
Fruit cake is a traditional vacation dessert that you just’re going to like! With this recipe, you’ll get a moist, flavorful deal with each time!
Not solely are these kinds of bread scrumptious, however they’re nice for gifting! Apple, lemon, and blueberry banana bread are extra fruit-filled desserts that shall be liked wherever they go!

Wonderful Vacation Fruitcake Recipe
I’m going to be trustworthy right here. I don’t get the hate for fruit cake! If made correctly, fruit cake can compete with the perfect of them. Get the concept that fruit cake is tough and flavorless out of your head! At its core, fruit cake is only a fast bread with extra mix-ins added. It may be as smooth, moist, and fantastic as your favourite banana bread! This tasty fruit cake has a melt-in-your-mouth brown sugar bread base. From there, you add in your whole favourite fillings! From dates to dried pineapple, raisins to cherries, the sky is the restrict! The most effective a part of all of it is that you could soak all of them in your favourite liquor for added taste! This recipe is well customizable.
I’ve been making this fruit cake for mates, household, and neighbors they usually have all been loving it! It’s a good way to unfold just a little vacation cheer. Scrumptious, too! As soon as you are taking a chunk of this cake full of the flavors of caramelized brown sugar, zesty citrus, and wealthy fruit, you’ll be hooked! There’s a cause it’s been hanging round since historical instances! This rustic recipe is unbelievable and bursting with a lot taste. Let’s make some fruit cake!
Fruit Cake Substances
This ingredient checklist is on the longer side, however the excellent news is most of them are mix-ins! Not a fan of a few of them? You may simply swap them out for different toppings or omit them fully. See my suggestions beneath for extra options on what so as to add to your fruit cake!
Cake Base
- All-Function Flour: All-purpose flour has a low protein content material so it’s good for conserving your fruitcake on the lighter side. Flours with an excessive amount of protein will make it exhausting and dense.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder: A mixture of each is critical for a fruit cake that raises correctly.
- Salt: Added to reinforce all flavors!
- Unsalted Butter Unsalted, room temperature butter will combine into your dough completely and add a wealthy taste.
- Granulated Sugar and Darkish Brown Sugar: I like utilizing a mixture of granulated and darkish brown sugar in my fruit cake. Granulated for sweetness, darkish brown sugar for a deeper taste. They’ll provide the finest caramelized taste when baked.
- Bitter Cream: The key ingredient for moist cake and a touch of tangy taste!
- Egg: Used to bind all the things collectively. Be sure that it’s room temperature! It should combine collectively extra easily.
- Lemon and Orange Zest: I like including citrus zest to steadiness out sweetness. It’s good and fragrant, too!
- Finely Diced Crystalized Ginger: Crystalized, or “candied” ginger goes to present your cake a candy taste with a touch of spice. Good for the vacations!
Combine-Ins
- Liquor: Historically, darkish rum or brandy is used. You can too substitute for apple juice or orange juice in case you don’t wish to use alcohol.
- Glazed Cherries: Also called candied or maraschino cherries, these are a beautiful addition to your candy cake!
- Chopped Dates: Dates are candy and moist with an nearly caramel-y taste. Good for a candy bread!
- Golden and Darkish Raisins: I like utilizing a mixture of golden and darkish raisins. It not solely provides your bread extra shade, however tastes nice, too! Golden raisins are tart whereas darkish raisins are wealthy. They make an incredible mixture!
- Dried Pineapple: Candy and tangy, dried pineapple provides an incredible taste and texture to your bread.
- Chopped Nuts: I like utilizing a mix of almonds, walnuts, and pecans.
Easy methods to Make the Finest Fruit Cake
You’re going to like how easy it’s to make this fruity deal with! Only a few minutes of prep after which it’s hands-off within the oven! I like something that can put just a little time again into my day. Particularly across the holidays! However be warned: this fruit cake smells completely divine when it’s baking and should offer you a case of Christmas cheer!
Making ready Batter
- Soak Toppings: (Elective) Put together not less than 24 hours earlier than baking by soaking your dried fruit combination in darkish rum or brandy. In case you want the cake to be non alcoholic, you should utilize apple juice or orange juice as a substitute. Use sufficient to cowl all of the fruit fully. Cowl and let soak in a single day, and even a number of days.
- Preheat Oven, Prep Pan: Subsequent, preheat the oven to 325° fahrenheit and line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper. Put aside.
- Combine Dry Substances: In a medium bowl, whisk collectively the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Put aside.
- Combine in Remaining Substances: Within the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar collectively on medium-high pace till gentle and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add the bitter cream. Combine till mixed.
- Add Egg and Citrus Zest: Add the egg, lemon zest, and orange zest and blend till mixed. Then, add the dry ingredients to the mixer and blend till simply barely mixed.
- Combine in Nuts, Fruit, and Ginger: Subsequent, combine within the crystalized ginger, chopped nuts and the soaked fruit together with any leftover liquid from the fruit. Fold in by hand till all the things is evenly distributed all through the batter.
Baking
- Bake: Pour the batter into your ready pan and place on the center rack of the oven to bake. Bake for 1 ½-2 hours—till a toothpick comes out clear from the middle of the loaf.
- Cool: Let the cake cool for about 10-Quarter-hour earlier than eradicating from the pan and cooling the remainder of the best way on a cooling rack.
- Wrap and Age: (Elective) If you want to age the cake, soak cheesecloth in brandy or darkish rum and wrap effectively across the cake. Wrap in plastic wrap after which aluminum foil and store in an hermetic container in a darkish place. Rewrap the cake in freshly soaked cheesecloth each week till serving. It should preserve for months as you proceed to age it!

