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
- golden raisins: 6 cups
- currants: 3 cups (dried)
- ½ cups pitted dates: 1 piece
- raisins: 6 cups
- candied mixed citrus peel: 1 pound
- candied cherries: 0.5 pound
- almonds: 2 cups
- butter: 2 cups
- ¼ cups all-purpose flour: 3 piece
- baking powder: 3 tsp
- baking soda: 0.5 tsp
- salt: 0.5 tsp
- ground allspice: 2 tsp
- ground cinnamon: 4 tsp
- ground nutmeg: 1 tsp
- ground cloves: 0.5 tsp
- vanilla extract: 1 Tbsp
- almond extract: 1 Tbsp
- white sugar: 2 cups
- egg yolks: 12 piece
- molasses: 0.5 cup
- egg whites: 12 piece
- grape juice: 0.5 cup
- strong brewed coffee: 0.5 cup
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
