DARK & DELICIOUS FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• The night before (8-24 hrs): Chop large dried fruit to about raisin or cranberry size or your preference, chop citrus peels very fine, and mix & marinate all fruits in 1 c dark rum or cognac. Preheat oven to 275 F. Butter loaf pans, line with wax paper, butter again. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add applesauce & vanilla. Mix in eggs two at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix 1 c flour with the fruit mixture. Sift the remaining 3 c flour with other dry ingredients, add to wet ingredients. Mix batter and nuts into fruits- you will notice that the batter is just barely enough to hold the fruits and nuts together. Fill pans nearly to the top, pressing batter down to remove any air spaces. Bake standard loaf pans about 3 hrs, mini loafs about 2 hrs, until top feels done. Let stand 1/2 hr on racks, then remove from pans and peel off paper. When completely cool, wrap each in cheesecloth soaked in rum. Put in tin or wrap tightly in foil. Age 2-4 weeks, checking weekly and re-rumming the cheesecloth if needed. Enjoy!!