Fruit Cake
6 ounces sugar (7/8 cup) 6 eggs 5 ounces flour (1 1/3 cups) 1/4 cup rich cream 1/2 pound finely chopped walnuts 3/4 pound raisins cut into pieces 1/4 pound citron cut into small pieces A few grains salt.
Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs. Beat the yolks till stiff and lemon colored. Beat in the sugar a little at a time, and continue beating till the mixture is very stiff. Add the salt to the whites, and beat till stiff and dry. Pour the yolk mixture into the whites. Sift on a little flour, and sprinkle over a few nuts. Fold with three or four strokes. Sift on more flour, sprinkle on more nuts and some raisins and citron, and fold again. Sift on more flour, sprinkle on more nuts, raisins, and citron, and pour over a little of the cream, then fold again. Continue thus till all the ingredients are used, but do not fold one stroke more than is necessary to mix the ingredients. Too much folding works the air out and makes the cake heavy. Pour the mixture into two bread tins, into the bottom of which oiled paper has been fitted. Bake in a very moderate oven one hour.
The citron can be cut up easily if it is steamed a few minutes to soften it. Instead of baking the cake, I prefer to steam it two or three hours, and then bake it long enough to dry it off. This cake may be kept a considerable length of time.
Date Loaf Cake (Boston Cooking School Magazine) 1 pound stoned dates, not chopped 1 pound walnut meats, not chopped 1 cup pastry flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla Put the dates and walnut meats in a mixing bowl, and sift over them the flour and salt, after sifting them together. With a spoon mix the flour with the nuts and dates. Then add the sugar, mixing it in well. Mix in the egg yolks, well beaten, and the vanilla. Then very carefully fold in the egg whites beaten dry. Turn into two small bread tins, into the bottom of which oiled paper has been fitted, and bake in a slow oven one hour.
A flourless-leavened fruit cake: no baking powder, no soda, no butter — the lift comes entirely from beaten eggs, so the folding technique is the whole recipe. Weights are given alongside cup equivalents, which is unusual for the period and worth trusting over the cups.
- The hinge: fold, don't stirThe only leavening is air beaten into the eggs. Adding the flour, nuts and fruit in successive small installments, with only a few folding strokes each, is what keeps the batter aerated while still distributing a pound and a half of heavy add-ins. Consolidating it into one addition will collapse the foam.
- "Beat the yolks till stiff"Yolks will not go stiff in the sense whites do. What is wanted is the ribbon stage: pale, thickened, and falling from the beater in a wide band that holds its shape for a second or two. With the sugar beaten in gradually this takes 5-8 minutes with an electric mixer.
- Oven temperatureA "very moderate" oven is about 325F. The Date Loaf's "slow oven" is 300-325F. Both are low for a reason: an egg-foam batter this dense browns long before the center sets.
- Bread tinsTwo loaf pans; the Date Loaf recipe specifies "small" tins, and the modest batter volume points to something smaller than a standard loaf pan. Line the bottoms with parchment as directed and butter the sides; there is virtually no fat in the batter and it will grip.
- CitronCandied citron peel, still sold at holiday baking counters and from confectionery suppliers. The steaming trick works — a few minutes over simmering water softens it enough to cut cleanly. Candied orange peel is the usual substitute if citron is unavailable.
- Raisins "cut into pieces"Raisins of the period were often sold with seeds, and the larger muscatel types were commonly cut up. Modern seedless raisins need no cutting; halve large muscatels if you use them.
- The steaming variationSteaming two or three hours in covered tins, then drying in the oven, gives a moister, closer-grained cake much like a pudding. Cover the tins tightly with foil, set on a rack above simmering water, and top the water up as it boils away.
- Doneness and keepingAn hour at 325F should give a skewer that comes out clean; if the tops color early, tent them. Cool in the tins, wrap well, and both loaves improve after a day or two.
- YieldTwo loaves, each cutting into 10-12 thin slices. This is dense, rich cake — thin slices are the intent.