Wedding
Invitation!
Bringing out the suitcases!
At Bryan’s and my wedding, Lorne was just a boy, but he
did one of the readings at the church .
Baking a wedding cake was a snap for my mom because
every year she made several fruit cakes for Christmas. She wanted to make a traditional three-layer
cake but I insisted on only one layer because the reception was only a very small
gathering of relatives and friends.
Mom was worried about decorating the cake, however, so
the icing was added by a professional baker.
I had found the design in a
Cordon Bleu magazine.
MARY’S DARK FRUIT CAKE (for Christmas or Weddings)
********************
Mary’s Dark Fruit Cake (for Christmas or Weddings)
1 cup butter ½
cup citron
1 cup brown
sugar 1
and ½ cup flour
3 eggs ¼
tsp. baking soda
¼ cup sour
cream ½
tsp. cinnamon
1 cup
raisins ½
tsp. cloves
½ cup
slivered almonds 1
tsp. allspice
1 cup
currants ¾
tsp. baking powder
1 cup chopped
dates ¼
cup orange juice
Bake in slow
oven (250 to 300 degrees) until done.
********************
This recipe is more detailed than most of Mom’s recipes. Old-tyme cooks didn’t use precise
measurements: as Mom put it, they did it ‘by gosh or by golly’, adding things
like flour until the dough felt right.
And they cooked in a woodstove which meant the heat was hard to regulate
– not to mention that the temperature gauge on the front was always broken so
the cook also had to judge when the oven was ready, once again using that old
‘by gosh and by golly’.
I had to quantify many recipes by
watching Mom and writing things down as she breezed through some complicated
procedures. So, when you see the numbers
by the recipes, you should know that those weren’t ever put there by the
Mary. But, if you like things a little
more systematic, like me, here are a few more instructions for that cake:
1. Grease a 9x9 cake pan and line it with 2
thicknesses of parchment or waxed paper.
Butter the top layer of paper.
2. Chop the dates, mixing them with a little of
the flour.
3. Add the rest of the fruit, again mixing in a
little flour to separate the pieces.
4. Add the almonds to this mixture.
5. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
6. Mix the spices, baking powder, and baking
soda into remaining flour.
7. Cream the butter and sugar well.
8. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after
each addition.
9. Add orange juice and sour cream. Beat.
10. Stir in
the flour and spice mixture.
11. Stir in the fruit and nut mixture.
12. Bake for 3 to 3 ½ hours. If the top of the cake browns too rapidly,
cover with a piece of aluminum foil.
Test by
pressing the surface lightly with a fingertip.
If the cake feels firm and no finger imprint is left, the cake is done.
13. Invert on a wire cake cooler for a few
minutes before removing the baking tin.
P.S. Did you know the Queen loves a good, dark, heavy fruitcake?
P.S. Did you know the Queen loves a good, dark, heavy fruitcake?
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