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By Request
Betty Shimabukuro
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Fruitcake files fill up with recipes
For a food substance that gets so little respect, fruitcake certainly draws more than its fair share of devotion. Last week's request for two fruitcake recipes: a buttery cake version and a fruitcake cookie bar drew several responses, including two from longtime fruitcake bakers who believe they could have the answers.
Judy Nakamura came through with a suggestion for Irene Sakamoto, who was looking for a fruitcake "that is buttery and without the usual quantity of candied fruits." Not a lot of information to go on, but Nakamura's cake does have a pound of butter, so it must be close.
"I make this cake every year," she says, "and even though people say they don't like fruitcake, they seem to enjoy this one."
I was suspicious of the low oven temperature and the lack of leavening in the batter, but I baked up a loaf and it all worked. The butter bubbled up around the sides, creating a crisp edge.
Buttery Fruitcake
1 pound butter
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1-pound container chopped candied fruit
1 cup raisins
1-1/2 cups walnuts, broken in pieces
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Spray 3 5-by-9-inch loaf pans (or 4 4-by-8-inch pans) with cooking-oil spray.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs and flour (batter will be stiff). Fold in fruit and nuts. Divide batter among loaf pans and bake 90 minutes.
Now, for fruitcake No. 2: Helen Masui and Diane Arakawa had asked about a fruitcake bar cookie. Kim Ickler responded with a recipe that her family has made since she was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania.
Parcel Post Bars
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup candied fruit
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add egg and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy.
Stir together flour, salt and baking powder; add to creamed ingredients. Fold in oatmeal, fruit and nuts. Mixture will be stiff. Spread into an 8-by-8-inch baking pan. Bake 30 minutes.
Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and allow to cool completely in the pan. Cut into squares.
Nutritional information unavailable.
Note: 1 cup self-rising flour can be used in place of the flour, salt and baking powder.
Send queries along with name and phone number to: "By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. Or send e-mail to
bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com