Election Cake

Well, Election Day is over. I took the boys to vote; one of them wanted to know why I was voting for so many Libertarians. Many people in the polling place chuckled as his brother "shooshed" him. I believe Mitt Romney would have been the best choice for our next president, and now I can only hope that Obama abandons his plans to raise taxes. The last president to raise taxes during a recession was Herbert Hoover in 1930/31, and that caused the Great Depression. Let us hope this history lesson is learned by our government.

On a cheery note, however, in my "new" Fanny Farmer cookbook, I hit upon a recipe for Election Cake. It is billed as a "Connecticut tradition", although my dearly beloved, who is from Connecticut, swears he never heard of it. Hmph. Must be because his mother is from Massachusetts. They are so far apart, you know, that traditions could never possibly cross the border to her family. Yes, I'm joking. I know my geography better than that. Anyway, this is called a "fruit cake", although it's much lighter than the ones which are fodder for so many comedians. And while the recipe called for whiskey, I didn't use any, because I don't like it. Instead, I soaked my raisins in an equal amount of warm water for a while before adding them. Also, plan ahead, because this takes a while to rise. You can double the amount of yeast without changing the flavor of the cake, and it makes the rising a lot faster.

ELECTION CAKE

1 cup warm water
3 tsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp oil

Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let soften. Add the other ingredients, beat together, and set aside to rise for 6 hours or overnight (I left it until it doubled in size).

1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 tbsp lemon rind
1 tbsp lemon juice
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups raisins
1 cup whiskey*

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. Cream the butter with the brown sugar, and add the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the lemon rind and juice, then the dry ingredients. Then beat in the yeast mixture until thoroughly combined. Add the whiskey and raisins. Turn into 3 greased loaf pans, and let rise for about an hour, then bake 40 to 50 minutes at 350F.
I mixed up a glaze with powdered sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream and drizzled it on top of the cake, then drizzled more over each individual serving. One of the three loaves disappeared last night, so it must have been pretty good. OK, I admit: my husband was sitting there raving about this cake. It reminded me more of a spice cake than fruit cake. I'll make this again next year, or maybe even before that!*Remember, I didn't use whiskey; I replaced it with water.