A spiced cake having a large quantity of dried fruit, such as sultanas, raisins, and peel. Traditionally baked at Christmas time, and often the traditional cake for a wedding.

The WU above reminds me of my own wedding with a Canadian. Not knowing
about the traditions, I allowed my mom-in-law and sister-in-law to bake a
'normal' cake.
Some days before my mom changed her mind and made the well-known (and
generally disliked) fruit cake ('It's tradition, sweety'). My sister-in-law
finished the cake a day later ('Here you go, your whipped cream ice cake with
decorations, sweety').
Dilemma: two cakes? To avoid arguments and fights, I made a Salomon's decision:
combine the cakes and tell nobody what was in that big wedding cake.
My European guests loved it.

Anyways, here's the recipe, in case you want to have a traditional wedding cake.

Fruit cake

Ingredients:
1 lb. butter or margarine
1 lb. brown sugar
12 egg yolks
1 cup molasses
12 egg whites
4 cups pastry flour
4 tsp allspice
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp mace
2 lbs seeded raisins, cut in pieces
2 lbs Sultana raisins, chopped
1 lb currants
1/2 preserved lemon rind (cut small)
1/2 preserved orange rind (cut small)
1 lb. candied cherries (cut small)
1 lb. candied pineapple (cut small)
1 1/2 lb. thinly sliced citron
2 cups preserved strawberries
1 lb. chopped blanched almonds
1 cup fruit juice
1/4 tsp soda dissolved in 1 tbsp. hot water

Instructions:
Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add the beaten egg yolks and molasses.
Beat well. Fold in stiff beaten egg whites. Sift together the floar and spices.
Reserve 1 cup for dredging fruit. Add the remaining flour mix to egg mixture.
Mix the prepared fruit, except for citron and dredge with 1 cup flour. Add
strawberries, almonds and fruit juice to mixture and mix all together well.
Add the dissolved soda.
Have ready 5/6 pans large loaf pans greased. Place a layer of the batter in
each pan, then a layer of the citron and again a layer of the batter up to
3/4 full. Over the top place small pieces of citron.
Bake at 275 degrees F for 3 - 4 hours (large pans), or for 2 hrs at 325 degrees
(small pans). Or cover the pans with wax paper and steam the fruitcakes 2 hrs,
remove wax paper and bake 2 hrs at 275 degrees. (or 1 hr steaming and 1 hr baking
for the smaller fruitcakes).




Source: my mom-in-law and Meals Tested Tasted And Approved.
A silly song in 5 parts that is popular among High School choirs, sung at Christmas time with each section acting out the parts: (8 measures at 4/4 per section)

Bass:
Sift the flour
and fold in eggs

Alto:
Now you add the lemon peels
(I would say a cup or two)
Then some raisins, dates and figs.
Just how much is up to you.

repeat Bass and Alto sections together

Tenor:
Pecans, Walnuts
and Hazelnuts
Almonds and
all other 'crazlenuts'!

repeat Bass, Alto and Tenor sections together

2nd Soprano:
Cinnamon! Cinnamon! Don't forget the Cinnamon,
other spice is always nice, but don't forget the Cinnamon!
Cinnamon! Cinnamon! Don't forget the Cinnamon,
other spice is always nice, but don't forget the Cinnamon!

repeat Bass, Alto, Tenor and 2nd Soprano sections together

1st Soprano:
Way up high go candied cherries
glistening like Christmas berries.
Add some rum (but just a drop)
Then it's time to *hic* stop!

repeat Bass, Alto, Tenor, 2nd and 1st Soprano sections together

All (ending):
Have yourself some fruitcake! *MMMMM*

if anyone knows who wrote or arranged this song, please /msg me with the details

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