Our Family Fruit Cake Recipe
Here is our family Fruit Cake recipe, courtesy of Cousin Kate.
Rather than put it in the form I usually use here at The Armchair Chef, I have simply cut and pasted the email Kate sent … to let you enjoy her wonderful sense of humor! Can you see why she is one of my Favorite cousins? (Actually, we have a lot of WONDERFUL cousins! LOL)
In the past, when she made this and sent it to us, my brother-in-law Tim and I would battle over it! We would keep it in the refrigerator and cut thin slices. We could usually get the rest of the family to back down but neither of us was willing to give up our claim! LOL
I am including the recipe now, so you’ll have time to let it age properly. Let em know if anyone makes it and wants to send a loaf in my direction!
Btw, Dixie is Dixie Lee Harwood, a formidable matriarch!
Tink
*When I dream, I cook and bake like an artist!*
******
*Our Family Fruit Cake Recipe*
Hey, sweeties… TheArmchairChef is now on my fav’s bar… no pun intended… but realized that if you’re gonna make Dixie’s cake, you have to start now, to let it age… so, here it is…. copied from Dixie Lee’s own hand, with my comments thrown in.
3/4 lb. butter
(oh, damn… gotta take glasses off… can’t read this!!!)
1.25 lb. flour (5 cups, more or less)
1.25 lb. brown sugar (oh, damn.. can’t read my figures here)
4 eggs
1 cup molasses
1 tsp baking soda
Cinnamon, cloves, allspice to taste, probably about 2 tsp of each
1 cup wine (recommend port or a sweet kosher wine… that would have been what Dixie would have had at hand)
1 cup strong coffee
1 “glass” jelly (supposing 6 ounce glass, probably concord grape)
1 lb currants
1 lb. dates
1 lb. raisins
1 box Dromedary Citron (no longer found boxed… get a half pint package, and drain carefully)
1/2 lb. English walnuts
1/2 lb almonds
NOW…. the important part….in Dixie Lee’s day, or even in Dorris Bond’s day… we cut the fruit with dampened scissors… cut it FINELY…. this was my task, as a small child. I think this can be done in food processor, using a bit of the flour required for recipe. the important thing is that the ‘bits” must be recognizable, but tiny…. otherwise, the fruitcake will lose it’s character. The tiny bits of fruit and nuts enable it to be sliced neatly…. not like the commercial fruitcakes which have more shortening, to make the cake stable. Likewise, the nuts must be cut small… this can be done with large knife on cutting board. Food processor will reduce them to mush, which is to be avoided at all costs.
Now… further is from Dorris B…. Dixie Lee seemed to think this part would be just duh???
MAKES…2 angel food pans (or, from my own experience, 2 loaf pans, plus several extra small loaf pans, for gift giving or door stops.)
BAKE…about 3 hours in SLOW OVEN… (I THINK I baked at about 290 or 300… but you know your own oven… adjust…. with the brown sugar and molasses, if you bake too high, it will scorch on bottom, especially in smaller pans. (less time for those)
Now… adjustments I’ve made over years…. cut down on walnuts and almonds, add some pecans. Cut down on dates, add some apricots. I’d love it if sometime in future, we had a Fruitcake Bake Off… I hope to try preserving some lemon rind, once I get to Poway… will use that instead of citron. We can all play with this a bit…. after all, Dixie Lee, from all I’ve heard, was much ahead of her time… and would love that her great grandchildren were still making fruitcake.
OH.. the best part… Dixie doesn’t mention this… but to AGE THE CAKE…. Dorris B. always poured a bit of Welch’s grape juice over, after wrapping the cakes in cheesecloth, and putting them in tins to age. I found that the cheesecloth is important… but also found that tupperware does nicely… and also used some of the wine used in the recipe. (have also in other years, used sweet sherry for the pouring over…. not a lot needed.. just a good healthy splash/sprinkle… enough to dampen the cheescloth, to keep the cakes moist. (wrap each one individually.. do not try to group wrap!!!)
My grandmother used to make these in late October, so as to have some for Thanksgiving… but they were always better at Christmas time!…. age for a month, at least!!!
Love… if this is not coherent, call me…
Kate