Gary loves fruitcake, even the awful gumdrop sort which I would not even use as a doorstop. I like the real thing. I made a traditional wedding cake for our wedding in 1974, a dark, aged cake from a nineteenth century recipe. This is what our family regarded as a wedding cake: fruitcake with white sugar frosting. That one was made with candied fruit from the Seattle Public Market, raisin and half orange peel punched from giant glass jars. It was a rich and aged cake, darkened with cocoa and brushed weekly with rum, but this is his favorite of all time. The Dundee cake is also made with “real” dried fruit, and a lovely golden color. Good luck aging it more than a few hours. I always use all organic ingredients.

Dundee cake

Boxing Day 2010 • makes a small rich cake • serves 6-8

I found this recipe when we had family coming for the day after Christmas and I wanted something special for that day. This is a Scottish cake intended for Boxing Day and should be decorated with blanched almonds, but in deference to Ian, I skipped the nuts that first time. I made it with Scotch and my grapefruit marmalade that failed to set, Gary proclaimed it “incredible”—one of the best cakes ever. Since then I have use apricot or whatever golden jam I had in hand. Brushing the top with jam is not optional.

Combine and set aside dry ingredients:

1 ¾ c. all purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

¾ t. salt

¼ t. each allspice and cinnamon

and combine dried fruit:

½ t. powdered ginger

¾ c. dried and sweetened sour cherries 

¾ c. dark raisins

¾ c. dried currants and/or golden raisins

½ c. chopped candied orange peel (I candied this myself with honey)

2 T. Scotch whisky

Using electric mixer, beat in large bowl until fluffy: 

¾ c. butter, room temperature (I use cultured, lightly salted butter)

¾ c. sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

Stir in dry ingredients, then all dried fruits and candied peel. Transfer batter to 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides. (The first time, I used a 7” pan with 3” sides and the cake rose about a half inch above the rim without spilling); buttered and the bottom lined with parchment paper. Decorate top with blanched almonds. Bake at 300° for about 1 hour.

Make sauce: 

¾ c. marmalade or apricot jam

¼ c. orange juice or whiskey

Combine in a medium saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until warm, about 5 minutes. If marmalade is very thin, reduce or skip the added juice/whiskey.

Brush top with sauce. Place a parchment tent over the top to prevent it drying, and continue to bake until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean, 20-45 minutes.

Turn cake out of pan; peel off parchment. Cool cake completely upright on rack. Place on plate. (Can be made 3 days ahead if you can stand to wait. Cover; store at room temperature.) Serve cake with remaining warm sauce and whipped cream, lightly sweetened and flavored with whiskey.

Years ago, I read an odd story published during The Great War (WW1) and told from the point of view of a wedding cake. A couple become engaged and a splendid wedding cake is made (in advance so that it could be aged for a few months), but engagement is broken, and the cake is put away. Several years pass (five?), the war begins, and the couple meet by chance—he in uniform, she also working with troops in a hospital. She is no longer the dewy teenager but a young woman in her twenties. They rekindle their romance and the wedding cake is brought back out at a time when sugar and fruits are severely rationed. A happy ending as it is sliced for the happy couple.

 

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It was a day of thunder and rain, but we managed to get outside in the afternoon during low tide. I have been released from taking the publishing class, which is just as well.

• CREATE: I took the old narrow warp off the loom, chained it and put it aside. Then I wound an eight-yard warp with 102 ends yesterday morning and then 106 ends just after dinner and our walk, and then the last hundred ends while the new episode of Vera played. Today I will move the three chains to the loom and begin threading through the reed.
• BUY: No purchases, though tempted by powdered porcini mushrooms online.
• WRITE: No new writing other than blogging.
• PONDER: Where should the SF story begin and why?