World’s Best Fruit Cake
Classic fruit cake made with soaked unsweetened dried fruit. A festive, flavorful, and moist fruit cake to enjoy all holiday season. This family recipe will make you a fruit cake convert! This post is sponsored by All-Clad.
If you recognize today’s dessert, you deserve a pat on the back!
As hard as it is to believe, I first shared this fruit cake recipe back in 2013. It has been a holiday staple in our household for as long as I can remember. Christmas isn’t Christmas without several slices of my mom’s famous fruit cake!
Nearly six years have passed and since then, it has become one of the most popular holiday recipes on A Beautiful Plate.
If you’re a fruit cake cynic, hear me out! This is the best fruit cake in the world – and the only fruit cake that I’ve ever loved and enjoyed.
While this recipe has received rave reviews and become a staple for many readers, I’ve teamed up with All-Clad to showcase their new Pro-Release Bakeware Set and Silicone Tools, and give this fruit cake recipe a new and improved update for the holiday season.
This fruit cake recipe features their All-Clad Pro-Release Loaf Pan. All of the All-Clad Pro-Release bakeware pieces feature oversized, easy-to-grab handles, and a nonstick (PFOA-free) finish that releases baked goods effortlessly.
This fruit cake batter is sticky and packed with dried fruit pieces, which means that it can be prone to sticking, and thanks to the ceramic, easy release coating, I didn’t have to grease or line the loaf pan with parchment paper. The fruit cakes just slid out without issue. The holidays are hectic enough without worrying about your baked goods sticking!
If you’re looking for durable and high-quality bakeware for yourself (or to gift to others!), I highly recommend checking out the full All-Clad Pro-Release Bakeware Set! You can get more information here.
All-Clad also came out with a wonderful collection of silicone tools that pair with the bakeware set. Their durable handles and platinum silicone heads, which come in a variety of shapes, are great for any baking project (or savory preparation) and have quickly become my favorite baking tools.
The bones of the original fruit cake recipe have remained the same, but it has been re-tested thoroughly.
Several ingredients have been revamped and simplified to make it easier to prepare in your own kitchen.
I’ve also added custom metric measurements to make it accessible to everyone. As you know, I’m a huge advocate for baking scales, particularly for baking. It reduces clean-up and common user errors, such as over measuring flour.
Let’s get baking!
Why You’ll Love this Fruit Cake Recipe:
The words ‘world’s best’ and fruit cake are generally not seen as compatible with one another. After all, fruit cake is one of the most ridiculed baked goods in existence!
You know those ones that are sold in the stores or sent as gifts at this time of the year? The ones that contain the neon candied fruit pieces? I despise those fruit cakes too!
Most fruit cakes are dry, overly sweet, and bland in flavor.
This fruit cake is not your average fruit cake recipe. It is the BEST! Made with wholesome, real ingredients, this fruit cake is moist and perfectly balanced in flavor.
The Story Behind The World’s Best Fruit Cake:
This fruit cake recipe has been passed onto me from my mom. It was first inspired my British grandmother’s recipe. My mom has tweaked and perfected it over the years.
At one point, my mom even attempted a very short-lived fruit cake business – that is until she realized that it is one of those expensive desserts to make (dried fruit and booze!) and she would have to charge a fortune to break even.
With that said, this fruit cake is absolutely worth it!
How to Make The Best Fruit Cake:
This fruit cake recipe, which yields two standard loaf cakes, is all about the dried fruit. We’ll be using only unsweetened dried and fresh fruit for this recipe.
This fruit cake contains a ton of dried fruit. Don’t be alarmed! This recipe uses a wide variety of tart and sweeter dried fruit: golden raisins, dark raisins, figs, prunes, cherries, apricots, and peaches.
To cut the sweetness and add amazing flavor, we’ll soak the dried fruit mixture in dark rum the day before baking. Note: I recommend soaking the fruit for a minimum of 12 hours or as long as 24 hours.
The dried fruit will hydrate and plump up and soak up all of the dark rum during this time. Don’t skip this step!
The soaked dried fruit is folded into the fruit cake batter the following day.
