A Love Affair with Southern Cooking (61 page)

Cake

3½ cups sifted cake flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

8 large egg yolks

1¼ cups milk

1 teaspoon almond extract

4 large egg whites, beaten to soft peaks

Frosting

3 cups sugar

½ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup boiling water

4 large egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

2 cups coarsely chopped seedless raisins

• 1.
  For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease and flour three 9-inch layer cake pans well, tap out the excess flour, and set aside.
  
• 2.
  Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a piece of wax paper and set aside also.
  
• 3.
  Cream the butter in a large electric mixer bowl, first at low speed and then at high for 2 to 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. With the machine at moderately low speed, add the sugar gradually and continue beating for 1 to 2 minutes or until light. Add the egg yolks two at a time, beating well after each addition.
  
• 4.
  With the mixer at low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry,
  and beating after each addition only enough to combine. Stir in the almond extract.
  
• 5.
  Mix about 1 cup of the beaten egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it, then gently fold in the rest until no streaks of white remain. Divide the batter among the three pans and rap each sharply on the counter once or twice to expel large air bubbles.
  
• 6.
  Bake in the lower third of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cakes are springy to the touch and a cake tester inserted midway be-tween the center and the rim comes out clean.
  
• 7.
  Cool the cakes in the upright pans on wire racks for 5 minutes, then turn out on the racks and cool to room temperature.
  
• 8.
  Meanwhile, prepare the frosting: Combine the sugar, lemon juice, and water in a heavy 4-quart saucepan; insert a candy thermometer. Set over moderately high heat, stir until the sugar dissolves, then cook without stirring until the syrup spins a long thread (234° to 236° F.). Beating with an electric mixer at high speed, add the boiling syrup to the stiffly beaten egg whites in a thin stream, then continue beating until the frosting is stiff enough to hold its shape. Stir in the vanilla, then fold in the chopped nuts and raisins.
  
• 9.
  To assemble: Place one cake layer upside down on a large round platter and spread with one fourth of the frosting. Add a second layer, right side up this time, and spread with another one fourth of the frosting. Add the third and final layer, right side up, then swirl the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
  
• 10.
  Let stand until the frosting firms up a bit, then cut into slim wedges and serve.
  

IDA’S HEIRLOOM FRUITCAKE

MAKES
13
POUNDS OF FRUITCAKE OR TEN
⁵⁵
/
₈
× 3 × 2-
INCH LOAVES

Ida Friday, wife of Dr. William C. Friday, who for three decades was president of the University of North Carolina, is famous for the fruitcakes she makes, decks with pecans and glacéed fruits, and distributes among friends each Christmas. My own family always looked forward to Ida’s fruitcake—dense, dark, delicious, and unlike any we’d ever eaten. The fruitcake mixture is baked in a huge roaster, stirred every 15 minutes, then packed into buttered pans; no further baking needed. When I asked Ida if I might include her recipe in this cookbook, she brought me a small loaf to sample as well as the typed recipe. She told me that the recipe comes from her Orangeburg, South Carolina, ancestors and that it’s well over a hundred years old; it may even date as far back as the Civil War. Speaking of which, Ida’s grandfather was four years old when Sherman’s troops began their march through South Carolina torching houses. The day Yankees rode into her grandfather’s yard, the little boy ran up to a dismounted soldier, hugged him around the knees, looked up, and asked, “Are you my papa?”

“No, son. But I hope he comes home safe,” the Yankee replied, leaping upon his horse and leading his troops away. The boy’s home was spared and his father did come home safe. Note:
Some of the ingredients in this archival recipe are called for by “rounded cups;” I’ve taken the liberty of converting these to today’s more precise measurements.

Ida told me that you need two helpers when you make this fruitcake, not only to prep the fruits and nuts but also to pack the mixture into the pans while it is still hot. “One to scoop,” she said, “and two to pack.” For her, making fruitcake is a two-day project. Day one is devoted to preparing the fruits and nuts, which are then covered overnight. Day two is for making and baking the fruitcakes, for decorating, and wrapping. Although Ida makes fruitcakes of different sizes and shapes, sometimes even packing the mixture into muffin pans, I find 5
⁵
/
₈
× 3 × 2-inch loaves perfect for gift giving. Tip:
If these fruitcakes are to compact properly, the pieces of fruits and nuts must be small.

Fruits and Nuts

7 cups shelled pecans

1 pound glacéed green cherries, each cherry quartered lengthwise (from stem to blossom end)

1 pound glacéed pineapple, cut into ½ × ¼ × ¼-inch rectangles

1 pound glacéed citron, cut into ¼-inch dice

Two 15-ounce boxes golden seedless raisins (sultanas)

One 15-ounce box dark seedless raisins

8 ounces pitted dates, cut into ¼-inch dice

8 ounces dried figs, stemmed and cut into ¼-inch dice

4 ounces glacéed lemon rind, cut into ¼-inch dice

4 ounces glacéed orange rind, cut into ¼-inch dice

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour (for dredging)

Batter

3¼ cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 scant tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 scant tablespoon ground allspice

1 scant tablespoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 pound (4 sticks) butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

12 large eggs

Decorations

5 glacéed red cherries, halved

20 small fan-shaped pieces of glacéed pineapple

40 perfect pecan halves (saved from the 7 cups above)

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly butter a 15½ × 10½ × 1-inch jelly-roll pan—a bright aluminum one—and set aside. Also butter the bottom of a 20 × 14 × 10-inch turkey roaster and set aside. Finally, butter ten 5
  ⁵
  /
  ₈
  × 3 × 2-inch loaf pans and set aside.
  
