Now that the Holiday countdown has begun, our thoughts have turned to buying presents, pulling out the decorations and lights, making lists for our upcoming parties, and to Holiday baking.
My mother loved baking for the holiday season; when I was growing up, she started early in the fall, making light and dark fruitcakes that she prepared, steamed and baked then wrapped in aluminum foil before placing in ceramic crocks for six weeks or more, to allow the variety of flavours to meld together.
These days most of us don’t have time to bake cakes that take hours to prepare and six weeks or more of maturing to be flavourful; I have mom’s small, medium and large fruitcake pans with their removable bottoms but confess that I have never made fruit cake. But I have made many other recipes of hers, such as her Gumdrop Cake; this cake is a delicious choice for today’s busy cook who still wants to serve special treats to family and friends during the holiday season. For those who like raisins, I’m also including a Gumdrop Cake recipe that not only uses this fruit for added flavour but also uses applesauce to replace the milk found in most cake recipes.
If you’re beginning your search for recipes to make this Holiday season jolly, please come back often to check out the cakes, cookies, squares, breads and other treats I’ll be publishing in the upcoming weeks. Who knows, you may just find new ‘family favourites’ of your own that one day you’ll want to pass on to your loved ones.
Mom’s Gumdrop Cake
1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs (drop one at a time and beat well before adding the next one)
1 cup warm milk
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon
1 ½ lbs. gumdrops cut into chunks and floured with ½ cup flour.
Method
Cream shortening and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well each time. Add liquid and dry ingredients alternately. Add floured gumdrops last. Spoon batter into a greased and lined tube pan. Bake 1 ½ – 2 hours at 350°F oven; cover with foil for first ½ hour. When cake is done, remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes in pan before turning out onto wired rack to cool completely. Wrap cake in plastic wrap or aluminum foil to retain moisture.
Flora’s Gumdrop Cake
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups applesauce
2 ½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. almond flavouring
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. gumdrops
1 lb. raisins
Method
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Add applesauce and dry ingredients alternately. Cut gumdrops into chunks. Mix together with raisins and ½ cup flour. Add to batter last. Spoon batter into greased and lined funnel pan (tube pan), and bake in 350°F oven for 2 – 2 ½ hours. Cool for 10 minutes in pan before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.