VICKY'S MOTHER'S LUMBERJACK CAKE

 Do I have a treat for you today! I love old recipes and I love recipes that people's mothers or grandmothers, etc made. 

This recipe for Lumberjack Cake fits both of those characteristics. 

Friend Vicky and her husband are from Canada who moved to the United States years ago and became citizens of the U.S. She told me her sister got all of their mother's recipes so she is constantly asking her to find one that Vicky remembers from her childhood. She won't always remember the name but she will remember ingredients and then her sister looks for it. 

This Lumberjack Cake Vicky remembered apples, dates, and chocolate. Her sister told her when she sent the recipe that it contained apples and dates but not chocolate. Vicky said she wondered about adding chocolate chips to it because she thought she remembered it was chocolate like a brownie. We told her she could probably just add the chocolate chips or substitute them for the nuts.

Vicky laughed when she was serving it to us at canasta at her house, that she could only find a big thing of dates so she substituted prunes instead. Prunes or dates, with or without chocolate, the cake was a big hit with the rest of us (and Vicky also since it was the first time she had made it since her sister had sent her the recipe.) Vicky also reduced the sugar by half, but we all agreed it was sweet enough with the fruit.

I will definitely be trying this recipe for myself. The cake was not only thick, moist, and yummy, it was really pretty.

PRINT RECIPE.

LUMBERJACK CAKE

1     apple, peeled, cored, and chopped

1     cup chopped dates (prunes work well also)

1     teaspoon baking soda

1     cup boiling water

*     *     *     *

1/2     cup shortening 

1/2     cup sugar

1        egg

1/2     teaspoon cinnamon

1        teaspoon vanilla

1/2     teaspoon salt

1-1/2  cups flour

1/2     cup chopped walnuts

Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl and allow to set for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix well, add fruit and nuts. (Don't you love it? Sounds just like a recipe my mother might have made with little instructions.)

Vicky's instructions:

She used 1 stick of salted butter instead of the shortening. She creamed the butter and sugar first. Then added the egg and mixed it in. Then she added the cinnamon, vanilla, and a half cup of flour at a time. She omitted the salt since her butter was salted. She coated the pan with butter but said she could have sprayed it instead.

Bake in an 8 x 8 - inch pan for about 50 minutes.

Vicky cut in 9 squares and served with ice cream.