I Made Fidel His Birthday Cake - At Last !

Picture : Culinary Types

Well I'll be damned... who'd a thought? Now I have an inkling why we always considered it Christmas baking - Nana and Mom always made this "cake" (aka loaf) only at Christmas.

Thank you to The Old Foodie for the history. In fact the recipe posted is identical to the one I use. Raisins are listed, but I omit these. Nana listed citrus in hers; instead I use grated orange rind.

A change of pace... I also top the loaf, hot out of the oven, with a mixture of juice from one fresh squeezed orange well mixed with about 1/4 cup sugar.

Any how - we enjoyed the loaf tonight for dessert (and a belated birthday treat).

Here is the recipe used on The Old Foodie post~

"The Gumdrop Cake seems to have burst onto the culinary scene in America and Canada in the 1940’s, and was promoted as a novel alternative to traditional Christmas Cake. This version is from the Lilly Wallace New American Cook Book of 1946.

Gumdrop Cake.
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 ¼ cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup milk
¾ cup raisins
1 pound gumdrops, black ones removed, chopped finely.
Cream butter, while adding sugar and beaten eggs. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together over chopped candy and raisins. Dredge well. Add vanilla to milk and add flour mixture and milk, to first mixture alternately. Bake in a large greased loaf tin in a slow oven (275 to 300 degrees F) [140-150 degrees C] 1 ½ hours."

I only use 2 cups of flour. Gumdrops= jujubes and 1 cup is the amount I use. I cook my loaf a bit higher at about 325 F - but about the same time. I check at 1 hour to see if its done & then check every 15 minutes. Usually 1.25 hours is plenty of time (my oven runs a bit hot).