Eudora Welty's White Fruit Cake

Slice of white fruitcake on a plate with two forks. Books and a pair of glasses in the background.

4.84 from 24 votes

Eudora Welty's White Fruit Cake

Moist, white fruit cake is a little lighter than traditional dark fruit cake. This Southern version is "improved" by dribbling it with bourbon instead of rum.

Course Desserts

Cuisine American

Cook Time 3

Servings cakes

Calories 139kcal

Author Lisa B.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups unsalted butter softened
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs separated
4 cups flour sifted before measuring
flour for fruit and nuts
2 teapsoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 pound pecan halves
1/2 pound candied red cherries
½ pound candied green cherries
1 pound candied pineapple
1 cup bourbon
1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Grease your pans well and sprinkle with a dusting of flour.
Cut the candied pineapple into chunks. Slice the cherries in half if they are not already. Reserve about ½ cup of nice-looking whole pecans to decorate the tops of the cakes and set those aside. Chop up the remaining pecans. Dust the fruit and nuts lightly with a little flour.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar together until it is smooth and creamy. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer running on medium, add 2/3 cup of flour to the butter mixture. Then add an egg yolk. Keep alternating flour-egg-flour until all the eggs and flour are mixed into the batter.
Keep the mixer running. Add the chopped pecans to the batter. Then add 1/3 cup of bourbon. Add the pineapple, then add another 1/3 cup of bourbon. Follow with the cherries and the last remaining 1/3 cup of bourbon and the vanilla. Turn the mixer off.
Whip the egg whites until still peaks form. Fold the whipped eggs whites into the batter.
Arrange the reserved pecan halves around the bottom of two 9.5-inch bundt or angel food cake pans. Fill each cake pan about 2/3 full.
Bake for approximately three hours. The top of the cake should spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted at the center should come out clean and dry. If the top of the cakes start to brown too soon, loosely lay a sheet of foil over the top. When done, the cake should be a warm golden color.
Once the cake pans become cool enough to handle, run a spatula around the sides of each cake, cover the pan with a big plate, then turn the pan over and slip the cake out. When cool, the cake should be stored in a container with a lid or wrapped in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

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