Fruitcake that's Not Scary!

No joke—this fruitcake is one you’ll actually want to eat! I've always been a little afraid of fruitcake myself. Rick, however, is a fan of fruitcake and says this is the best he’s ever tasted! There are no icky lime peels or lemon pieces in this fruitcake. No dates or raisins either. This recipe came from the moderator of a Yahoo! Group that I belong to: Christmas to the Max. Thanks, Melody!

(One day I’m going to post a recipe in the manner of The Pioneer Woman. She’s one of my favorites!)


Candy Orange Slice Fruitcake
1 c. butter or margarine, softened
2 c. sugar
2 c. applesauce
4 eggs
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 pound candy orange slices (chopped)
2 c. chopped pecans
1 1/2 c. candied cherries (chopped)
3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
1 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the applesauce, eggs and buttermilk.

In another bowl, combine the chopped orange slices, pecans, cherries and 1 cup of flour; toss to coat.

Combine the baking soda, salt and remaining flour; add to the buttermilk mixture. Fold in orange slice mixture.

Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 3/4 hours to 2 hours or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

What I Did:
Well, first of all, I didn’t have quite a pound of orange slices, so I added a few extra cherries.

I used Butter Flavor Crisco instead of butter or margarine. When you use BFC, you are supposed to add 6 teaspoons of water per cup of shortening to make up for the moisture that butter has and shortening doesn’t. Water sounded boring so I used the 6 teaspoons of the juice from the cherries instead.

I didn’t have pecans, so I used walnuts.

Can you tell that I’m all about substitutions?

I think I undercooked my fruitcake, too. It’s very moist, but this one was exceptionally moist. Next time I think I'll make it in an angelfood cake pan. Since the pan separates, it might make it easier to get the cake out of the pan. The bundt pan that I used was just a tiny bit small, in my opinion. Rick thinks the cake is perfect though.

Try it…you just might like it!