A few weeks ago I was flipping through our free community newsletter when I came across “Miss Macphail’s recipe,” a fruit cake recipe from Agnes Macphail (1890-1954), Canada’s first female Member of Parliament. I don’t think I’ve ever made fruit cake before, so I decided to give it a try.
Here’s the recipe description from the newsletter, which was excerpted from The Ginger Press Community Cookbook: A Celebration of 40+ Years. (The Ginger Press has been publishing books in Owen Sound since 1987.)
“This recipe was first published on February 3, 1936, in Agnes Macphail’s weekly newspaper letter home to her constituents. Known throughout the riding as “Miss Macphail’s Recipe,” this fruit cake has been popular for over 85 years in Grey-Bruce. Agnes Macphail was Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound’s (and Canada’s) first female Member of Parliament; she was elected in 1921.”
Following the lengthy list of ingredients, the recipe instructions are brief!
- 3 eggs
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup jam (raspberry)
- 1/2 cup dark molasses
- 1 cup cold coffee
- 4 cups flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 box raisins
- 1 cup pecans
- grated rind of one orange
- grated rind of one lemon
- 1/2 lb pineapple
- 1/2 lb citron
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup dates
“Bake one hour, or more, very slowly. This will make one large cake, or four layers. Enjoy!”
I had to answer a few questions before I started baking. How big is a box of raisins? How hot is a very slow oven?
In my quest to find out how many raisins to use in the fruit cake, I was happy to come across a 1930s Sun-Maid raisin box on Etsy with “15 OZ” on it. Bingo.
I ordered some pecans, candied citron, candied pineapple, and Thompson raisins from Bulk Barn, and gathered the rest of my ingredients.
It’s easy to Google vintage oven temperatures. I ended up baking the cake in one 8×8 cakes pan and one loaf pan for about 1h45m at 300 degrees. Here’s one conversion chart from VintageRecipeProject.com:
| Description | °F | °C |
|---|---|---|
| Cool oven | 200°F | 90°C |
| Very slow oven | 250°F | 120°C |
| Slow oven | 300 – 325°F | 150 – 160°C |
| Moderately slow oven | 325 – 350°F | 160 – 180°C |
| Moderate oven | 350 – 375°F | 180 – 190°C |
| Moderately hot oven | 375 – 400°F | 190 – 200°C |
| Hot oven | 400 – 450°F | 200 – 230°C |
| Very hot oven | 450 – 500°F | 230 – 260°C |
| Fast oven | 450 – 500°F | 230 – 260°C |
You may have noticed that there is no alcohol in this recipe. As explained in this post about “Damnation Corners,” Owen Sound was “dry” from 1906 until 1972. If you know anything else about the history of alcohol in fruit cakes, I’d be interested to hear. Clearly it is a preservative, so I put my cakes in the fridge/freezer so they wouldn’t spoil.
“Miss Macphail’s Recipe” was a success! I was surprised by how much my kids enjoyed it and we had plenty to put out at our annual Christmas tea party, to share with family, and to arrange on cookie plates.