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Fruit Loaf Cake
One cup butter, two of brown sugar, one of New Orleans molasses, one of sweet milk, three eggs, five cups sifted flour, two teaspoons cream tartar in the flour, tea-spoon soda in the milk, tablespoon cinnamon, one nutmeg, one pound raisins, one of currants, quarter pound citron (citron may be omitted, and half the quantity of raisins and currants will do). Put flour in a large crock, mix well with cream tartar, make a well in the center, put in other ingredients, having warmed the butter and molasses a little; mix well together with the hands, putting in the fruit last after it has been floured; bake two hours in a moderate oven. This will make two common-sized leaves. - Mrs. N. S. Long.
A large, molasses-dark fruit loaf from the era before baking powder was standard. The batter is stiff enough that the original directs you to mix it with your hands.
- Oven temperatureA "moderate oven" here means 325-350F. Given the two-hour bake and the sugar and molasses, keep to 325F and tent the tops with foil if they colour early.
- Cream tartar and sodaTwo teaspoons cream of tartar plus one teaspoon soda is the period substitute for baking powder, and roughly equals four teaspoons of modern double-acting baking powder. Keep the original method if you like: the acid goes into the flour, the soda dissolves in the milk, and they only meet in the bowl.
- New Orleans molassesA domestic cane molasses, darker and less refined than table syrup but not blackstrap. Ordinary dark molasses is the closest match; blackstrap will make the loaves bitter.
- Nutmeg"One nutmeg" means a whole grated seed, about two to two and a half teaspoons. That is a lot beside the tablespoon of cinnamon, and is deliberate.
- Flouring the fruitTossing the raisins, currants and citron in a little of the measured flour before working them in helps keep them distributed rather than sinking.
- The crockA large earthenware mixing bowl. Any bowl of six quarts or more works; the full quantity of fruit is two and a quarter pounds and needs room.
- CitronCandied citron peel, still sold at holiday time and in Middle Eastern groceries. The original notes that it may be omitted, and that half the quantity of raisins and currants will also do.
- Yield and pans"Two common-sized leaves" means two loaves; use two 9x5-inch pans, lined with parchment. Cool completely before slicing, and expect the flavour to improve after a day or two wrapped.
Fruit loaf cake sits in the middle ground between everyday cake and the heavily brandied wedding fruit cake, and books of the 1870s and 1880s are full of these molasses-and-spice versions meant to keep well in a cool pantry. Commercial baking powder existed by the time Buckeye Cookery appeared in 1877, though this recipe calls for cream of tartar and soda separately. "New Orleans molasses" was a selling point in Northern kitchens, distinguishing Louisiana cane syrup from West Indian imports, and citron peel was the expensive ingredient in the list, which Mrs. Long notes can be left out.