The Fireless Cook Book / A Manual of the Construction and Use of Appliances for Cooking by Retained Heat, with 250 Recipes

by Margaret Johnes Mitchell

Plum Cake

• ¹⁄₂ cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• ¹⁄₄ cup chopped nuts
• ¹⁄₄ cup [candied orange peel]
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup currants
• ⁵⁄₈ cup pickled fruit syrup or molasses
• 2 cups flour
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon soda
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons mixed spices

Mix and sift the flour, soda, cream of tartar, and spices. Put all the ingredients together in the order given, flouring the fruit with a little of the measured flour. Put it into a greased pan and bake it for one and one-quarter hours in an insulated oven, with stones heated as explained on [page 225], till the paper is a light brown.

Rich Fruit Cake

• ¹⁄₂ lb. butter (1 cup)
• ¹⁄₂ lb. sugar (1 cup)
• 6 eggs
• ¹⁄₄ cup brandy
• ¹⁄₄ cup lemon juice
• Rind of 1 lemon, grated
• 2 cups blanched, chopped almonds
• ¹⁄₂ lb. citron
• ¹⁄₄ lb. [candied orange peel]
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon allspice
• 1 lb. raisins
• 1 lb. currants
• ¹⁄₂ lb. flour (1³⁄₄ cups)

Line the pan with three thicknesses of paper, buttering the top layer. Mix the flour and spices. Flour all the fruit except the citron. Mix the ingredients in the order in which they are given. The pan may be filled nearly full, as this cake rises but little. Bake it for three hours or more in a very moderate insulated oven. Test the stones as explained on [page 225], until the paper will barely change colour. If, at the end of two hours, the cake is not browned at all, take out one or both of the stones very quickly and heat them again till they will slightly brown the tissue paper. The oven must be promptly closed when the stones are removed, or the cake will be injured. Test it with a steel knitting needle or straw. The needle will come out only a little greasy when the cake is done.

Let the cake stand at least five minutes after removing it from the oven before taking out of the pans, or it is likely to break. Fruit cake should be kept for at least a week in a tightly covered tin box or a crock, before it is ready for use. It will keep for months, and improves with time.

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