Wednesday, November 23, 2022

COLONIAL FRUITCAKES FOR THE SEASON

 I never made Colonial Fruitcakes last
year and sometimes when I do make
them it is well into December but this
year on the day before Thanksgiving
I got my act together!


I can hardly think of Fruitcake without
remembering Martha Scott who blogged
for years at "Lines From Linderhof".  She 
always made her Dundee cakes early in
November.  She passed away this year and
I know is greatly missed by many.


This fruitcake is from a very old recipe I cut
out of Family Circle Magazine back in
1978.  The Colonial Fruitcake had one
unusual ingredient which was Watermelon
Rind Pickles.  I was thrilled to find some
at our local Hyvee Grocery Store.


I got quite a few cakes from
this recipe:

Pickled watermelon rind was called American citron in the 18th century.  It adds its special flavor to this chock-full-of-fruits cake.  Bake this cake at 300 degrees for 45 - 50 minutes, I used a 8" tube pan, 1 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" tin and 5 of the mini 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 1 1/2" loaf pans.

Here are the ingredients:  2 jars (10 oz. ea) pickled watermelon rind - drained, 1 carton (8 oz.) candied red cherries, 1 carton (8 oz.) candied pineapple, 1 -15 oz, box golden raisins, 2 cups slivered almonds (8 oz.), 2 cups chopped walnuts (8 oz.), 3 cups sifted all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, (reduce to 1 1/2 tsp in high altitude)1 cup (2 sticks) butter, 2 cups sugar, 6 eggs, 1/2 cup of brandy, rum or orange juice. (I uses Bacardi Rum and also I brush it on top after baking and once a week for about a month)

I ended up adding a little more flour this time to my batter and I mixed everything in a large pot.  The tins were buttered and flour coated.

4 comments:

  1. They look very pretty like little gems baked into a cake.

    Happy Thanksgiving...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful looking fruit cakes. Happy Thanksgiving.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for sharing with us your blog posts all throughout the year. Your Colonial Fruitcakes look pretty and festive. (I was very sad to read about the passing of Martha Scott. She had a wonderful blog and I so looked forward to all she shared with us.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, that’s so sad about Martha. I used to love to visit her blog. Your Colonial Fruitcakes look wonderful. My late beloved and I went to Williamsburg for our honeymoon in 1970 and I still love anything “colonial”.

    ReplyDelete

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