Recipe: Bourbon Nut Cake, Syrian Nut Cake, and Brazil Nut Fruitcake Recipes for Diane

Hi Diane,

Here are some nut cake recipes. They are not from McCall's but maybe one will look similar. Hope these help! Are your recipes from the '80's? If so let me know.

BOURBON NUT CAKE

4 c Sifted flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
4 teaspoons Ground nutmeg
1 c Butter or margarine
2 c Sugar
6 Eggs
4 oz Bourbon, about
4 c Coarsely chopped pecans
1 lb Dark raisins
1/2 lb Candied cherries, sliced or chopped
Powdered sugar

Sift flour with baking powder and nutmeg. Cream butter well, then gradually add sugar and continue to cream until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with bourbon. Stir in nuts, raisins and cherries. Turn batter into well-greased 10-inch tube pan lined on bottom with waxed paper. Bake at 300F 2 hours, or until cake tester inserted near center comes out clean. If top of cake begins to brown before it is done, cover loosely with foil. Remove cake from oven and let stand 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. When cool, sprinkle with additional bourbon and wrap. Use more bourbon if fragrant
cake is desired. Let cake mellow 1 week or longer for best flavor. Sift powdered sugar over top before slicing.

Syrian Nut Cake

Sephardic dessert recipes are usually quite rich and sweet, and this one is no exception. This dense cake contains a variety of nuts found in the fertile crescent and a syrup that is reminiscent of that used on Baklava - all together a winning combination. A Syrian friend gave me the idea for this recipe many years ago and, though it keeps well, I have never had any leftover.

Cake:
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
3 large whole eggs
3 tablespoons tangerine juice
1 teaspoon clementine * zest, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup matzoh cake meal
1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 cup finely chopped pistachios
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Syrup:
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup tangerine juice
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
* I prefer this to tangerine zest, which is often too green-ish in color. Clementines are a bright orange color with lots of flavor in the zest. You may also use the clementine juice in place of

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Generously grease an 8-inch square layer cake pan.

Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, oil, and eggs very well until mixture is thick and pale yellow. Stir in the tangerine juice, zest, salt, cinnamon, cake meal, and nuts. Turn batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until top is light brown and set. Let the cake cool in the pan while you prepare the syrup. When the cake has cooled, poke holes in the cake at -inch intervals, using a wooden skewer.
Syrup

In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar, honey, tangerine juice, water, lemon juice, and cinnamon until the sugar is dissolved and then simmer 5-10 minutes until the mixture becomes syrupy. Cool to room temperature.

Slowly pour the syrup over the cooled cake. Let the cake sit in the refrigerator for several hours to allow it to absorb the syrup and firm up enough to be cut.

Brazil Nut Fruitcake

4 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pound red candied cherries
1 pound green candied cherries
1 pound Brazil nuts
1 pound walnut halves
1 pound pecan halves
2 pounds pitted dates

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 3 - 8x4 inch loaf pans and line them with parchment or waxed paper.

Beat eggs, salt and vanilla together until very light and lemon colored. Stir in sugar, 1 cup flour and baking powder.

Place cherries, nuts, and dates into a large bowl. Dust with the remaining 1/2 cup flour. Then stir in sugar mixture. There is very little batter which makes this a very stiff mixture. Mix with hands.

Press batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour.