Eggless Fruit Cake Click here for printable recipe
Lightly adapted from the original recipe in the 1941 edition of Rational Recipes by Gertrude Baker.
I'm not absolutely sure that I would recommend trying this recipe. Like Aunt Dimity, I have reservations about how tasty an eggless fruitcake can be. Had I lived in England during the Second World War, however, I wouldn't have had a choice. Eggs were severely rationed and bakers had to make do.
Rational Recipes by (Mrs.) Gertrude Baker---as her name appears on the title page---is a fascinating collection of recipes compiled "to help busy housewives and mothers of large families to prepare quick, nourishing and appetizing meals" from rationed ingredients available during the war. To quote further from the book's introduction: "It is of immediate use as it shows how to carry on in the home under war-time restrictions." Nowadays, the slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On" is something of a joke, but the phrase had real meaning during WWII. Food shortages required cooks to use new methods and new ingredients---such as margarine---and cookbooks like Rational Recipes made it easier for them to "carry on."
My copy of Rational Recipes belonged to a wonderful woman who lived through the Second World War. It was given to me by her daughter, an equally wonderful woman and a dear friend. If you're adventurous enough to give "Eggless Fruit Cake" a try, you'll be following in the footsteps of the many brave cooks and bakers who kept calm and carried on during one of the darkest and most difficult periods in history.
I'm not absolutely sure that I would recommend trying this recipe. Like Aunt Dimity, I have reservations about how tasty an eggless fruitcake can be. Had I lived in England during the Second World War, however, I wouldn't have had a choice. Eggs were severely rationed and bakers had to make do.
Rational Recipes by (Mrs.) Gertrude Baker---as her name appears on the title page---is a fascinating collection of recipes compiled "to help busy housewives and mothers of large families to prepare quick, nourishing and appetizing meals" from rationed ingredients available during the war. To quote further from the book's introduction: "It is of immediate use as it shows how to carry on in the home under war-time restrictions." Nowadays, the slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On" is something of a joke, but the phrase had real meaning during WWII. Food shortages required cooks to use new methods and new ingredients---such as margarine---and cookbooks like Rational Recipes made it easier for them to "carry on."
My copy of Rational Recipes belonged to a wonderful woman who lived through the Second World War. It was given to me by her daughter, an equally wonderful woman and a dear friend. If you're adventurous enough to give "Eggless Fruit Cake" a try, you'll be following in the footsteps of the many brave cooks and bakers who kept calm and carried on during one of the darkest and most difficult periods in history.
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Ingredients
1/2 pound flour 3 ounces moist brown sugar 1/4 pound sultanas or currents 2 ounces mixed peel 1/4 teaspoon mixed spice 1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda Pinch of salt Milk to mix 3 ounces margarine Method 1. Sieve flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. 2. Add mixed spice to dry ingredients. 3. Rub fat into dry ingredients. 4. Add fruit, sugar, and mixed peel to dry ingredients, and mix with milk. 5. Place mixture in a greased and floured loaf pan. 6. Bake in a moderate oven for about 1 hour. Allow to cool. Note to readers who don't know what "mixed spice" and "mixed peel" are: Both can be purchased at a well-stocked British specialty shop. |
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