For added flavor, we’ll also be adding orange and lemon zest, orange juice, fresh grated Granny Smith apple, slivered almonds, and diced crystallized ginger (one of my favorite additions!).
You can even add bittersweet chocolate, which is my dad and sister’s favorite variation!
The fruit cake batter is transferred and divided between two loaf pans and baked in a loaf tin at a low temperature for nearly an hour and a half.
If you’re using the loaf pan I’m using from All-Clad, no need to grease the pan or add any parchment paper!
Since this cake has a such a large ratio of dried fruit, we’ll allow the fruit cakes to cool completely in the loaf pans before removing them.
How to Store Homemade Fruit Cake:
After the cakes have cooled, we’ll wrap them tightly in cheesecloth soaked in medium sherry or triple sec. Have I mentioned that this cake is boozy? Because it is.
This step contributes additional moisture, as well as allows the flavors in the cake to meld and deepen over time. The alcohol cuts sweetness and makes this cake so fragrant and delicious!
Some people recommend aging fruit cake for at least a month prior to serving or gifting, but this is not required for this fruit cake. I recommend at week at minimum. However, even just a few days make a huge impact!
These fruit cakes can be stored in the refrigerator for 6 to 8 weeks (or longer!). I recommend re-soaking the cheesecloth every week or so, or whenever it is dry.
Commonly Asked Fruit Cake Baking Questions:
When should I starting baking fruit cake?
Since this fruit cake only improves in flavor as it sits, the sooner the better! I recommend wrapping it with cheesecloth (soaked in alcohol) for one to two weeks, at minimum, for best flavor before serving or gifting.
Can I substitute or use other types of dried fruit?
I’ve included my favorite ratios in the recipe below – as they offer a good balance of tart and sweeter fruits – but you can adapt it to make it your own. If making substitutions, I highly recommend measuring by weight to avoid any issues.
Can I make this fruitcake without alcohol?
While the flavor will not be the same or as originally intended, you can try soaking the dried fruit in orange juice (or even apple juice or hot steeped tea, such as Earl Grey). I haven’t personally tested this variation, but functionally it will plump up the dried fruit in the same way. You will need to skip the soaking of the cake as well, which is absolutely fine, but will result in a less complex flavor, slightly drier cake (though this cake is very moist!) and will reduce its storage life slightly.
How many servings does this recipe make?
This cake yields two loaf cakes. Perfect for keeping one to yourself and another for gifting (or saving for later, your personal choice!).
Since this cake is very dense and rich, one loaf cake goes a long way. We use a serrated knife to cut it into thin slices or cut regular slices in half. It tastes fantastic on its own or with a smear of salted butter!
Can I bake this fruitcake in a smaller loaf tins, round cake pan, etc.?
This cake has only been tested using loaf pans, but several readers have had luck with preparing this recipe in a bundt or tube pan – roughly it will take around 75 minutes minimum. Please watch bake time carefully. Please know that baking times and results will vary. I do not recommend making equipment substitutions, as I haven’t personally tested these adaptations.
Hope this fruit cake recipe becomes a family staple! If you enjoyed the recipe, I’d love for you to leave a review in the comment section below.
Thank you All-Clad for sponsoring this post!
World's Best Fruit Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Soaked Fruit Mixture:
- 1¼ cups (200 g) dark raisins
- 1¼ cups (200 g) golden raisins
- 2 cups (320 g) mixed unsweetened dried fruit, chopped (note: I like to use equal parts peaches and apricots - pears or apples are other great options!)
