“It’s time,” Richard Martin Sr. said in regard to sharing the family’s most cherished recipe — his mother’s fruit cake recipe. Martin is putting together a Martin Family book and decided that the recipe has been kept a secret for long enough.
The fruit cake recipe was given to the family in the 1920s but they were asked to keep the recipe a secret. Martin’s mother, Mary Houston Martin Martin, made the tasty cakes every year and after her death, her children, Freddie, David, Mamie and Richard, continued the tradition.
Each year, seven lucky individuals receive one of the small fruit cakes the Martins bake. Each fruit cake comes with a note that says, “It is best not to eat this fruit cake until or after December 23. Keep the apple fresh inside the bag. It is alright if you would like to smell it before the 233rd. You are very fortunate to be one of the seven people to receive a fruit cake made the old-fashion way. Happy Holidays from all of us.” The others are divided among the family members.
“It is our pleasure to pass the recipe to our families and friends. For the past 100 years we have enjoyed this tradition of making the old-fashioned fruit cakes with all our family and all the stories that came with them. Sometimes we would taste the spirits before making these delicious fruit cakes. We would make these cakes on Sunday afternoon the weekend after Thanksgiving,” Martin said.
Martin Family
old-fashioned fruit cake
Ingredients:
1. One lb. of butter
2. 12 eggs
3. 2 lbs of sugar (32oz)
4. 2lbs of all purpose flour
5. 2lbs of crystallized pineapple
6. 1 lb of cherries
7. 1 lb of citron
8. b of orange peeling
9. b of lemon peeling
*Shortcut- I buy 4 bs of Sun-Ripe fruit cake mix for all of numbers 5-9. If you cannot get these, this is how you make them. Mother made her citron out of watermelon white rinds in the summer and cooked it with sugar and water. She took lemon rinds, orange rinds and pineapple, put them each in separate pans and put them in water with sugar and brought to a boil and cooked until tender and sweet.
After cooking these, put them in the fridge to cool and store up until you need them.
10. 2 lbs of golden raisins
11. 14 oz of figs (cut them up)
12. 16 oz of dates (cut them up)
13. 2 lb of shelled pecans (cut them up)
14. 1 lb of blanched almonds (cut them up)
15. 1 lb of English walnuts (cut them up)
16. 1 teaspoon of salt, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and cloves
17. 2 cups liquid (orange juice, whiskey or wine)
Mixing
1. If you have a tin or some type of metal baking pans you will have to line them on all four sides and bottom with a brown hardware wrapping paper. Cover the inside and bottom of the paper with some kind of cooking oil. If you have the new rubber or pyrex type pans, you do not need to do anything to the pans. This recipe will make about 6 big cakes (4 8 nside pan) or 15 small cakes (3 X 5 nside pan).
2. Get a big round 20 qt mixing bowl (not a square one) to mix all the ingredients in. If it’s round it will be easy to mix all ingredients (trust me).
3. First, see that the fruit is cut in small pieces, then mix well. Break up the nuts in small pieces and mix well with the fruit. Sift flour and spices (mix in the flour) over fruit and nuts. Mix well.
4. Mix sugar and eggs together and pour over all ingredients and mix very well.
5. Melt the butter and pour over all ingredients. Mix well.
6. Two cups of liquid mix well (orange juice OR whiskey OR wine OR Brandy, but only one of them). We like George Dickel Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey 12 years old. This is the spirits we were telling you about at first to taste.
Cooking
1. Place a broiler pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven. Turn the dial to 250 degrees. Fill a broiler pan of water three-fourths full and put in the oven about 20 minutes before you put the cakes in.
2. Let the cakes for about two hours. After that, take out the broiler pan of water and let it cook for another 30 minutes. To see if the cakes are done, take a toothpick or a broom straw and stick the cakes with them to see if it comes out clean. If clean, it is done. If not, cook it 10 to 18 minutes more without water until it is clean.
3. Take the cakes out of the oven and let them sit overnight to cool off. I cover them with a towel.
4. The next morning, take the cakes out of the pans. Get a pyrex dish about nch deep and dip the cake, all sides, top and bottom, in what liquid you are going to use. You can use orange juice OR whiskey OR wine OR Brandy over them. Wrap the cakes up in cheese cloth, put them in a plastic bag with three-fourths to full apples (cut up). If you use orange juice, put your cakes in the refrigerator to age. If you don’t, they will mildew.
We would make one cake with the orange juice for the non-alcohol family member.
5. Let the cakes sit for about four weeks. Watch the apples; they might go bad after 2 eeks or so. Change the apples with new ones. Keep them fresh in the bad. If the cakes are mildewing, put them in the refrigerator.
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