Photo by iStockphoto.com/monkeybusinessimages
While your cake will turn out a bit differently, we're sure the family's reaction will be similar.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup chopped raisins
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- All-purpose flour
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups self-rising flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup buttermilk
Icing/Filling:
- 2-1⁄2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- Grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
- 1-1⁄2 cups hot water
Garnish:
- 2 cups flaked coconut, frozen
- Whole pecans, optional
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300 F. Grease and lightly flour three 9-inch layer pans; set aside.
- To make cake: In small bowl, dust raisins and nuts with a little all-purpose flour; set aside.
- In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. (Be sure the eggs are at room temperature.)
- In another bowl, sift together flour and spices. Add alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture. Stir in floured nuts and raisins.
- Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake for about 1 hour, or until cake leaves sides of pans. Cool in pans on rack. (If they are removed from the pans when warm, the cakes will fall apart.)
- To make icing/filling: In saucepan, combine sugar, flour, lemon rind and juice, and hot water. Cook until thick. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- To put it all together: Poke holes in cooled cake layers. Spread filling between layers of cake, making sure the filling gets soaked into the cake layers. (It will be messy.)
- Sprinkle coconut between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with whole pecans on top, if desired.
Interested in more fun recipes? Check out Recipe Box: Sweet Potato Cake Recipe and More for cookie and cake recipes containing unusual dessert ingredients including navy beans.
Ralph Couch, Villa Rica, Georgia, sends a favorite recipe that has been in his family for 60 years or more. “I sold GRIT in the early 1950s, when the paper sold for 10 cents. I made 4 cents a copy. I had no bicycle, so I walked, and a lot of the time I was barefoot.” Ralph also writes that he doubles the recipe for the icing/filling.
