Post by Big Joe on Dec 19, 2023 13:10:48 GMT -5
LOL, yeah I know what your thinking but its a tradition to trade these with the East Texas group of the family. This is not the fruit cake you may know today, this is one from my great granny. It come from our old book, or the handwritten one my g-ma used forever. The only tough thing to find locally is the citron. It can be had from amazon though. Walmart says they have it but its not the same, theirs is more of a newer Dried fruit mix for the fruit cakes. We do make the newer one, but it has a much wider fruit mix in it (we use the fruit mix from Walmart) But this mix is the one we do swap with amongst the family. One year the other side of the family couldn't find citron so they swapped dries grapefruit and it was a taste shock but still very eatable. OK I like sour, bitter so I ate the most of it lol.
In this recipe you will notice ( ) - that's where I added my notes. G-ma used a hand mixer for this and we use the stand mixer. that's the biggest change.
Fruit Cake - old book
(This is a half recipe)
you will need
1 cup of butter,
1 cup of molasses,
1 cup of sugar,
3 eggs,
a teaspoon each of baking soda, salt, nutmeg, mace, and ginger.
A 1/2 teaspoon of allspice,
1/2 teaspoon of coriander,
1 and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon,
a half pound of raisins,
a half pound of currants,
quarter pound of citron,
3 cups of flour. (do not use self rising)
First soak your raisins, currants, and citron for a few minutes, and then drain them and toss them with just a little flour and set aside.
Whisk the salt, soda, and spices all together with the rest of the flour, set aside.
With a (Stand) mixer, beat the butter until it's nice and fluffy. Then add the sugar and cream them together until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the molasses, and beat until fully Incorporated, and then add the eggs just one at a time, mixing each egg in fully before you add the next. Keep scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl throughout this process.
Then add a few spoonfuls of the flour and spice mixture, and gently mix it in until just incorporated. Add a few more and continue to mix this way until all of the flour has been added.
Then add about a third of the fruit and mix it in by hand, all of this of course can actually be done by hand but if you are using a stand mixer for the first part of the definitely switch to hand now uh so you don't over mix the flour and make it all gummy, continue to add in all the fruit and mix until it's all evenly incorporated.
Add the batter to two (standardized size) loaf pans which have been well greased with lard.(butter) Should fill about half to two-thirds full. (Smooth the top as best as you can) Then put them in the oven at 300° F for 2 hours and start checking it around 90 minutes by inserting wooden skewer. If the skewer comes out clean then that means it's done.
So once the skewer comes out clean remove the cakes from the oven and while they're still hot brush a healthy amount of brandy or rum on top.
Brush a bit more on every day or so until you eat the cake or at least for the first few weeks.
After the cakes have cooled they are ready to eat, but they are to be kept they should be brushed with rum every month for up to a year. Best to keep in a tin or some kind of sealed container.
In this recipe you will notice ( ) - that's where I added my notes. G-ma used a hand mixer for this and we use the stand mixer. that's the biggest change.
Fruit Cake - old book
(This is a half recipe)
you will need
1 cup of butter,
1 cup of molasses,
1 cup of sugar,
3 eggs,
a teaspoon each of baking soda, salt, nutmeg, mace, and ginger.
A 1/2 teaspoon of allspice,
1/2 teaspoon of coriander,
1 and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon,
a half pound of raisins,
a half pound of currants,
quarter pound of citron,
3 cups of flour. (do not use self rising)
First soak your raisins, currants, and citron for a few minutes, and then drain them and toss them with just a little flour and set aside.
Whisk the salt, soda, and spices all together with the rest of the flour, set aside.
With a (Stand) mixer, beat the butter until it's nice and fluffy. Then add the sugar and cream them together until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the molasses, and beat until fully Incorporated, and then add the eggs just one at a time, mixing each egg in fully before you add the next. Keep scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl throughout this process.
Then add a few spoonfuls of the flour and spice mixture, and gently mix it in until just incorporated. Add a few more and continue to mix this way until all of the flour has been added.
Then add about a third of the fruit and mix it in by hand, all of this of course can actually be done by hand but if you are using a stand mixer for the first part of the definitely switch to hand now uh so you don't over mix the flour and make it all gummy, continue to add in all the fruit and mix until it's all evenly incorporated.
Add the batter to two (standardized size) loaf pans which have been well greased with lard.(butter) Should fill about half to two-thirds full. (Smooth the top as best as you can) Then put them in the oven at 300° F for 2 hours and start checking it around 90 minutes by inserting wooden skewer. If the skewer comes out clean then that means it's done.
So once the skewer comes out clean remove the cakes from the oven and while they're still hot brush a healthy amount of brandy or rum on top.
Brush a bit more on every day or so until you eat the cake or at least for the first few weeks.
After the cakes have cooled they are ready to eat, but they are to be kept they should be brushed with rum every month for up to a year. Best to keep in a tin or some kind of sealed container.