<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I've been absent from this list for almost as long, now, as I was active
earlier. (Dave and I have been busy opening a store.) But just for the
holidays, I thought I'd drop in and include a recipe I worked out during
the two spare minutes I had during the holidays. (Probably there are a
dozen fruitcake recipes up stream -- if so, sorry!)

Linda's Pound Cake/Seed Cake/Fruit Cake

This one is easy! The fruit cake may come out a little dry unless you store
it under powdered sugar at least a week. The Pound Cake and Seed Cake
varieties will disappear very quicky, though. (Seed Cake is a British
specialty. Try it -- the combination of pound cake and caraway seeds sounds
odd but is really delicious. Start with just the 2 Tablespoons of seeds and
you may find next time you'll want to include more.)

 2 cups butter (not margarine), softened
 2 cups sugar
 9 egg yolks
 1 teaspoon vanilla
 8 drops rose water (optional)
 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
 2 cups brown rice flour
 1 cup tapioca flour
 1 cup corn starch
 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
 1/2 teaspoon salt
 9 egg whites
 2T up to 1/2 cup caraway seeds (for seed cake)
 1 cup each (choose enough to make at least 4 cups): walnuts or pecans; cut
up candied pineapple; candied orange peel; candied citron peel; candied
cherries; dates; raisins; mixed candied fruit (for fruit cake)

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Drop in egg yolks one at a
time. Stir in vanilla and rose water. Let this continue to mix while you
combine the dry ingredients. Whip egg whites until fluffy. Add to butter
mixture, alternating egg white and dry ingredients. Add caraway seeds. Pour
into two greased bread pans. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted
into the middle comes out clean (about an hour or more).

To make a fruit cake: leave out the caraway seeds and instead add nuts and
fruit -- whatever you like! -- until it's so filled with fruit that it
seems everything is just coated with the poundcake batter (there should be
just barely enough batter to hold the fruits together). Fill greased bread
pans about 1/2 full and bake as above. Cool in the pans at least an hour
before turning them out. For the best fruitcake, pour powdered sugar in a
sealable tin, put fruitcake (whole or sliced to fit) in and cover with more
powdered sugar. Store in a cool dark place for at least a week -- longer is
better. (Alternately, wrap in cheese cloth and soak with rum or brandy
before burying in powdered sugar.)

Enjoy!

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   This recipe, like all my recipes, is copyright 1995-1997 by
   Linda Blanchard.  I grant anyone anywhere the right to distribute
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Linda Blanchard
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Midland, TX, USA