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Hickory Nut Cake
1 cup shortening 2 1/2 cups sugar 5 eggs 3 1/2 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup milk 2 cups hickory nut meats 1/2 pound citron 1 pound raisins 1 ounce candied lemon peel 1 ounce candied orange peel Cream the shortening and sugar until well blended and then add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients sifted together and milk alternately and then fold in the fruit and nuts. Mix thoroughly. Line two cake (shallow) pans with paper. Bake the cake in two thin sheets in a slow oven for 1 hour. If baked in a large loaf, bake for 1 hour in a slow oven and then cover the top of the pan with a sheet of paper to keep the top from browning before the inside is thoroughly baked.
A heavy fruited butter cake of the light-fruitcake school, leaning on hickory nuts rather than the usual pecan or walnut. The batter is stiff and the fruit heavy, so oven temperature and pan preparation matter more than technique.
- Slow ovenSet the oven to 300-325F. At anything hotter the sugar and dried fruit scorch at the edges long before the centre of a loaf is set.
- Hickory nutsShagbark hickory is a native American nut, rich and close in flavour to pecan but firmer. If you cannot find shelled meats, pecans are the standard substitute at the same volume; walnuts work but are more bitter.
- CitronCandied citron is the thick, pale-green peel of Citrus medica, sold in blocks or diced tubs around the holidays. Half a pound is roughly 1 1/2 cups diced. Candied mixed peel can stand in, though it is sweeter and less resinous.
- ShorteningIn this period the word covers butter, lard or hydrogenated vegetable fat interchangeably. One cup of butter gives the best flavour; if you use it, cream it well past the point where it looks combined, since the eggs go in one at a time and the batter is prone to breaking.
- Dredge the fruitTake two or three tablespoons from the measured flour and toss the raisins, citron and peel in it before folding them in, to help keep the fruit from settling.
- Lining the pansParchment does the job the original assigns to plain paper. Line the base and the long sides with an overhang so the cake can be lifted out; a fruited cake this dense will not turn out cleanly otherwise.
- Two sheets versus one loafTwo shallow pans will be done at about an hour. Baked as a single large loaf it will need longer; the recipe's own direction to cover the top after an hour implies continued baking. Test with a skewer at the centre and tent with paper or foil once the top has coloured.
- Yield and keepingThis is a large recipe, upwards of 5 lb of batter, serving twenty or more in thin slices. Wrapped well, it should improve over a few days and keep for a week or two in a tin.