Dinner Tonight: Mom's Coffee Fruitcake

12/11/2011

A recent Blade article about fruitcake got Janet Tewell of Toledo to remember a family recipe passed down probably from her grandmother to her mother “many, many years ago,” she wrote. Made with just one cup of raisins “it is less ‘fruity’ than some of the cakes of the Thanksgiving/Christmas season,” she added, noting also that it has a secret ingredient: Coffee. is is a coffee cake that actually tastes like coffee.

Mom’s Coffee Fruitcake

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup vegetable shortening

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups our, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup cold coffee (regular)

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup raisins

1/2cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine brown sugar and shortening, and beat until creamy. Add eggs and beat for a few seconds. In a separate bowl, add baking powder to sifted our. In another bowl, add baking soda into coffee and stir until it dissolves. Pour of the our mixture into the shortening-and-eggs mixture, and stir to combine. Pour of the coffee mixture into the batter, and stir to combine. Continue to alternate adding the our and coffee mixtures into the batter, stirring after each addition. Add the cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and mix again. Using a large wooden spoon, stir in raisins and walnuts. Grease and lightly our a tube pan. Fill the pan with the batter and bake for 1 1/4 hours (use less time for a loaf pan), or until a toothpick inserted into the cake is pulled out with no crumbs.

— Janet Tewell