Persimmon season! Time to make the cake!

- October 30, 2017

“Possum hangin’ in the tree, Raccoon on the ground; Raccoon say, you stingy rat, Shake them ’simmons down!”

Julia paused in her singing and frowned down at the spoon stirring through the cake batter. “Possum hanging in the tree?” Where had that come from? “Goodness, I’m becoming countrified!”

She chuckled, looking out the kitchen window at the activity in the yard. Rand was doing the morning chores in preparation for their trip to the Iveys’ farm. For a moment she watched him as she stirred, indulging herself in a fantasy that theirs was a normal marriage, two people on the Florida frontier, making a new life together.

But it was as much a fantasy as singing raccoons.

--Smuggler's Bride

It's that time of year, the time when the North Florida farmers market has lovely, ripe, orange persimmons. You can eat them as they are, or soften them up and turn them into yummy treats.

It's also the time of year when I re-post one of my most requested recipes for using up those lovely globes of sun-warmed fruit. If you like "marriage of (in)convenience" stories, then Smuggler's Bride is for you, available again in print and ebook!

SMUGGLER'S BRIDE PERSIMMON CAKE

Preheat oven to 325F

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup margarine or butter

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1 cup persimmon pulp--approx. six small ripe Florida persimmons

½ cup chopped pecans

To get persimmon pulp: Take very ripe persimmons, cut in half, scoop pulp out. Remove pithy seed area, pulse a few times in food processor.

1. Stir together dry ingredients

2. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs, add dry ingredients, pulp and nuts.

3. Pour mixture into standard loaf pan (grease and flour pan, if not nonstick model), bake one hour and 15 minutes. Let cool on rack ten minutes, remove from pan. Freezes well.