- 1 cup (160 g) dried unsweetened black figs chopped
- 1 cup (160 g) dried unsweetened tart cherries chopped
- ¾ cup (120 g) dried unsweetened prunes chopped
- ¾ cup (6 oz; 180 mL) dark rum
Fruit Cake Ingredients:
- 1½ cups (180 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 stick (4 oz; 115 g) unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup (160 g) packed light brown sugar
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
- ½ cup (120 mL) freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 Granny Smith apple peeled and coarsely grated
- ¾ cup (90 g) slivered almonds (or chopped pecans or walnuts)
- 3 tablespoons (36 g) finely diced crystallized ginger
- one batch soaked fruit mixture see above
- ⅔ cup (100 g) chopped bittersweet chocolate or dark chocolate chips optional
For Storage:
- medium sherry or triple sec for soaking
Decorative Glaze (Optional):
- ¼ cup (72 g) apricot preserves
- ¼ cup (60 mL) water
- whole pecans for garnishing
Instructions
- The Day Before Baking: Combine the dried fruit in a large mixing bowl. Add the dark rum, cover, and allow the mixture to soak at room temperature for a minimum of 12 hours, or ideally 24 hours prior to preparing the fruit cake batter.
- Prepare the Fruitcake: Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C) with a rack in the center position. Set aside two 8x4-inch All Clad Pro-Release Bakeware Loaf Pans. If using these pans, you do not need to line or grease the pans prior to adding the batter. Equipment Note: This fruitcake can also be prepared using 9x5-inch loaf pans. If using other types of pans, lightly grease and line with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and light brown sugar together over medium-high speed for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium and add the eggs one at a time, beating just until each egg is incorporated. The mixture will look slightly broken, that’s ok.
- Over low speed, slowly add the flour mixture until just absorbed. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Add the lemon zest, orange zest, fresh orange juice, grated apple, slivered almonds, diced candied ginger, soaked dried fruit mixture (along with any liquid if it hasn’t already been absorbed), and chocoate (if using). Stir mixture with a large spatula, scraping the edges and bottom of the bowl several times, until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated. It is a very thick, fruit heavy mixture.
- Transfer and divide the batter evenly among the loaf pans. Use an offset spatula to smooth the batter into an even layer. Set the loaf pans on the center rack, several inches apart from one another. Bake for 75 to 90 minutes, rotating the pans halfway, or until the batter is set and the tops are golden brown. The edges of the cake may also start to pull away slightly from the edges of the pan. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool completely before removing from the pans.
- Storing and Aging: Once the cake has cooled, carefully remove the cakes from the loaf pans and set upright. Soak two large pieces of cheesecloth in medium sherry or triple sec (*they should be lightly damp, not soaking wet when you wrap the cakes, so you may need to squeeze out any excess liquor). Wrap each cake tightly. Cover loafs with wax paper and foil before transferring to a large Ziploc bag. Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 to 8 weeks (it can often last even longer). You can serve this cake right after it has cooled, but the flavors improve greatly with time (I recommend several days or up to a week, at minimum). Unwrap and re-soak the cheesecloth once a week.
- For Garnishing: If desired, you can top the fruitcake with a light apricot glaze and whole pecans before serving. Note: I don't recommend glazing the cake if you wish to continue to wrap and age the fruitcake. To Prepare the Glaze: Combine the apricot preserves and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a light simmer, stirring until the glaze is shiny and thin. If it is too thin for glazing, reduce to desired consistency. If it becomes too thick, add a teaspoon of water. Brush the tops of the fruitcakes with apricot glaze and garnish with whole pecans.
- Serving Notes: Slice fruit cake with a serrated knife. Serve on its own or spread with a small amount of salted butter.
Tips for Success:
- Be sure to use unsweetened dried fruit for best results.
- Many readers have had success substituting different varieties of dried fruit in this recipe; if doing this, please keep in mind the tartness and sweetness of various fruits for good balance.
Commonly Asked Questions:
- When should I starting baking fruit cake? Since this fruit cake only improves in flavor as it sits, the sooner the better! I recommend wrapping it with cheesecloth (soaked in alcohol) for one to two weeks, at minimum, for best flavor before serving or gifting.
- Can I substitute or use other types of dried fruit? I’ve included my favorite ratios in the recipe below - as they offer a good balance of tart and sweeter fruits - but you can adapt it to make it your own. If making substitutions, I highly recommend measuring by weight to avoid any issues.
