Light Christmas Cake Recipe

Have Your Cake And Eat It Too With Grandma's Light Christmas Cake Recipe

An old-fashioned light Christmas cake recipe might be just what you've been searching for. These white fruit cakes with their delicate texture are very, very tasty, and especially so for those who don't like a heavier, darker fruit cake.

Let's face it, not everyone likes the richer taste of a dark fruit cake. Comedians even make jokes about them, but I suspect those who laugh have never tasted the old-fashioned, homemade variety that Grandma made.

But, some cake lovers do prefer a more delicate flavor in their fruit cakes, yet they still enjoy the taste of fruit and almonds. Now they can have their cake and eat it too. Grandma's old-time white fruit cakes will please everybody. Why not give people a choice this Christmas? Make both a white AND a dark fruit cake for this Holiday Season.

Light Fruit Cake

1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 6 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 3-1/2 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 pound seeded raisins, 1/2 pound seedless raisins, 1/2 pound dates, 1/2 pound almonds, 1/2 cup citron peel thinly sliced. Mix and bake in a slow oven (250°F).

White Fruit Cake

4 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound each of crystallized orange peel, lemon peel, pineapple, and red cherries, finely cut
1 pound blanched almonds, finely cut
1 cup butter or other shortening
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound sultana raisins
1/2 pound citron peel, finely cut
1 tablespoon lemon juice
10 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder, soda, salt, and sift together three times. Sift 1 cup of this flour mixture over fruit and nuts; mix thoroughly. Cream shortening thoroughly, add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy.

Add remaining flour mixture to creamed mixture, a small amount at a time. Beat after each additional until smooth. Add lemon juice, fruits and nuts. Fold in egg whites. Pour into a paper-lined tube pan or small bread pans. Bake in a slow oven, 250°F, 2-1/2 hours, then increase to 300°F, for 15 minutes.

This makes a cake of particularly fine texture. Only the whites of the eggs are used, but if you make a dark fruit cake at the same time you can use the yolks of the eggs in the dark cake. Substitute 2 egg yolks for a whole egg in any dark fruit cake recipe and add 1/2 tablespoonful of water to every 2 yolks.

This substitution would not be satisfactory in a cake where lightness is desired, but it gives a good rich fruit cake.

White Fruit Cake

One and a half cups white sugar, 1/2 pound butter, 4 eggs beaten light, 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 pound white raisins, 1/2 pound citron peel, 1/2 pound candied cherries, 1/2 pound blanched almonds. Lemon flavoring to suit. Bake in a slow oven (250°F) about 2 hours in paper-lined tins.

Royal Icing Recipe For Christmas Cakes

Ingredients: Two and one-half pounds icing sugar (sifted), 4 egg whites (large), juice of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon glycerine, 4 drops laundry blueing to make the icing snowy white.

Method: Place egg whites in a bowl and add sugar very gradually, beating continually until all sugar is added, then add lemon juice, beat again. Add glycerine and blueing and continue beating until very smooth. Don't skimp on the beating.

This icing will be quite hard on the outside, but will not break or crumble when cut, and is perfect for cake decorating purposes. It will make any cake special.