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Black Fruit Cake
Mrs. C. H. Wheeler.
Three-fourths pound of butter, one pound of sugar (brown), one pound flour, two pounds currants, three pounds raisins (seeded), one-half pound citron, one-fourth pound almonds, eight eggs, one nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, one wine glass of brandy. The raisins are better if soaked in brandy over night.
A classic English-style fruit cake in the American idiom: nearly six pounds of fruit bound by a single pound of flour, with no chemical leavening at all. The eggs are the only lift, so how you handle them decides whether this is a cake or a brick.
- Beat the eggs properlyWith no baking powder or soda, the eight eggs are the entire rising power. Cream the butter and brown sugar until pale, then beat the eggs until thick and light and add them gradually so the batter never breaks. This is the hinge of the recipe.
- Wine glass of brandyIn American books of this period a wine glass is about 2 fluid ounces, or 1/4 cup. The brandy for soaking the raisins overnight is separate and additional; a cup is enough to wet three pounds of fruit.
- Spices left to your judgementThe original names cloves and cinnamon without amounts. For this quantity of batter, 1 to 2 teaspoons of each is a reasonable modern reading. One whole grated nutmeg is roughly 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons.
- Seeded raisins"Seeded" means the seeds had been picked out by hand, often from large raisins such as muscatels. Modern seedless raisins are the direct replacement, and a mix of dark raisins and sultanas gives a better texture.
- AlmondsA quarter pound is about 3/4 to 1 cup. Blanch and chop them, or use blanched slivered almonds. Bitter almonds, sometimes called for in cakes of this era, are not used today and are not wanted here.
- CitronCandied citron peel, sold in tubs at holiday time. If unavailable, candied orange and lemon peel together stand in without changing the character much.
- Oven and timingA cake this dense wants a slow oven, 275 to 300F, for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours. Line the pans with two layers of parchment and cover loosely with foil once the top has coloured; the outside will scorch long before the centre sets otherwise.
- YieldThe batter runs to well over nine pounds. Divide it between two 9-inch loaf pans and a smaller one, or use one 10-inch tube pan plus a loaf. Cool completely in the pans before turning out.
- KeepingFruit cakes of this type improve for weeks. Wrap in brandy-dampened cloth, then in foil, and store in a tin in a cool place, re-moistening the cloth every week or two.
Black fruit cake takes its name from its colour, which comes from brown sugar, dark spices and a very high proportion of dried fruit rather than from any burnt element; a paler "white" or "silver" cake made with white sugar, currants and no dark spice was a common companion in nineteenth-century books. Recipes like this one descend from the rich English plum cakes of the eighteenth century, and their extravagance was the point: currants, citron, almonds and brandy were all imported goods, so a cake weighing the better part of ten pounds announced a household that could afford them. The Home Cook Book was compiled from contributions credited to named women, chiefly of Chicago, which is why this appears over Mrs. C. H. Wheeler's name; such a cake would have been baked weeks ahead for Christmas or a wedding, and the brandy-soaked wrapping was as much preservative as flavouring in a kitchen without refrigeration.