- Can I make this fruitcake without alcohol? While the flavor will not be the same or as originally intended, you can try soaking the dried fruit in orange juice (or even apple juice or hot steeped tea, such as Earl Grey). I haven’t personally tested this variation, but functionally it will plump up the dried fruit in the same way. You will need to skip the soaking of the cake as well, which is absolutely fine, but will result in a less complex flavor, slightly drier cake (though this cake is very moist!) and will reduce its storage life slightly.
- How many servings does this recipe make? This cake yields two loaf cakes. Perfect for keeping one to yourself and another for gifting (or saving for later, your personal choice!). Since this cake is very dense and rich, one loaf cake goes a long way. We use a serrated knife to cut it into thin slices or cut regular slices in half. It tastes fantastic on its own or with a smear of salted butter!
- Can I bake this fruitcake in a smaller loaf tins, round cake pan, etc.? This cake has only been tested using loaf pans, but several readers have had luck with preparing this recipe in a bundt or tube pan - roughly it will take around 75 minutes minimum. Please watch bake time carefully. Please know that baking times and results will vary. I do not recommend making equipment substitutions, as I haven't personally tested these adaptations.
This post is sponsored by All-Clad. Thank you for supporting brands I love and use in my kitchen.
463 Comments on “World’s Best Fruit Cake”
Hi! Can I half the recipe to make just one loaf cake?
Sure, but it will be a bit tricky in terms of the egg quantity and I definitely recommend making two (and gifting one, etc.) – it just is a better investment of time 😀 If you are halving the recipe, I always, always recommend using metric weights provided – I recommend this always, but even more so when you’re changing yields.
Hey
I’m baking a fruit cake for the first time. I just have a few questions:
1. What temperature do I need to bake at when using a convection counter top oven?
2. Can I use a 8*8 aluminium square pan to bake this recipe?
Or is silicon pan okay?
3. Is it granulated or powdered brown sugar?
Thanks a bunch ❤️
Sorry, but this cake is really intended to be made in a loaf pan and yields 2 – a square pan (just one) would not be big enough and would be too thin. I am not familiar with your countertop oven, so I can’t make recommendations aside from my recipe. Light brown sugar is a variety of sugar (versus dark brown sugar) – it is not powdered.
Hello,
I am baking this cake this weekend. I intend to make one big one instead of 2 loaves. Can I use an 8inch tin for the full amount of the batter and if so, how long should I bake it for?
Thanks.
It would depend on how deep the 8-inch tin is, sorry, I can’t really offer much more specifics without more information! If it’s a normal cake pan, no, it would not be big enough. A normal loaf pan takes about 4 cups of volume (and this recipe produces two) – you’d need to calculate the volume capacity of your baking dish and adapt from there. I’ve had people make this in a tube and bundt pan with success though.
Made this fruit cake recipe last year for my grandma and it was a big hit! Making it again this year for her and another one for my great uncle. I can never find dried peaches so I just use all dried apricots, use walnuts instead of slivered almonds and use the triple sec for soaking. Thank you for posting such a great recipe!
So happy to hear this!
Hello! I am just confused about the amount of dried fruits, the recipe calls for one batch of soaked fruit mixture, is that all of the fruit written above or just a portion of it? I’m planning to make this recipe this weekend. ❤️
Yes, all of the fruit written in the first portion of the recipe.
hello! this recipe looks so so amazing and I am very excited to try it. my boyfriend’s mom loves fruit cake so I want to make it for her for christmas, but unfortunately she can’t have eggs or gluten. there are loads of 1 to 1 gluten free flour mixes which I assume are okay to use (and a super easy substitution to make!). my question for you, however, is do you have a suggestion on what egg substitute to use? I have been doing a bit of research but I don’t have much experience with substituting eggs. I was thinking of using flaxseed or chia seeds, but wanted to get your opinion. thanks! (:
Hi! A 1:1 flour substitute (such as Bob’s Red Mill) would definitely work, but I would not recommend using a flax or chia seed egg substitute for this recipe – there are just too many eggs, they play a really important structural role, and I really don’t think a substitute would work well for this. The recipe just was not created or meant to have that type of substitution. I would hate for you to waste ingredients or time to end up with a not good result! I wish I could be more helpful, but unfortunately can’t make that recommendation.
