Good Eating Monday: Banana Walnut Fruitcake!

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             Welcome to the first week of December!
"Are you ready for Christmas?" seems to be the question on the tip of everyone's tongues!
Every Monday this month I'll be featuring a Christmas baking goodie--favorites I use every year!
First up, my favorite Banana Walnut Fruitcake recipe!

I think fruitcake in general has a bad rap. Unfairly so.
Historically, the most traditional form of fruitcake was a whiskey, bourbon or rum-soaked fruitcake. This is the one that has the reputation of being petrified and is the butt of fruitcake jokes.
It involves making the cake 6 weeks in advance of Christmas, usually with an Old English mix of all candied fruits types and nuts. Then wrapped in cheese-cloth, it gets a weekly dousing  with a cup of bourbon, whiskey or rum.
It packs a taste bud wallop, no doubt. Having had bites of this as kids is probably why a good many adults are turned off to fruitcake.
My recipe today doesn't feature alcohol-soaking.
Secondly, I highly recommend NOT buying the Old English Mix of candied fruit, but instead buying only the tastiest candied fruit, which, in my opinion, is the candied pineapple and red & green cherries.

For the Pina Colada variation, I use Rum Flavoring, though that isn't absolutely necessary. It's next to the almond, orange and other extracts in the spice section, if you wish to use it.
*Keep in mind, you can omit candied fruit and just use all dried fruits of your preference for the candied fruit measurements.*
Just keep the quantities the same.

Banana Walnut Fruitcake
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
2 cups candied fruit (
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup butter or margarine (or unsweetened natural applesauce)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup mashed ripe banana

Directions:
Cut candied cherries in mostly in half, but you can leave a few whole for a pretty look inside. Save some for decorating top!  Combine candied fruit and nuts together in a bowl & set aside. In another bowl: cream butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda & nutmeg in a sifter and blend into creamed into creamed butter/egg mixture alternately with mash banana either with a mix or by hand. Fold candied fruit and nuts into batter and blend well. Turn into either a well-greased 2qt.tube cake pan or one 5 x 9 bread pan or three 3 x 6 foil pans. Decorate top with cherries & nuts if desired.
Bake on lowest rack at 300 for  up to 1 1/4 hours or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. (Smaller pans take about an hour of baking time versus a tube cake.)
 Let stand 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool. Serve plan or with a slight sifting of powdered sugar over top. 

How to Make the Pina Colada Variation:
Follow the same recipe, except:
Replace half the nuts with coconut. (3/4 cup nuts, 3/4 cup coconut.)
Still use the 2 cups of candied pineapple & cherries.
Add 1 tsp Rum Flavoring to batter.
*I actually like raisins and dates in mine, so I reduce the quantity of candied fruit to 1 1/2 cups and create a 2 cup combo of nuts, chopped dates, raisins & coconut.*
 Eat up, me hearties, yo-ho!

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