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Butternut Fruit Cake
1/4 cup shortening 1 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons molasses 2 eggs 1 cup chopped raisins 1 cup chopped butternuts 1/4 pound citron, cut very fine 2 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon each cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg 1 cup sour cream Cream the shortening and sugar. Add the molasses and the eggs one at a time. Blend thoroughly and add the fruit and nuts. Add the mixed and sifted dry ingredients alternately with cream and beat all ingredients thoroughly. Bake in a well greased paper lined cake pan in a moderate oven about 1 hour. After the first half hour, reduce the heat, and cover the pan with a sheet of paper to keep the top of the cake from getting too well done before it is baked through.
A modest, spice-heavy fruit cake leavened by the reaction of soda with sour cream rather than by beaten eggs or long keeping in brandy. Two ingredients decide how close you get to the original: real butternuts and genuinely acidic cream.
- ButternutsJuglans cinerea, the white walnut — an oily, sweet, mildly resinous native nut that is almost never sold commercially now. English walnuts are the usual stand-in; hickory nuts or black walnuts come closer to the flavor, black walnuts being considerably stronger.
- Sour creamThe recipe depends on acid to activate the soda. Modern cultured sour cream works; sweet (unsoured) cream will leave the cake flat and faintly soapy, and crème fraîche, being less acidic than sour cream, is a less reliable substitute. Full-fat buttermilk is a workable substitute, though the crumb will be leaner.
- Oven temperature"Moderate" in this period generally means somewhere around 350F. "Reduce the heat" after the first half hour is not quantified; something in the region of 300-325F for the remainder is a reasonable reading, the high sugar and molasses content being prone to over-browning.
- Paper liningParchment, cut to fit the bottom and sides. The sheet laid over the top after thirty minutes does the work a loose foil tent does today — it keeps the crust from darkening while the dense center finishes.
- Pan sizeNone is given. This batter suits a 9x5-inch loaf pan or an 8-inch square pan; in either case fill no more than two-thirds. In a loaf shape it may need a little longer than the hour the recipe allows.
- CitronCandied citron peel, still sold at holiday time and usually in cubes. A quarter pound is roughly 1/2 to 2/3 cup. The recipe's instruction to cut it very fine is worth following; large pieces tend to sink.
- DonenessA skewer in the center should come out clean of batter, though it may pick up moisture from raisins. Cool in the pan at least 20 minutes; the crumb is fragile while hot.
- Yield and keepingAbout 12 to 16 slices. Wrapped well, it improves over two or three days as the spices settle, but with no alcohol and only a quarter cup of fat it will not keep for weeks the way a brandied fruit cake does.