[ContainerTed]

Ted's recipe for 30 day (or Friendship) cake, instead of the regular Fruit Cake.

Ingredients:

1 packet of yeast or a pint jar of some friends starter, which is the leftover juice from the process.
2 cups of warm (not hot) water to activate the yeast if needed
4 cups regular sugar
1 large can (15 oz) of fruit cocktail
1 large can (15 oz) of diced peaches
1 large can (15 oz) crushed pineapple
1 8 oz can of jar of maraschino cherries
1 large can of any other fruit you choose
1 standard yellow cake mix - moist is recommended
2 cups dried raisins
1 or 2 cups of the nuts of your choice

Do not drain any of the canned fruit. Stir only with non-metallic instruments

Begin with two cups of the sugar, yeast, and the fruit cocktail and put them into a glass container. Combine and stir with a non metal instrument daily for the first week.

Add the peaches and another cup of sugar and stir daily for the next 7 days.

Add the Pineapple and another cup of sugar and stir daily for the next 7 days.

Add the maraschino cherries and any other fruit you choose, and stir daily for the next 7 days.

Now add the English Walnuts and any other fruits or nuts you choose and stir daily for the next 3 to 4 days.

Your "mix" should have taken on a distinctly "wine" aroma. If this happens, you are right on track.

Saving the liquid, and using a colander or non-metallic strainer of your choice, drain the entire mixture to separate the fruit from the juice.

Now, all the final ingredients are ready.

With one cup of the "juice" and two cups of the fruit, add them to one standard box of "Moist Yellow Cake Mix". Stir together to achieve a good mix and pour into a well greased Bunt cake pan and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 45 min to one hour or until a test toothpick or skewer shows it to be done (comes back dry). Cool and enjoy. It can be sliced or chunked and frozen for storage. Freezer time had been tested by me to be at least 12 months.

It is not that "brick" most folks have against "Fruit Cake". It is light and fruity and sweet and will please the most critical of appetites.

The extra liquid can be refrigerated (not frozen) for next year or used for additional cakes. We usually get about three cakes out of each recipe. If you use the liquid which most of us call a "starter", then all you have to add is the fruit and sugar. Refrigerated leftover liquid doesn't seem to kill the yeast.

You can adjust the amounts of the fruits added to this recipe. It's all about allowing the yeast to ferment the fruit and make alcohol with the sugar. The alcohol is boiled off during the baking, but the flavors remain.

Hope this works for you.

The taste should be fruity and sweet. If you are diabetic, then caution is strongly advised.