Ideas for Making Fruit Cake
This important vacation dessert might be enhanced with just some easy suggestions and tips! Actually, making a profitable fruit cake is very easy and scrumptious! You’ll wish to preserve this recipe on repeat over the following couple of months.
- Toss in Flour: To make sure that your mix-ins don’t sink to the underside of your loaf pan, toss them with a little bit of flour earlier than including to your batter!
- Including Spice: So as to add much more taste to this tasty dessert, typically I’ll throw in home made pumpkin pie spice to the batter. This mix of heat spices undoubtedly checks the bins on that good vacation taste!
- Including Applesauce: In case you wrestle to get your fruit cake to retain moisture, add a dollop of applesauce to your batter!
- Use a Serrated Knife: As a result of fruit cake might be on the crumbly side, it’s finest to make use of a serrated knife for good, uniform slices.
- Extra Combine-ins: Extra toppings that style completely scrumptious on this recipe are: cranberries, figs, dried apricots, plums, prunes, cashews, coconut and blueberries! Combine and match to create the right fruit cake for you!
Storing Leftovers
The beauty of fruit cake is that it has an extended shelf life than most desserts! Right here’s store it for finest outcomes. You’ll love coming again for a slice this vacation season!
- At Room Temperature: That is my private favourite method to store fruit cake. Wrap in plastic wrap or store in an hermetic container in a cool, dry place. It should keep good for as much as 1 month. I’ve discovered that storing at room temperature helps to retain moisture and preserve it from getting too exhausting and dense.
- Within the Fridge: Fruit cake will final in an hermetic container or wrapped in plastic wrap for as much as 6 months. Observe: the longer it stays within the fridge, the more durable it’s going to grow to be. Permit to come back to room temperature earlier than serving.
- Within the Freezer: A fruit cake will final within the freezer for as much as a yr when correctly sealed in a freezer protected bag. Permit to thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than serving.


Fruit Cake
Substances
- 3/4 Cup Chopped Dates
- 1 Cup Golden Raisins
- 1 Cup Darkish Raisins
- ¾ Cup Chopped Glazed Cherries
- 1 Cup Chopped Dried Pineapple
- ¾ cup darkish rum or brandy apple juice or orange juice if don’t wish to use alcohol
- 2 Cups All-Function Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter room temperature
- ½ Cup granulated Sugar
- ½ Cup darkish brown sugar
- 1/2 Cup Bitter Cream
- 1 massive egg room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest
- 1 Tablespoon Orange zest
- 2 Tablespoons Finely Diced Crystalized Ginger
- ½ Cup Chopped nuts Almonds, Walnuts, or pecans
Directions
- Put together not less than 24 hours earlier than baking by soaking your dried fruit combination in darkish rum or brandy. In case you want the cake to be non-alcoholic, you should utilize apple juice or orange juice as a substitute. Use sufficient to cowl all of the fruit fully. Cowl and let soak in a single day, and even for a number of days.
- Preheat the oven to 325° and line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper. Put aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk collectively the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Put aside.
- Add the egg, lemon zest, and orange zest and blend till mixed. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and blend till simply barely mixed.
- Add the crystallized ginger, chopped nuts, and the soaked fruit together with any leftover liquid from the fruit. Fold in by hand till all the things is evenly distributed all through the batter.
- Pour the batter into your ready pan and place it on the center rack of the oven to bake. Bake for 1 ½-2 hours—till a toothpick comes out clear from the middle of the loaf.
- Let the cake cool for about 10-Quarter-hour earlier than eradicating it from the pan and cooling the remainder of the best way on a cooling rack.
- If you want to age the cake, soak the cheesecloth in brandy or darkish rum and wrap effectively across the cake. Wrap in plastic wrap after which aluminum foil and store in an hermetic container in a darkish place. Rewrap the cake in freshly soaked cheesecloth each week till serving. It should preserve for months as you proceed to age it!
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