It came out perfectly! I kept it in the fridge for two weeks, re-soaked the cheesecloth with Triple Sec twice, and it’s wonderful. I plan to make twenty of them for Christmas! I run a home bakery.
Hello! I chopped and soaked my fruit last night and am getting ready to bake today. Just wondering…can I soak the cheesecloth in rum when wrapping the cakes? I like the flavor and would rather not buy another bottle of booze (triple sec or sherry)since I have the rum already.
Sure!!! I prefer the others which is why I use them, but it is a personal choice.
For some reason, this is the first failing recipe I made. It came out bulky, and doesn’t taste good at all!
If by bulky, you mean dense, that’s to be expected. This is a very traditional fruit-heavy fruit cake so it is intended to be dense but it’s still delicious and it’s own thing. Sorry to hear you didn’t like it though.
If Not using alcohol after baking and using a light apricot glaze plus decorative pecans, how can I pack and box the cake for 2 weeks (will be unpacked and served fully after exactly 2 weeks) without it getting moldy (as this is moist)? As this is for a baking contest, alcohol coating at the end is not allowed per rules. I need to bake exactly 2 weeks before the contest given my availability.
I wouldn’t personally do the glaze and pecan topping that far out of serving fully, simply because it won’t look as good after 2 weeks (it is really only intended as a presentation effect) – but if the cake itself is covered and kept in the refrigerator, it will certainly NOT get moldy.
Alternatively you could cover with marzipan and royal icing if you’re looking for a more traditional presentation. Otherwise I would keep it simple. Sorry, that’s the best advice I can offer for your situation!
As another commenter posted I am marinating the fruit as I read the comments…I doubled up the recipe (I am gifting to 3 siblings :p) and noticed that the amount of rum is small in comparison to the amount of fruit. The fruit in the top 2/3 of the bowl is not in contact with any rum. Does the rum naturally diffuse through all the fruit or did I miss something? Should I stir occasionally while it is marinating to distribute the rum?
You’ve definitely stirred well, correct? You can also try putting it in a more wide shallow bowl – a very tall bowl with a narrow base would cause more of that. But no, it’s definitely not supposed to be FULLY soaked in alcohol because we’ll be added it straight to the batter (no straining), it doesn’t need much to plump up, which is the true purpose along with flavor.
For those interested in making mini loaves, I put my batter into 5 1/2″ x 3 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ loaf pans (six pans total) and baked the pans on a cookie sheet for 73 minutes (to an internal temperature of 205 degrees). I also used parchment “slings” and so was able to easily remove the cakes from the pans as soon as they were out of the oven.
Please let me know how to make this wonderful cake without alcohol!
My elderly mother can’t have any, but she so looks forward to her Christmas fruitcake!
Thank you.
Hi Katie! I’ve had this question before. While the flavor will not be the same, you could try soaking the dried fruit in something like orange juice (or even apple juice). I haven’t personally tested this variation, so I can’t speak to the flavor, but functionally it will plump up the fruit in the same way. However, the alcohol should cook off – you’ll notice the flavor – if that’s what you’re concerned with.
You’ll need to skip the soaking of the cake once baked entirely. This might impact it’s shelf life and will result in a slightly less moist cake, though again, this cake is VERY moist! Again, the overall flavor will be different than what I intended for this recipe, but is totally an option and will still be good! I’ve gotten this question many times over the years. Hope this helps!
Just here to say- I’ve baked 10 of your fruit cake recipe so far and planning to do at least 20 (yes, TWENTY) more! That’s how good your recipe is thank you so much for sharing it with all of us 🥰
I don’t have a stand mixer. Can a handheld one work just as well?
Yes, definitely!
I made these fruit cakes to send to my brothers for their Christmas present. One went to London and was very well received and enjoyed over the Christmas season. The other one was sent to Portugal where it sat in customs for several weeks, however when it eventually arrived my brother said it was still really delicious. I intend to bake them again this Christmas but keep one of them for myself!
what happens if I do not wrap the baked loaves in alcohol soaked cheesecloth? and store in refrigerator wrapped in paper and foil?
