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.

Saturday, November 5, 2022

BAKE A LOVELY CARROT CAKE

Yesterday I baked a Carrot Cake.
I had been sewing downstairs and
at about 3:30 pm I thought I'm 
going to quit and go bake something.
Do you love to bake?


As you can see the cake was quickly
cut and enjoyed after dinner.  
Several pieces went to Senior neighbors
and slices were frozen for another
day down the road.


This cake is really so easy to make and
requires 4 cups of grated carrots, 4 eggs,
1 Cup vegetable oil, 2 cups flour,
2 cups sugar, 2 tsp baking powder and
1 cup chopped walnuts for the cake
body.  Always mix the dry ingredients
 first and then add the eggs and oil.
We are talking 350 degrees for
baking 30 minutes in a regular oven
or 25 minutes convection oven.



The icing was wonderful too and easy.  
1 pkg 8 Oz cream cheese, 4 Tb butter, 
1 3/4 Cups of Confectioners Sugar, 
1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp vanilla
 all mixed together and then another
 1/2 cup walnuts sprinkled on top.


This week I had fun making some little
Ephemera Thanksgiving cards:


To me the Canadians have a better
situation in that they have their 
Thanksgiving in October and move
on to decorating for Christmas.

I also made an ephemera Thanksgiving
medallion for my kitchen
window:
We had a rainy night and now
a very windy day so staying in
seems quite delightful.