Amish Christmas Cake

Sad news, my Amish series will not be continuing in 2018. This will be the last Amish recipe post. 

Thank you Jennifer Beckstrand for sharing all of your wonderful Amish recipes during the year hear at The After Work Cook. We're going to miss you!

This is a wonderful gute cake to serve at Christmastime. Moist and flavorful, it’s dense, like a muffin, and not too sweet. You could also serve this hearty cake as a Christmas breakfast treat.

I used two tablespoons each of orange and lemon rind, but if you want it a little less citrusy, try one tablespoon each. I prefer the distinct citrus flavor. Be sure to give yourself extra time. This cake is fast and easy, but the pecan mixture needs time to cool to room temperature before mixing it with the flour.

Amish Christmas Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I prefer pecans. They’re sweeter.)
1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 cups raisins
2 cups water
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
2 T grated orange rind
2 T grated lemon rind
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

Instructions:
Mix everything except rinds, flour, and soda together in a large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until butter is melted. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature. Add lemon and orange rinds. Mix in flour and baking soda. Pour into well greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until top springs back. Cool in pan 10 minutes then remove to rack to finish cooling. This cake keeps well and freezes well. 

Drizzle glaze over the top or spread with white frosting. Garnish with fruit.

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

2-4 T milk, depending on how runny you want it (Start with 2 T and add more if needed.)

Mix with hand mixer until fully blended. Drizzle over cake.

Jennifer Beckstrand is the award winning Amish romance author of The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series and The Honeybee Sisters series for Kensington Books. Huckleberry Summer was nominated for the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award and the 2015 RITA® Award, and Huckleberry Hill won the 2014 LIME Award for Inspirational fiction. Both Huckleberry Hill and Huckleberry Christmas appeared in Examiner.com list of top ten inspirational books for 2014. Her much-anticipated Amish series, The Honeybee Sisters, was released summer of 2016 and has created a lot of romantic buzz. Sweet as Honey received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and Sweet as Honey and A Bee in her Bonnet were both awarded Top Picks from RT Book Reviews. Jennifer has always been drawn to the strong faith and the enduring family ties of the Plain people and loves writing about the antics of Anna and Felty Helmuth and the Honeybee sisters’ aendi Bitsy. Jennifer has a degree in mathematics and a passion for Jane Austen and Shakespeare. She and her husband have been married for thirty-two years, and she has four daughters, two sons, and four adorable grandchildren, whom she spoils rotten.

For more information about Jennifer, check her Web site.  

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