It won’t have quite the same amount of flavor and will be slightly less moist. I definitely recommend a light soak for a week, but you could always try a slice and then decide to wrap or not wrap it.
I’m wondering if you think I could substitute fresh frozen cranberries for the tart dried cherries. Your thoughts appreciated…cheers
I think you could, but they don’t offer the same texture or even sweetness (frozen cranberries are much sweeter and will pop once baked). I recommend making it as is, but a small amount of fresh cranberries should probably be fine!
Too many raisins, IMHO.
Hi Laura, I am planning on making this cake tomorrow! I am going to be making a 3d santa cake. I will need the tins to be 6″ round tins. Could you tell me how much batter I should put in the tin or how deep approximately (I appreciate that this is a tricky question!) Also, can I decorate right away in ganache/buttercream or marzipan and then sit at room temperature until Christmas day? Thank you so much, Lindsey.
Hi – you’ll probably end up with just enough (assuming your cake pans are 6 inches wide and 2 inches deep) for two 6-inch cakes. I’m basing this is on volume equivalents, but have never tested it for that type of pan, so I can’t give more specifics than that. I would also check the bake time, because I’m assuming it will not take as long.
In addition, this cake is really designed to be eaten as a fruit cake, so if you’re storing it OUT, you would need to cover it with marzipan and then royal icing. I would only do this after it has soaked for at least a week. That is the only way that this cake can be stored at room temperature, otherwise it needs to be refrigerated. Ganache and buttercream is not stable or safe to leave out at room temperature for weeks (not even more than a few hours). Hope this helps!
Question-I don’t like nuts of any kind in baked goods. Do I have to use them? Can I crush them up? I’d use cashews then….
Also-I don’t want to use raisins. I’m sure I’ll still have enough dried fruit though with small increases in the others right?
You can leave out the nuts or crush them (or use cashews). In terms of raisins, that’s fine – but definitely substitute equal metric weight of another dried fruit variety – preferably chopped small to mimic a similar texture.
How far from the top of the pan should I fill with mixture. I don’t want it to overflow.
The batter should be divided evenly among the two loaf pans – roughly 3/4 to 1-inch from the top, but that would depend on what size loaf pan you choose to use. Don’t worry, this cake does not rise significantly at all.
Is it ok to soak the fruit mixture for 2 weeks or longer? Does it impact the cake in anyway? I soaked the mixture and had to leave the country for an emergency. I came back and realized what had happened. I tried the mixture and it takes very strong, I like it but wanted to confirm before I spent all that time baking it. I personally know a few people who soaks it for months!
Hi, there is no reason to soak the fruit for more than 24 hours! It really is to plump up the fruit and almost all of the alcohol is absorbed within that time. I don’t see why you couldn’t use it though – especially since the fruit is baked in the final cake. Definitely go ahead and bake with it!
Hi there!
This looks yum!
Not sure where I’ll find Golden raisins. Can I double up on the dark ones?
Thanks in advance.
Merry Christmas!
They’re actually fairly easy to find (usually next to the regular raisins) but you could double up if you can’t find them!
Just moved house and oven has options for top and bottom heat or fan or thermofan. Please advise which should I use ? In past have used top and bottom heat.
Top and bottom? I honestly don’t know because I’m not familiar with the type of oven you have. I would not use convection unless you are turning down the preheat temperature by 25F degrees.
Hi, I’m really excited to try out your recipe. If I wish to give these loaves to friends and family, do I have to make sure the loaves are still wrapped in the soaked cheesecloth? Or is it possible to remove the cheesecloth after a week of wrapping and maybe wrap the loaves in clingfilm thereafter? Thank you in advance for your advice!
Ideally the cakes would soak for a week or two, but you could definitely do this – just keep it in mind it might not have quite as much of an aged flavor! Foil for this cake is best than plastic wrap – so maybe gift in a nice way but tell them to wrap tightly for their own storage.
Hi, thank you so much for your prompt reply to my earlier query. I have another question – the recipe states that the loaf tins should be on the centre rack. This means that the top of the tins will be pretty close to the heating element, yes?
