1 1/2 cups dried apricots
2 cups dates
2 cups walnuts
3/4 cup flour (we use Bob’s Red Mill GF Mix)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 beaten eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Leave the fruit and nuts whole. Mix fruit and dry ingredients to coat fruit. Add eggs and vanilla. Line two loaf pans with grease waxed paper. Place a pan of water int he oven for moisture. Bake at 300°F for 1 hour 30 mins. Makes 2 small loaves.
Once Upon A Time we put out a paper newsletter. Sometimes it was monthly, sometimes it was quarterly, but in this newsletter we had gardening tips, updates on how the co-op was doing, and recipes. (Now we're all digital) One of our favorite recipes that we bring back every year was called California Fruit Cake.
We have since started calling it Spiral Fruit Cake, since that is what all of you call it, but when it was originally printed in the Spiral Newsletter -- lovingly called “The Bridge” -- it was printed with the title California Fruit Cake, and had no author. It has since been sampled at many holiday sample day and been offered as a gluten free option during the sample day and in our baking mixes. Since everyone liked the gluten free option better, we simply started converting all of our pre-packaged mixes over to the gluten free version exclusively.
The key that makes this recipe special is keeping the fruits and nuts whole and the pan of water in the oven so the whole loaf stays moist while it’s baking.
Please look for our pre-made gluten free mix in the store November to January each year.