When we had a house count of 49,
there were some disagreeable people who
could not be expected to stay long any-
where. One man and his wife made a
specialty of deriding hotels and the enter-
tainment and accommodations they of-
fer. Said he had been trying his powers
of endurance of all evils at the Hotel-
de Villa-Franca at Cabbageadia, and
made much sport of it. ^ He did not seem
to find fault with anything here and yet
he made people feel uncomfortable and
many were glad when he and his wife
went away at the end of two days. Three
or four of the young people besides went
away Saturday evening, as this place is
intolerably dull on Sundays.
Ah, but here is worse sorrow; The
house and the guests are to lose the Col-
onel and the banker's wife and daughter
to morrow morning. They have been
the right sort of guests, evidently, for they
seemed always in the lead for pleasure.
Ltu they have been reading the adver-
tisements of other resorts very closely in
their resting spells when the papers lie on
the piazzas and in the reading room, and
they have found a place that seems to
suit their case better. So to morrow they
go to the Rosedale house at Purple Lake
(it is in the Cashmere Vale, and the
nightingales sing_ round it all the day long
— so the advertisements say) but they
promise the company to come back again
before the season ends.
That is early breakfast Monday morn-
ing for the friends who will go to see
them off, and at night comes off another
birthday supper — this time it is for the
lady hostess and rnust be fine. I have a
13-pound rich fruit cake made some days
ago to be old enough to cut to morrow,
SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL GAZETTE'S
io6
for fruit cakes of the richest sorts are not
good until a week after baking.
836— fiich Fruitcake or Black Cake.
This is the kind of cake or rather, one
of the kinds that can be kept for years
without detriment to the cake. Some
caterers have had it mentioned among
their specialties as "grooms cake, 3 years
old"
Prepare the fruit first :
2^ pounds raisins — 6 heaped cups,
25^ pounds currants — same.
ij^ pounds citron shred fine — 4 cups.
2 heaping tablespoons mixed ground
spices — cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and
mace.
I small cup strong black-coffee.
I Sail cup dark molasses.
Same of brandy.
A small addition of almonds, nuts or
cut figs can be mixed in if wished, and
a spoonful of lemon extract.
Then mix the cake batter:
14 ounces su:4ar — 2 cups.
14 ounces butter — same if pressed.
10 eggs.
18 ounces flour✪ Rich Fruitcake or Black Cake — 4 large cups.
Mix up same as pound cake, the sugar
and butter together first, then eggs 2 a: a
time, then fluur. After the flour, put in
the 2 oances spices, coffee, molasses,
brandy and lemon extract. The batter
is quite thin, but no matter. Mix flour
in the fruit to dust it well, then stir up
all together.
Take a mould that holds at least 6 qts.
or two moulds of4 quarts each, line them
with greased paper, put in the cake and
wrap other papers around the outside
and tie on to guard the cake against too
much heat in baking. Bake from 2 to 3
hours. The raisins ought to be stoned
or, if there is nobody to do that, cut them
in two, but not mince them small, as that
spoUs the appearance of the cake.
Cost of large fruit cake, about 15 cents
a pound.
Page 249 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
When we had a house count of 49, there were some disagreeable people who could not be expected to stay long anywhere. One man and his wife made a specialty of deriding hotels and the entertainment and accommodations they offer. Said he had been trying his powers of endurance of all evils at the Hotelde Villa-Franca at Cabbageadia, and made much sport of it. ^ He did not seem to find fault with anything here and yet he made people feel uncomfortable and many were glad when he and his wife went away at the end of two days. Three or four of the young people besides went away Saturday evening, as this place is intolerably dull on Sundays.
Ah, but here is worse sorrow; The house and the guests are to lose the Colonel and the banker's wife and daughter to morrow morning. They have been the right sort of guests, evidently, for they seemed always in the lead for pleasure. But they have been reading the advertisements of other resorts very closely in their resting spells when the papers lie on the piazzas and in the reading room, and they have found a place that seems to suit their case better. So to morrow they go to the Rosedale house at Purple Lake (it is in the Cashmere Vale, and the nightingales sing_ round it all the day long — so the advertisements say) but they promise the company to come back again before the season ends.
That is early breakfast Monday morning for the friends who will go to see them off, and at night comes off another birthday supper — this time it is for the lady hostess and rnust be fine. I have a 13-pound rich fruit cake made some days ago to be old enough to cut to morrow,
io6
for fruit cakes of the richest sorts are not good until a week after baking.
836— Rich Fruitcake or Black Cake.
This is the kind of cake or rather, one of the kinds that can be kept for years without detriment to the cake. Some caterers have had it mentioned among their specialties as "grooms cake, 3 years old"
Prepare the fruit first :
2^ pounds raisins — 6 heaped cups,
25^ pounds currants — same.
ij^ pounds citron shred fine — 4 cups.
2 heaping tablespoons mixed ground spices — cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and mace.
I small cup strong black-coffee.
I Sail cup dark molasses.
Same of brandy.
A small addition of almonds, nuts or cut figs can be mixed in if wished, and a spoonful of lemon extract.
Then mix the cake batter:
14 ounces sugar — 2 cups.
14 ounces butter — same if pressed.
10 eggs.
18 ounces flour — 4 large cups.
Mix up same as pound cake, the sugar and butter together first, then eggs 2 at a time, then fluur. After the flour, put in the 2 oances spices, coffee, molasses, brandy and lemon extract. The batter is quite thin, but no matter. Mix flour in the fruit to dust it well, then stir up all together.
Take a mould that holds at least 6 qts. or two moulds of4 quarts each, line them with greased paper, put in the cake and wrap other papers around the outside and tie on to guard the cake against too much heat in baking. Bake from 2 to 3 hours. The raisins ought to be stoned or, if there is nobody to do that, cut them in two, but not mince them small, as that spoUs the appearance of the cake.
Cost of large fruit cake, about 15 cents a pound.
Records on this page
Rich Fruitcake or Black Cake