For those of you who prefer a lighter version…

Reader Barbara supplies a more contemporary recipe, which, judging from the ingredient proportions, is more like a pound cake with lots of good stuff added in. It’s not the dark, chewy stuff I’ll be making next week, but never let it be said I was dogmatic about fruitcake! She writes:

I usually don’t like fruitcake, but this is one that I LOVE!!!!

1 pound of butter
2 c sugar
6 eggs
4 c self-rising flour
1 t of each: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
1 pound of candied cherries,rough chopped
1 pound of candied pineapple,rough chopped
1 big box of raisins
6 c roughly chopped pecans
5 oz. orange marmalade

Preheat oven to 350*
Cream butter and sugar, then add the eggs. In another BIG bowl add the flour, spices, fruit and nuts. Stir to coat. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture, mix well. Place batter in a pan. Bake for 15 minutes, take out and stir. Bake 15 minutes, take out and stir. Bake 15 minutes, take out and stir. Bake 15 minutes more, stir and pack down in a greased tube pan. I used a potato masher to pack it in. Let set on the counter overnight. This is really good!!!! My Kitchen Aid 4.5qt wouldn’t hold all of the batter. I put the batter in a 13 by 18.5 inch pan, the biggest pan I had.I added the rest of the flour,fruit,nuts and orange marmalade by hand. I baked as directed. The cake weighted 8 lbs. 9 oz.

Thanks Barbara!