My Grandmother’s Fruitcake Recipe by Matthew Knotts

My grandmother’s fruitcakes were infamous. Wrapped in paper towels soaked in half orange juice and half whiskey, they packed quite a punch. When I was younger, my parents wouldn’t let me eat them, because she used moonshine from the still in the woods behind my great aunt’s house. Only after the stiIl broke and she had to buy whiskey off the shelf was I allowed to try it. I can still remember the mischievous glint in my grandmother’s eye as she offered me my first taste of alcohol – a teaspoon of whiskey at age 15. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to drink it, but it was delicious in cake form.

One December, my grandmother announced that I was to carry on the tradition, because she and I were the only two in the family who ate fruitcake. She was going to teach me her fruitcake recipe, and we would create the traditional two cakes. One was for her house, and one was for mine. She sat down at the kitchen table while I stood ready at the counter. I had everything I needed – a pen and paper to record the ingredients and steps, a container of red and green candied cherries, and a large mixing bowl.

“Step one – Open the cupboard,” she said. We’re off to a good start.

“Do we have any allspice?” I responded in the negative.

“Oh, it’s not a problem. How about nutmeg?” We didn’t have any of that either.

“Well, we’ll make do,” she said.

Wait! My analytical mind couldn’t process this information. How can you have a recipe where the ingredients don’t matter? How can I be expected to learn a tradition in an afternoon when it took her years of trial and error to know what works and what doesn’t?

I felt the same way as a fledgling storyteller. How could I be expected to craft a story when there are so many options and so few rules? Your story ends with, “Maybe it did. We’ll never know.” That’s fine! Your story begins with a princess stuck in a cave. We have to accept that’s where she’s supposed to be!

When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I fall back on the basic elements of a story as defined by Donald Davis in his book, Telling Your Own Stories for Family and Classroom Storytelling, Public Speaking and Personal Journaling. Davis’ 5 P’s are:

People – My grandmother and I
Place – My grandmother’s kitchen
Picture – Tasting whiskey for the first time; Standing at the counter organized and prepared
Problem – There is no recipe!
Progress – Accepting the loss of a tradition

Unfortunately, my grandmother and I never completed that fruitcake, and the tradition died with her. I still cherish the memory of the times we shared, and I am now able to take an uncertain story with no happily ever after and share it with you.

Liz Warren | Storyteller

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