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White House Fruit Cake Circa 1985 And 1887
 
recipe image
Prep Time: 0 Minutes
Cook Time: 120 Minutes
Ready In: 120 Minutes
Servings: 2
Since my venture in collecting recipes, I never thought of the historical backgrounds of where these recipes came from, and how they have evolved. It is through these diverse ethnicity - cultures, can we revisit who we are, and who our neighbors are. Read more . Truly, we are not all that different - color of our hair. See it from your recipe, color can make your entree more appealing or not. It's not that far off of an analogy. If you taint your experience with the biases and prejudice inate to you, then you have reduced your life experience by that much. Food is an adventure, and it can be pleasurable, or coversely, it can be vomitus. Enjoy the journey as it is short lived.
Ingredients:
white house cookbook (fruit cake circa 1887)
url: http://www.vintagerecipes.net/books/whitehouse/fruit_cake_by_measure_excellen.php
fruit cake by measure (excellent)
ingredients
2 scant teacupfuls of butter
3 cupfuls of dark brown sugar
6 eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately
1 pound of raisins, seeded
1 pound of currants, washed and dried
1/2 pound of citron cut in thin strips
1/2 cupful of cooking molasses
1/2 cupful of sour milk
1/2 a grated nutmeg
1 tablespoonful of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoonful of cloves
1 teaspoonful of mace
1 wine-glass of brandy
flour
1 level teaspoonful of soda
instructions
stir the butter and sugar to a cream
add to that nutmeg, ground cinnamon, cloves, mace, add the molasses and sour milk. stir all well
then put in the beaten yolks of eggs, brandy; stir again all thoroughly
and then add four cupfuls of sifted flour alternately with the beaten whites of eggs.
now dissolve soda and stir in thoroughly.
mix the fruit together and stir into it two heaping tablespoonfuls of flour; then stir it in the cake.
butter two common-sized baking tins carefully, line them with letter paper well buttered, and bake in a moderate oven two hours.
after it is baked, let it cool in the pan. afterward put it into a tight can, or let it remain in the pans and cover tightly. best recipe of all.
Directions:
1. Lasting Legacy of Fruitcake '85
2. NY Times
3. White House Fruitcake
4. Pastry chef Roland Mesnier has updated the version of the fruitcake made at the White House for many years.
5. Ingredients
6. 1 15-ounce package raisins
7. 2 cups golden raisins
8. 1 cup currants
9. 10 ounces mixed candied fruits
10. 1 6-ounce mixture of glazed pears, peaches, apricots, figs and dates, cut up
11. 1/3 cup candied pineapple
12. 1 cup chopped pecans
13. 4 ounces slivered almonds
14. 1/2 cup bourbon or Port
15. 1/4 cup brandy
16. 1/2 pound butter
17. 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
18. 1/4 cup granulated sugar
19. 2 tablespoons honey
20. 1 1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
21. Grated rind of 2 lemons
22. 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
23. 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
24. 5 eggs
25. 1 cup sifted cake flour
26. 1/2 teaspoon salt
27. 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
28. 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
29. 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
30. 1 12-ounce jar apricot preserves
31. 1/2 cup rum
32. 6 to 8 tablespoons bourbon
33. 1 pound confectioners' sugar
34. 2 tablespoons softened butter
35. Preparation
36. Combine the raisins, currants, candied fruits, glazed fruits, candied pineapple, pecans and almonds with the bourbon and brandy in a large bowl. Refrigerate overnight, or if possible, for two days.
37. Beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, honey, one-third cup of all-purpose flour, grated lemon rind, almond and vanilla extracts until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
38. Sift together one cup of all-purpose flour, one cup of cake flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon together. Add to the batter and beat until well mixed. Combine batter with the fruit and nut mixture, mixing well.
39. Grease three 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-by-2 1/2-inch pans. Line the bottoms and sides with aluminum foil; grease the foil. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing tops.
40. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until the centers spring back when lightly pressed. If tops are browning too fast, cover lightly with buttered foil.
41. While the cakes are baking, bring the apricot preserves to a hard boil and boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, to reduce.
42. Remove the cakes from the oven and while they are still hot, sprinkle with the rum. Then brush with the hot apricot jam.
43. Mix enough bourbon with confectioners' sugar and butter to make a frosting that is thin enough to spread on top of the apricot jam while the cakes are still warm.
44. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack. Allow frosting to dry. Remove cakes from pans; peel off foil. Cool completely. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate. Cake should be sliced chilled.
45. YIELD
46. 3 loaf cakes
By RecipeOfHealth.com