Mrs. Carey’s Fruit Cake
Mrs. Carey's Fruit Cake
Ingredients
- 1 lb. butter
- 1 lb. sugar or 2 cups plus ¼ lb. for dredging fruit
- 12 eggs separated
- 2 tablespoons cream
- 1 glass strawberry preserves
- 1 water glass wine homemade, if you have it
- 1 lb. flour or 4 cups
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons nutmeg or cinnamon
- 3 lbs. raisins
- 2 lbs. currants
- lb. citron
- 1 lb. candied cherries
- lb. candied pineapple
- 1 lb. nuts or 4 cups
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Separate egg whites and egg yolks. Add beaten egg yolks to creamed mixture. Beat in 2 tablespoons cream. Add strawberry preserves. Add wine. Then add sifted flour, baking powder, and nutmeg. Dredge the cut-up fruit and nuts in ¼ pound of flour. Add to mixture. Add egg whites last. Grease and flour two tube pans. Put wax paper in bottom of pans. Bake at 275 degrees for 3 hours. After 1½ hours, put a pan of water on the oven rack beneath the cakes. When cakes are done and cooled, wrap each in a clean white cloth (an old dish towel works fine) soaked in wine (homemade is best), then wrap each cloth-covered cake in aluminum foil. Refrigerate for several weeks. (My parents always made theirs on Thanksgiving morning and refrigerated them until near Christmas.)
