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Rich Coffee Cake
1 cup butter 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 2 tablespoons molasses 1 cup cold boiled coffee 3 3/4 cups flour 5 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon clove 1/2 teaspoon mace 1/2 teaspoon allspice 3/4 cup raisins, seeded and cut in pieces 3/4 cup currants 1/4 cup citron, thinly sliced and cut in strips 2 tablespoons brandy Follow directions for making butter-cake mixtures. Bake in deep cake pans.
A spiced fruit cake built on the standard creamed butter-cake method, with cold coffee as the liquid. The instruction to "follow directions for making butter-cake mixtures" assumes the reader has already read the general method earlier in the book.
- The method it refers toCream the butter, add the sugar gradually, beat in the eggs (whole, or yolks first and folded whites last, depending on the book's general rule), then add the molasses and coffee alternately with the sifted dry ingredients. Fruit and brandy go in last.
- Coffee cake here means coffee in the cakeThis is not the sweet yeasted breakfast bread. The cup of cold boiled coffee is a liquid ingredient and adds colour; use strong brewed coffee, cooled completely, as the recipe specifies -- warm liquid will soften the creamed butter and break the emulsion.
- OvenA deep, heavy fruited batter of this size wants 325-350F. At 350F expect 55-70 minutes in two loaf pans; longer and lower if you use a single deep tin. Test with a skewer in the centre.
- Baking powderFive teaspoons to 3 3/4 cups flour is at the generous end of the usual proportion. With modern double-acting powder you can reduce it to about 4 teaspoons without loss of rise, and with less risk of a chemical aftertaste.
- Flour the fruitToss the raisins, currants and citron with a few spoonfuls of the measured flour before folding them in, to help keep them from settling.
- CitronCandied citron peel, sold with the baking supplies around the winter holidays. Candied orange or lemon peel substitutes without complaint; ordinary lemon zest does not, since the point is the sweet chew.
- Mace and cloveGround mace has a short shelf life and goes flat and dusty. Buy it fresh or use half the quantity in freshly grated nutmeg. The half teaspoon of clove is assertive, which is intentional here.
- Yield and keepingRoughly two 9x5-inch loaves, or one large deep tin. Like most brandied fruit cakes it improves after a day or two wrapped tightly, and slices far more cleanly cold.