Fruit-Cake, No. 1

One pound of butter, the same of sugar and flour, ten eggs, one pound of raisins seeded, one of currants washed and dried, and half a pound of citron cut in little strips. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream, add to them half a small nutmeg grated, a pinch of cinnamon and the rind of half a lemon grated; stir well; then add the yolks of the eggs beaten light; stir these well together, and then add the flour alternately with the whites of the eggs beaten to a froth; mix the fruit altogether, and stir in it two heaping tablespoons of flour, and stir it in the cake. Bake slowly nearly two hours; if browning too much, cover with thick paper. When the cake shrinks from the sides of the pan, and a broom splint run down the centre of the cake comes out clean and dry, the cake is done; and this is the test for all kinds of cake.

Fruit-Cake, No. 2

One pound of powdered sugar, one of butter, one of flour, twelve eggs, two pounds of raisins seeded, two of currants washed and dried, half a pound of citron cut in little slips, one table-spoonful of powdered mace, one of cinnamon, one nutmeg; mix a large wine-glass of Madeira wine and one of brandy and steep the spices in it over night. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream, add the yolks of the eggs beaten light, then the wine and spice; beat well and add the flour alternately with the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth; mix all the fruit together, put on them two heaping tablespoons of flour, stir it through them, and add all to the cake, when ready to put it in the pans. Bake in two cakes, slowly nearly two hours. Line the pans with buttered paper, and cover the cake with thick paper as soon as it is brown on top.

English Fruit-Cake

One pound of butter, the same of sugar, the same of flour, nine eggs, two pounds of currants washed and dried, a quarter of a pound of shelled almonds, blanched, dried and chopped, a quarter of a pound of citron cut in little strips, half a pound of candied orange peel, the same of candied lemon peel, cut in small pieces, half a grated nutmeg, half an ounce of ground allspice, a quarter of an ounce each of ground cinnamon, powdered mace, ground ginger and coriander seed pounded in a mortar, and a gill of good brandy. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream, add the spice, then the yolks of the eggs beaten light, then the brandy, then the flour, alternately with the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth; beat up well, and add the fruit, with a couple of tablespoonsful of flour, which you have left out of the pound; line the pan with buttered paper, pour the cake in, and bake in a moderate oven nearly two hours, cover the cake with thick paper, when brown on top. If you add half a pound of stoned raisins to this cake, it is English bride-cake.

Parmer's Fruit-Cake

Three coffeecups of dried apples, two of molasses, one of butter, one of sugar, one of raisins stoned and chopped, two eggs, the juice and grated rind of one lemon, two teaspoonsful of soda, and one pound and about half a cupful of flour: to be the consistence of soft ginger-cake. Put the apples to soak in cold water over night; in the morning chop them very fine and stew them in a cupful of the water they were soaked in and two of molasses. When very soft, take them from the fire, turn them out to cool, and add to them whilst warm two teaspoonsful of powdered cinnamon, the same of cloves, and the juice and rind of the lemon. Stir to a cream the butter and sugar, and add the eggs beaten light, then the apples and raisins, then the flour, and last the soda dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water. Bake in a moderate oven an hour and a half or two hours; test with a splint.

Plain Fruit-Cake

Three-quarters a pound of butter, one and a quarter pounds of sugar, one and three-quarter pounds of flour, five eggs, one pint of rich milk, a teaspoonful of saleratus and two pounds of seeded raisins. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs and milk, then the flour, leaving out two tablespoonsful to stir through the fruit, then the saleratus dissolved in a tea-spoonful of hot water; beat all well together, and add the fruit Bake all in one, or in flat tins.

Molasses Fruit-Cake

One cup of molasses, one and three-quarter cups of light-brown sugar, one cup of butter, four eggs, one cup of cold water. Boil the molasses, sugar and butter together; let them cool, flour as thick as pound-cake; then add the eggs; beat it well; add gradually the water, with a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in it, then add one pound of raisins, one of currants and half an one of citron, with two heaping tablespoons of flour mixed through the fruit. Bake nearly two hours, if all in one; half the time, if in two cakes. Stir in a saltspoonful of salt.