Description
This is my mother’s very old recipe, at least 60 years old. My mother baked this for my wedding, and it sure is delicious and also a great Christmas cake. This is a very long recipe, but well worth the trouble. You can substitute a cup of drained maraschino cherries for the candied cherries, if you like.
Ingredients
- 6 cups golden raisins
- 3 cups dried currants
- 1 ½ cups pitted dates
- 6 cups raisins
- 1 pound candied mixed citrus peel
- ½ pound candied cherries
- 2 cups almonds
- 2 cups butter
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon almond extract
- 2 cups white sugar
- 12 egg yolks
- ½ cup molasses
- 12 egg whites
- ½ cup grape juice
- ½ cup strong brewed coffee
Instructions
- Wash and dry the raisins and the currants. Wash
- dry
- pit
- and chop the dates. Chop the raisins and the citrus peel. Slice the cherries. Blanch the almonds
- and slice them lengthwise. Combine fruits and nuts in large bowl.
- Grease and line 3 standard Christmas cake pans (these round pans are at least 3 inches deep and come in a set of three sizes- 5
- 7
- and 9 inch across) with 4 layers of heavy waxed paper
- or 3 layers of brown paper. Grease again. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
- Sift together flour
- baking powder
- soda
- salt
- and spices onto a piece of waxed paper. Remove 1 cup of this flour mixture
- and combine with fruit and nuts. Mix until fruit is well coated.
- Cream the butter until fluffy. Add extracts. Gradually add sugar
- mixing until creamy. Beat egg yolks until light and lemon-colored
- and beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the molasses
- and beat together well. Add half of the remaining flour mixture
- and blend thoroughly.
- Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry; fold into batter. Stir in lightly the remaining flour mixture alternately with grape juice and coffee. Add floured fruit and nuts
- blending in until fruit is well distributed.
- Turn batter into prepared cake tins
- filling each about 2/3 full and spreading batter evenly. Bake in center of oven. Bake small cake 2 1/2 hours
- medium cake 3 1/2 hours
- and large cake 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and allow to stand 5 minutes
- then turn out on wire rack to cool.
Prep Time: 1 hr
Cook Time: 4 hrs 30 mins
Total Time: 6 hrs
Servings: 40