Mom's Favorite Fruit Cake

 Yesterday Mom said she was going to order a fruit cake by mail. I'm never in favor of going that route. Why pay exorbitant prices and then pay for shipping, too (if a fruit cake is made right, it weighs a ton). "Let's just make one instead," I told her.

 This morning when I got up, Mom had already collected the ingredients and had them standing on the kitchen counter. "You said you didn't mind making one," she said. "Do it."

Just out of the oven

 Mom has always had a favorite recipe and she calls this "the  fruit cake with Karo syrup". She found the recipe and I'll post it here. Sorry that it's taped and beat up a bit. But you know fruit cakes ... anything goes. We have no idea of the source of the recipe other than it's quite old and it was clipped out of a magazine.

 Nevertheless, here's the original recipe:

Click on the recipe for a higher resolution version

Here's the batter with the citron poured in, ready for stirring 

Mom's finely chopping some fresh orange zest to add to the batter

Here is the batter in the loaf pan, ready for the oven

 I don't much follow directions. All the dry ingredients are best mixed first and then the liquids added. We whipped the eggs in a measuring cup before adding. Otherwise, just pile it in.
 We added a commercial citron ("fruit cake mix") and threw in some raisins and black walnuts.

Two hours baking time is plenty for us

 We'll add some wine to the surface if we want the fruitcake more moist. Or, we may just leave it alone. When it cools, a taste will tell all.