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Prune Cake
1/2 cup shortening 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs beaten 1 cup cooked unsweetened prunes 1/2 cup prune juice 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cloves 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon soda 2 cups flour 2 cups raisins, seeded 1 tablespoon lemon extract Cream the shortening and sugar, add beaten eggs, prunes pitted and cut up, and prune juice. Then beat in all dry ingredients, sifted together. Add raisins and lemon extract, and bake in loaf 1 hour in moderate oven (350 degrees F.)
A dense, heavily fruited spice loaf of the stewed-fruit school, where the cooking liquid does double duty as liquid and as the acid that activates the soda. It is workable as written, with a few points worth settling before you start.
- The prunes"Cooked unsweetened prunes" means dried prunes simmered in plain water until soft, roughly 15 minutes for today's moist-pack pitted fruit, then drained with the liquid reserved. Around 8 oz of dried prunes should cover the cup of fruit and the half cup of liquid, though it is worth stewing a little extra. Use the stewing water rather than bottled prune juice if you can; the bottled juice is sweeter and heavier.
- Soda and acidOne teaspoon of soda against two cups of flour is a lot, and it works only because prune liquid and brown sugar are both acidic. There is no baking powder here, so mix and get the batter into the pan promptly rather than letting it stand.
- Lemon extractA tablespoon is heavy by current tastes. One to two teaspoons gives the intended lift against the cloves and ginger without tasting of furniture polish.
- Raisins"Seeded" means the seeds have been removed, not that they are seedless by variety; ordinary dark raisins are the modern equivalent. Two cups is a great deal of fruit for two cups of flour, so toss them with a spoonful of the measured flour to keep them suspended.
- Pan and yieldThe recipe says only "in loaf." The batter runs to about 2 quarts, too much for one 9x5 pan. Split it between two 8x4 loaf pans, or use a 9-inch tube pan, greased and floured.
- Time and donenessAn hour at 350F suits the smaller loaves; a tube pan or a single large loaf will want 70 to 80 minutes. Test with a skewer in the centre, and expect a moist crumb from the fruit rather than a dry one.
- KeepingLike most fruit-and-spice loaves this improves after a day wrapped tightly. It slices far more cleanly cold than warm.