2 c All-purpose flour
1 c Sugar
8 oz Butter
6 Eggs; separate out yolks
1/2 c Water
1/2 c Orange juice or any fruit
-juice
1 ts Ground mace
1 ts Ground cinnamon
1 lb Sultana raisins
1 lb Seeded raisins; cut in
-halves
1/2 lb Currants
1/4 lb Conserved cherries; cut in
-pieces
1/2 lb Chopped dates
1/4 lb Any nut meats; chopped in
-bits
1/4 lb Grated citron
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 ts Baking powder
Sift flour, reserving 1/2 cup. Add baking powder and spices to the 1 1/2
cups of flour and sift again. Beat eggs separately, wash fruit and cut as
directed, drying between two towels. The nuts and fruit except Sultanas may
be put through the meat chopper using the coarse cutter. Dredge lightly
with the 1/2 cup of flour and mix thoroughly.
Cream butter and sugar, add beaten egg yolks, flour and liquid alternately.
Now stir in the fruit and nuts and fold in the egg whites which have been
beaten dry. The orange rind should be stirred into the fruit juice. Be sure
to mix all ingredients thoroughly. Bake in a well greased pan in a moderate
oven for three hours.
A perfectly steady heat is essential to success in baking fruit cake. If
the cake is steamed for half the time and finished in the oven it is likely
to be more moist. Stand pans in vessels containing water. After the cake is
cooled thoroughly pour over it 1/2 cup of good brandy which will sink in.
Then wrap in “cut-rite” paper and tie firmly and keep closed in tin until
ready to use. If it is kept for some time brandy in the same quantity
should be added from time to time as this fruit cake must be moist when
cut. Use a very sharp knife and cut paper thin.
NOTES : This recipe is from an undated spiral-bound cookbook sold to
benefit The Old Peoples’ Home, 115 Main Street, Nantucket, Massachusetts. I
inherited the cookbook from my 101-year-old aunt. I would guess the book
was purchased about 1950 when my aunt visited Nantucket to look up some
family history. There are a number of advertisements from local shops, many
listing 3-digit telephone numbers.
Yields
1 Servings