• 2.
  For the fruits and nuts: Reserve 40 perfect pecan halves for decorating the fruitcakes. Coarsely chop the rest, spread half of them in the jelly-roll pan, and bake on the middle oven shelf for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once or twice, or until lightly toasted; do not overbrown. Transfer to an ungreased large roasting pan. Toast the remaining pecans the same way and add to the roasting pan.
  
• 3.
  Add all of the prepared fruits to the pecans and toss well using your hands. Sprinkle the dredging flour evenly over all, then again mix thoroughly with your hands. It’s important that all fruits and nuts be lightly coated with flour.
  
• 4.
  For the batter: Sift the flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves onto a large piece of wax paper and set aside.
  
• 5.
  Cream the butter in a large electric mixer bowl at medium speed for 1 to 1½ minutes or until light and fluffy. With the mixer running, add the sugar gradually, creaming all the while. Beat the eggs in one by one, then, with the mixer at low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients in three batches, beating only enough to combine. Do not overmix.
  
• 6.
  Scoop the batter—it’s quite stiff—over the surface of the fruit and nut mixture, distributing evenly. Then, working in sections and using your hands, mix thoroughly until all fruits and nuts are well coated with the batter. Transfer the mixture to the turkey roaster, spreading to the edge.
  
• 7.
  Bake uncovered in the lower third of the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, close the oven door, and stir the
  mixture thoroughly, scooping it again and again from the edge to the center and from the bottom to the top. Repeat the process three times, baking in 15-minute increments, removing the pan from the oven, closing the door, and stirring the mixture as thoroughly as before. Total baking time: 1 hour. Stir the finished mixture well; it should be uniformly moist and crumbly.
  
• 8.
  Turn the oven off and pull the shelf and the turkey roaster most of the way out of the oven. Now working fast, pack the hot crumbly mixture firmly into the prepared loaf pans in layers (this is a three-person job: one scooper, two packers). Ida packs in a layer about ¾ inch thick, then adds another and another until the pan is full.
  Note:
  For packing, I use a same-size loaf pan spritzed on the outside with nonstick cooking spray and press down as hard as possible; I then tamp the mixture firmly into the corners with a tablespoon. It’s essential that you pack each layer into the pan as firmly as possible; otherwise your fruitcakes may crumble when you remove them from the pans.
  Tip:
  If the fruitcake mixture becomes too dry to pack, Ida suggests drizzling in just enough wine to soften it. I used a little dry white wine (but dry sherry or port would also be good).
  
• 9.
  Once all pans have been packed with fruitcake, let stand right side up for an hour or two before unmolding.
  
• 10.
  To unmold her fruitcakes, Ida Friday runs the pans briefly over an electric stovetop burner. Lacking her experience and afraid that I might burn the cakes, I used a simmering water bath instead—a half-filled 13 × 9 × 2-inch baking pan set over low heat. Here’s my technique: Working with one pan of fruitcake at a time, let each stand for 30 seconds in the simmering water, then invert at once onto your work surface (Ida uses her marble counter, I a plastic cutting board or sheet of foil placed dull side up on the counter).
  
• 11.
  The instant a fruitcake is inverted, decorate the bottom while it is still warm. I center half a glacéed red cherry in each loaf, add a little glacéed pineapple fan above and below, then bracket the cherry with 4 pecan halves so that they form a large X. Of course, you can decorate the cakes any way you fancy, but keep the designs simple so that the cakes will slice easily.
  Note:
  It’s imperative that each nut, each piece of fruit be pressed firmly into the fruitcake; otherwise they will not stick.
  
• 12.
  When the fruitcakes have cooled to room temperature, wrap snugly in plain plastic food wrap (not colored, which will obscure the decoration), pulling hard with each turn so that you compact the cakes and seal in the decorations.
  Note:
  This recipe may seem complicated; in fact it isn’t. Once all the fruits and nuts are prepped, Ida’s fruitcake is easier than those that bake for hours in pans lined with buttered paper.
  

JAPANESE FRUITCAKE

MAKES ONE
9-
INCH
, 4-
LAYER CAKE

It isn’t Japanese, it isn’t fruitcake, and it’s unknown in some parts of the South. Where it is known, however—mainly the eastern Carolinas (although it was also a Carter family Christmas favorite when the former president was growing up in Plains, Georgia)—it’s both classic and beloved. Recipes vary significantly. Some cooks fold crushed pineapple and/or diced maraschino cherries into their filling, some prefer a tart lemon-coconut filling, some use a spice cake batter only and skip the nuts.

When and where did Japanese Fruitcake originate? And what accounts for its unusual name? No one knows for sure. When I queried southern food historian and cookbook author Damon Lee Fowler about this, he told me that a recipe for “Japanese Cake” appears in the
Tested Recipe Cook Book
published in 1895 by the Board of Women Managers of the Cotton States and International Exposition held that same year in Atlanta. It differs from today’s Japanese Fruitcake only in the details. “The contributor,” Fowler continued, “is presumably an American woman (at least her husband has a western name) living in Shanghai, China.” That cake contains no nuts and the filling is a cornstarch-thickened lemon-coconut one.