HOLIDAY FRUITCAKE 1936

December 1936

Today was baking day at the old farmhouse, and Ina was up well before daylight to begin her pork cake, the family’s traditional fruitcake recipe. Ina’s mother, Lucy Dickson, had brought the recipe to her marriage and had baked pork cake for every important family event – weddings, funerals, and Christmas. Ina and her sister, Bertha, had continued the tradition. Ina had misgivings, though. Now that recipes and methods were investigated as a science, she thought baked goods produced in the average kitchen had improved beyond this recipe. Still, the recipe was old, American, and a family tradition to be preserved.

As Ina measured the ingredients, her thoughts went back to the article she had been reading “before the blazing fire” last night. The author, Katharine Fisher, director of the Good Housekeeping Institute, had claimed that every year she received a certain fruitcake from a friend in Canada, frosted with a thick layer of almond paste. This year she shared the recipe with her readership, as follows:

Laurine’s Christmas Cake

1 c shortening                          ½ c finely cut citron

1 ½ c brown sugar                            ½ c finely cut candied orange peel

6 eggs, separate                       ½ c finely cut candied lemon peel

¼ c fruit juice                           ¾ c finely cut pitted dates

¾ tsp baking soda                             1 ½ c blanched, toasted almond halves

½ molasses                              2 c sifted all-purpose flour

1 ½ c drained maraschino        ½ tsp ground cinnamon

        cherries

½ c finely cut candied              ½ tsp ground cloves

        Pineapple

3 c finely cut seeded raisins     ¼ t nutmeg

3 c seedless raisins                            ½ t cinnamon

1 c currents

Cream the shortening. Add the brown sugar gradually while creaming. Add the beaten egg yolks and fruit juice, and mix well. Dissolve the soda in the heated molasses; add to shortening mixture. Combine the fruits and almonds, and mix with 2 tbsp of the sifted dry ingredients. Add with the sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix all thoroughly.

Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in two loaf pans lined with waxed paper, one measuring 10” x 5” x 3 ½” and the other measuring 8 3/8: x 4 3/8” x 2 ¾.” Bake in a slow oven of 300 F 2 ½ hrs for the larger loaf and 2 hrs for the smaller loaf. Makes about 5 lbs. fruit cake.

Quite a production, thought Ina to herself, but what really drew her attention was the last paragraph – specific instructions for those using an electric beater:

In using an electric beater allow the shortening to soften at room temperature. Cream the shortening for 1 min at high speed. Add the sugar gradually with the beater still at high speed. Scrape the bowl and beat 1 min longer. Add the eggs unbeaten one at a time, and beat 1 min after each addition. Turn the beater to medium speed and add the fruit juice and soda dissolved in the heated molasses. Add the fruits and almonds mixed with 2 tbsp of the dry ingredients, then the sifted dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly.

Ina decided she’d just stick with Ma’s old recipe for pork cake. She’d add a half cup of citron this year. Maybe she’d like it better . . . KW

[The picture of fruitcake is from the 1968 edition of Christmas Ideals.]