Recipe: Mrs. Bailey's Fruit Poundcake

Mrs. Bailey's Fruit Poundcake
rec.food.recipes/Betty E. Kohler
Source: Deborah Kirwan

This is my favorite cake, Mrs. Bailey's Fruit Poundcake. When we moved into our first house in Milwaukee, a neighbor brought us over one of these cakes along with the recipe which she had gotten from the previous owner of our home--a woman who had lived in the house for 40 years (Mrs. Bailey). We love the cake and have baked it often. It makes a perfect dessert for Christmas dinner. It's not dark and heavy like a traditional fruitcake, you don't use any of those bitter fruitcake fruits like candied peel (only candied cherries, candied pineapple and dates), and the cake itself is fabulous. I have also used this recipe to make a poppyseed cake. I left out the fruits and nuts, and I added poppyseeds and a little lemon flavoring. It, too, was great.

Mix: 8 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 pound (1 cup) butter (or half butter, half margarine)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Add: 4 eggs (beat well after each addition)

Sift and add:
2 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt

Combine and fold into batter:
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cut up dates
3/4 cups mixed candied cherries and pineapple
1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Grease 10 inch tube pan, bundt pan or two disposable loaf pans. Fill pan with batter and bake at 325 degrees F. for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Frosting:
Combine 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 Tablespoons cream. Drizzle over top and sides of cake. (I usually don't buy cream for just 2 Tablespoons I melt about 1 Tablespoon butter and add another Tablespoon of milk, or enough milk to make a consistency that will drizzle over the cake without running off onto the plate.)