ago, I did a holiday public relations campaign for Dromedary dates. I interviewed and received fruit cake recipes from Carolyn Wente (Wente Brothers Winery), Flo Braker (professional baker, cookbook author), John Phillip Carroll (cookbook author), and Victoria Sebastiani (Viansa Winery). Next holiday season, I’ll share their recipes with our blog visitors.

    Reply
    • Rosie's Kitchen says

      December 20, 2010 at 1:33 pm

      I often make the mini loaf pans. Just reduce the baking time to about 45 minutes. Do I have to wait until next year for your ‘celebrity’ fruitcake recipes?

      Reply
  4. Melanie says

    December 21, 2010 at 8:42 am

    Rosie’s or Ruth’s fruitcake is very good and everyone always leaves wanting more!

    Reply
    • Rosie's Kitchen says

      December 21, 2010 at 10:22 am

      And you speak from experience. Thanks Melanie!

      Reply
  5. Judy Mullen says

    November 26, 2011 at 7:54 am

    thanks for sharing this recipe for the fruitcake. I have my mother’s copy of that pink clipping and we bake it every year. No other fruitcake compares.

    Reply
    • Rosie's Kitchen says

      November 26, 2011 at 1:13 pm

      Judy – I’m so delighted to hear that you are familiar with this fruitcake recipe! I think it’s a unique one, and as I mentioned, many people think they don’t like fruitcake until they try ‘our’s! Thanks for letting me know.

      Reply
  6. Sharon murrell says

    February 14, 2015 at 1:17 am

    I tried this recipe found under Sunmaid raisin recipes and it came out hard and dry . I even took it out of the oven 15 minutes early. What did I do wrong? The batter was very thick and had to be spread into the pans. The recipe I remembered making in the eighties was moist and dark. Please help.

    Reply
    • Rosie's Kitchen says

      February 15, 2015 at 3:26 pm

      Sharon – thank you for writing. The batter is very thick though slightly wet, and has to be spread in the pans. Did you use metal or glass pans? Two appx. 9×5-inch pans? The oven temperature is only 300F which allows for the long bake time. Sometimes I’ve baked only about 65 minutes. I’m wondering if perhaps you set the oven to 350F which is more common for baked goods. The only other thing I can think of is if the flour was scooped into the cups causing over-measuring, rather than spooning into the cups and leveling. This cake does not bake up dark, so perhaps you’re remembering a different recipe? This cake is dense with fruit and nuts, and the cake is firm and dense but I wouldn’t consider it unpleasantly hard and dry. Please let me know answers to the above, and I really hope we can solve this so you can find a recipe you enjoy!

      Reply

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to my kitchen! With an eye for uncomplicated and delicious food, I create
real-life recipes for some of America’s most beloved name brands. Read more.

Join RecipeRose to receive my newest recipes in your inbox.

I don’t cook spam – or send it!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Popular Recipes

  • Advent Lebkuchen
  • Easiest Ever No-Knead Artisan Bread
  • Chia Muffins with Ginger & Lemon
  • The Best Buttermilk Cake with Natural Pink Frosting
  • Raisin Cherry Fruitcake. Not a ‘Funny-Fruit’ Cake

Browse RecipeRose

  • Appetizers & Snacks
  • Beverages
  • Breads
  • Sweets
  • Entrees
    • Breakfast
  • Soups, Salads, Sides
  • Vegetarian
  • Brands

Footer

Receive my newest recipes in your inbox.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Search RecipeRose

RecipeRose on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Rosemary Mark · All Rights Reserved