War Cake Re-Revisited

It was with great surprise that I read the Food section today and saw the recipe for War Cake (Home Cook, Aug. 6). I found it almost identical to a recipe in my files for “mother’s war cake,” which came from my grandmother. My mother always made it as an ersatz or economy fruitcake during my childhood in the 1920s in Maine. It was a very versatile recipe; any fruit juice or coffee, tag ends of jam or jelly for part of the sugar, found its way into the batter--never seeming to change the results.

I have made it numerous times when I had a yen for fruitcake with few luxury ingredients at hand.

Thanks for the memories!

--MARY R. MURRAY, Irvine