Bara Brith

My great grandmother was from a Welsh coal-mining family. They moved to Jim Thorpe, PA in search of a better life, and her descendants migrated west until they reached California. My mother had the recipe for this tea bread on a scrap of paper in her grandmother's handwriting, and she would often bake it for us kids.

Ingredients

1 pound dried fruit

1 pint cold, strong black tea

12 ounces brown sugar

4 cups unbleached flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon each allspice, cinnamon and ground cloves

1 extra large egg

Method

Soak the fruit in the tea overnight in a large bowl. Next day mix the sugar and spices into it. Add the egg and mix well. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt, and incorporate gently with a wooden spoon.

Pour the mixture into a large, well greased bread or cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 1 1/2 hours. Turn out and allow to cool. 

Serve spread thickly with salted butter or slices of cheese. It is traditional to serve Bara Brith with Caerphilly cheese, a saltier, crumblier version of Cheddar, which you can sometimes pick up at stores such as Dean & Deluca and Whole Foods.

Florence's Heavy Fruit Cake

I didn't know Florence myself, but from the taste of this fruit cake she must have been quite a gal.

This is the ultimate, non-taxing recipe, and as good and moist a cake as you will ever taste.

Ingredients

3/4 pound dried, mixed fruit
6 oz light brown sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
4 oz glace cherries, chopped
4 oz butter
1 x 8 oz can of pineapple, strained and chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
8 oz all-purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder

Method

Put butter, sugar, and all the fruit into a pan over a gentle heat. Stir until the butter has melted and everything is well mixed. Remove the pan from the heat and gradually stir in the beaten egg. Carefully fold in the flour sieved with the baking powder and spice.

Put the mixture into a prepared 8" cake tin and cook in a moderate oven (300 F) for 1 1/4 hours. Allow to firm up for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Marzipan for the Christmas Cake

Makes about 1 1/4 pounds

1 pound blanched almonds
3 large egg whites, at room temperature 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar 

Grind the blanched almonds (the Vitamix is ideal for this job) into a fine powder. Sift the powder through a fine sieve into a large bowl. Regrind any almond particles remaining in the sifter. 

In a bowl whisk the egg whites with the salt until they are frothy, whisk in the vanilla and almond essences.


Stir this mixture into the almond powder. Sift in 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, kneading the mixture together in the bowl, and sift enough of the remaining 1 cup sugar to form a smooth, pliable dough (add more sugar if the dough is too sticky). 


Quarter the dough and wrap each piece tightly in foil. The marzipan paste keeps, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 8 weeks.

Christmas Cake

With Thanksgiving just behind us it's time to start thinking about the Holiday Season. For generations the Grant women have made made their Christmas cakes at the beginning of December. That way they have three weeks to mature. I'd like to share our family recipe with you.

Ingredients

2 sticks butter, softened
8 oz light brown sugar
8 oz all purpose flour
1/8 teasp salt
1/2 teasp allspice
1/2 teasp cinnamon
1 teasp baking powder
6 eggs, lightly beaten
8 oz currants
8 oz sultanas
8 oz raisins
4 oz candied cherries
2 oz candied citron
4 oz blanched almonds, chopped
a little milk
4-5 tablesp brandy

Method

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch cake tin with parchment, greased well. Cream fat and sugar until very pale. Sift flour, salt spices and baking powder. Toss the dried fruit in a little of the flour mixture. Add egg and flour mixture to creamed fat in several alternating batches, beating well between each addition. Stir in the prepared fruit and almonds, using a little milk if needed to give a soft dropping consistency.

Place mixture in cake tin; smooth top making a depression in the center. Bake in a warm oven (335 degrees F) for 1/2 hour, then reduce heat to 290 degrees for a further 3-3 1/2 hours. Allow the cake to firm up before removing from tin. When cold remove paper. Prick bottom of cake and sprinkle brandy over. Repeat this process several times, every few days.

Spread warmed, sieved apricot jam over top and sides of cake. Roll out a think layer of almond paste the size of the top, and another in a band for the sides. Press onto cake and mold edges together. Frost with royal icing or powdered sugar and water glaze. For a less sweet decoration simply sift powdered sugar over the marzipan covering. Decorate with Christmas ornaments.