This recipe, which is more than a century old, tastes like hermit cookies. For this dish, only use butter.
| Servings: | 14 |
| Yield: | 1 tube cake |
Ingredients
- 2 cups butter, softened
- 3 cups packed brown sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups dates, pitted and chopped
- 3 cups chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
- Cream butter and sugar together well. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients. Stir well.
- Turn into greased and floured 10 inch angel food tube pan. Bake in oven for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 848 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 106 g |
| Cholesterol | 149 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 19 g |
| Sodium | 413 mg |
| Sugars | 67 g |
| Fat | 45 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This cake is exactly what I expected. So good. One note do not forget to have wine ready. It is so dry,but that’s totally the norm. Once you add the wine and wrap in plastic wrap it is awesome.
Have used this recipe for the last few years. It is the BEST!
Excellent! I try to bake one every Christmas. My mother-in-law in Va. gave me the recipe 25 years ago; it is VERY old. It recommends covering in rum or whiskey or apple juice or grape juice-soaked cheesecloth to keep cake moist. Resoak cheesecloth every 3-4 days.
My Great Aunt used to make this cake for my family back in the 50’s. It was a recipe that she got from her mother. This has been around for a long time. When I was a little girl we always put out Hermit Cake for Santa on Christmas Eve. He always ate every bite! We have always made it 3 weeks ahead of when we actually wanted to serve it. Once it is baked and cooled down then wrap it in cloths soaked in a red wine and wrung out. ( I use Barefoot Sweet Red wine). Wrap aluminum foil around the cake wrapped in the cloths. Put it in a cake keeper/carrier in a cool place and check the cloths once a week to make sure they haven’t dried out. I usually soak them again each week and reapply them. In three weeks the cake is ready to eat. I always make this right after Thanksgiving so that it is ready to eat for Christmas. My favorite Christmas Desert!
Sooooo good but it took forever to bake. I ended up cutting out the top cooked half, served it and threw the rest in the freezer to defrost and bake again another night. I served ours with ice cream, but it would also go well with whip cream, cool whip, cream cheese frosting, or a brandy sauce. Yum!
I followed the directions exactly. I was nervous because the batter was like thin cookie dough but I pushed on. I baked it 3 hours but it was still a little too mushy. Fifteen minutes more took care of that. Be sure to cool it completely. Mine tore up because I didn’t. Once it cooled, it was perfect. Loved the rich taste. It reminds me of pound cake and date/nut bread all in one. Delicious!!!
This recipe has been in my family for at least 5 generations. It sounds logical that it originated with the Moravians. My mom made it a couple of months before Christmas and then thawed when the holiday arrived. The house smells good for two days after we make it. I’m originally from SW Virginia and many people there are familiar with this cake, but I’ve lived in Eastern Virginia (Richmond) for 36 years and I haven’t met anyone who had this tasty cake. In my family, it will be made yearly for another 100 years!
Was glad to find this recipe as I made it for my 87 year old mother for Christmas this year and she LOVED it! What else can you get for somebody like her? What is left of it is now in her freezer….I’m sure she will enjoy having something sweet that is all hers! OH…and our recipe was also in “pounds” so I too was glad to find this one…actually could not believe “hermit cake” came up when I searched for it…way to go All Recipes!
There two additions. 1. This recipe make two very ample bundt cakes. 2. If you do not wrap the completed cake with a piece of cheesecloth soaked in rum or wine and keep it slightly moist by pouring more wine over the cake every 3-4 days, the cake will become so dry you cannot eat it and it will crumble up. This cake was one similar to fruitcake that was preserved over several weeks for any “stoppers-by” guests at a tavern or home, and thats how it was made to last so long. Preserving it with the wine! Thank you so much for posting this happy memory recipe! You are right it is a VERY VERY OLD recipe!
For as long as I can remember, my grandmother made hermit cake at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am sure this recipe is indeed more than 100 years old. Her measurements were in pounds, so this one is really helpful. Cut in very thin slices – it’s tastes better that way, I promise. You can always come back for seconds.
This recipe is much more than 100yrs. My Mom was a baker in Bryson City, NC in the early years of the 1900’s and used this recipe. She believed it’s origin was Moravian. It was cherished in my family and the recipe was protected for many years. This cake can be frozen for many months and taken from the freezer and sliced immediately. Merlin Casada Mom was a Woody
3o years ago Annie ruth Taylor of Waynesville NCgave me this recipe and last week I found it and made the cake.It is superb and had a slight variation.my recipe had 7 eggs and also some coconut.I understand the name(Hermit).You want to lock your doors and eat the cake yourself!!******