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Virginia Fruit Cake
Cream 1 cup sugar with 1/2 cup margarine. Add 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts, 1/2 cup finely sliced citron, 1/2 cup white seedless raisins, 1 tablespoon orange peel. Mix and sift 2 cups flour with 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and add it to first mixture alternately with 1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk to which 3/4 teaspoon baking soda has been added. Flavor with 1 teaspoon lemon extract. When all mixed together thoroughly fold into the batter the stiffly beaten whites of 4 eggs. Bake slowly (325 degrees) in 1 large loaf pan. If desired, decorate the top of the cake with blanched almonds after it is cooked, also with candied fruits.
A light-colored fruit cake leavened with both baking powder and soda and lifted with beaten egg whites — closer to a rich white loaf cake than a dark, brandy-soaked Christmas fruit cake. The recipe gives a temperature but no baking time, so watch the loaf rather than the clock.
- Baking time325F in a single large loaf pan (roughly 9x5 inches, lined and greased) will need about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. A skewer in the center should come out clean and the loaf should pull slightly from the sides; tent with foil if the top colors early.
- Two leaveners on purposeThe 3/4 teaspoon soda reacts with the acid of the buttermilk or sour milk, which both takes the sourness off and gives some lift of its own; the 2 teaspoons baking powder supplies most of the rise. Stir the soda into the buttermilk just before use and get the batter into the pan promptly.
- Buttermilk or sour milkCultured buttermilk from a carton works directly. "Sour milk" in this period meant milk that had naturally clabbered; the modern stand-in is 1/2 cup milk with 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar, left five minutes.
- CitronCandied citron is the thick rind of the citron, a citrus fruit, preserved in sugar; it is now sold mainly around the holidays or from baking suppliers. Candied lemon peel or a mix of candied orange and lemon is the usual substitute; it is not the same as citrus zest.
- Orange peelThe tablespoon of orange peel most likely means candied peel, chopped fine, in keeping with the citron and raisins, though grated fresh peel is possible and gives a brighter, less sweet result.
- MargarineMargarine of this sort was a firm, plain-tasting hardened fat used as a butter economy. Butter substituted measure for measure gives a better cake; if you use modern tub margarine, check that it is not a low-fat spread, which will not cream.
- Flour the fruitToss the nuts, citron, raisins and peel with a spoonful of the measured flour before adding them. Otherwise the heavy pieces sink through this comparatively slack batter.
- Folding the whitesThe four stiffly beaten whites do much of the lightening, alongside the chemical leaveners and the air worked in during creaming. Fold them in with a spatula in three additions and stop as soon as no streaks show; beating them in will knock the air out.
- Decorating after bakingBlanched almonds and candied fruit pressed onto a cooled cake need something to hold them. Brush the top with a warmed thin apricot glaze or a light sugar syrup, arrange the decoration, and let it set.
- YieldOne large loaf, 16 to 20 thin slices. It keeps well wrapped for a week and slices more cleanly on the second day.