I was afraid the tops would burn, so I placed the rack one level below the centre mark. However, I had to add time to get a more golden brown finish and unfortunately, that caused the top of the cakes to crack a little. I would really appreciate some clarification on this matter. Thank you! ☺️
Hi Lizzie. Typically baked goods should always be baked on the center rack in a standard oven, because it’s where heat is the most even generally. Although based on your comment, it sounds like you’re baking in a very small capacity oven (are you based in Europe?) or in a countertop oven. Is this accurate? A normal loaf tin shouldn’t be super close to the heating elements if you’re using the oven below a standard range/cooktop. I don’t know the equipment you’re working with, so of course, everyone’s experience might vary a bit, but that’s the standard that is generally used when people develop recipes!
The top of the cake shouldn’t crack on this cake – I wonder if it was due to fruit not being cut small enough, etc. Really, you should be looking for more of the batter being set, than a particular color, but generally that is lightly golden brown. Did the rest of the cake come together similarly as stated or were other changes made?
Hi… can I add molasses to this recipe to make it darker?
Hi! It’s fairly dark as it is. I personally wouldn’t do this because molasses is essentially sugar and adding more sugar (to an already rich cake) definitely changes things. But you could substitute the light brown sugar for dark brown sugar for a touch more of that flavor.
With an abundance of persimmons this year I made Hoshigaki (dried persimmon). Having so many dried persimmon, I thought a great way to use the fruit would be a fruitcake which lead me to this recipe. This recipe is fabulous. After separating the batter in half I made one fruitcake with chocolate and the other fruitcake without it. My preference is without chocolate. I think the chocolate distracts from the fruit. My daughter and wife prefer it with chocolate. We tasted the fruitcake after it had aged for a week and can’t wait to try it at Christmas after the flavor develops further. Thanks for sharing a great recipe. Now to figure out what to do with the hundreds of dried persimmon I have left 🙂
Hi, I’m looking forward to trying your recipe. I’m wondering if I can put in some fresh pineapple?
I haven’t done this before, but I don’t see why you couldn’t add a touch – just be careful because pineapple has a high sugar percentage and that, combined with all the added moisture, could have an impact if added in large quantities.
I just put them in the oven. I did not use the pineapple and I added currants and dried barberries in place of dark raisins. I was just a bit shy of enuf orange juice so I topped it up with Gran Marnier.
A few years ago I put some dried fruit and clove, cinnamon, and candied ginger in a jar and doused it with whatever was on hand. Brandy probably. Every year I use some and top it up again. Gets better every year so it went in with your recipe until I had enuf grams.
Can’t wait to see how this tastes. Never made fruitcake before.
Had some once that consisted of densely packed whole Brazil nuts. Delish. Would love that recipe. Have you ever seen that type of holiday cake?
Can you add nuts to this cake?
This cake already contains some nuts, but yes, you could switch up the kind or use a touch more!
Can you add nuts to this cake?
I used this recipe to bake my first fruit cake ever. I have never eaten a homemade fruit cake. I was making this for a friend’s Mom. All I have to do is wrap them up. But had to do a taste test. It turned out good. I recommend this recipe for sure.
That’s an amazing recipe
I will give it a try.
Cathrine
This is my 2nd year making this marvelous fruit cake… I’ve dabbled in so many recipes in the past, but this for now is my absolute favourite.
I don’t think I will resort to any others 😉
So very happy to hear this! I appreciate you taking the time to leave a review, means a lot. Happy holidays! ☺️
My fruit is marinating as I type this since last night and will put this together once i get home from work. Thanks for the recipe!
Thrilled to hear that!
Hi Laura,
I’m very excited to try this recipe out. Your cake looks delicious and you have given some excellent tips. I am hoping to make quite a few for gifts. I was wondering, can you store them outside the fridge in air tight containers. Just thinking, I do not have enough fridge space to store the amount of cakes I want to make.
Kind regards
Lucy
Hi! Ideally these should be stored in the fridge or at the least a very cold cellar (does anyone have one of those these days? 😅) if they’re being aged for a while. With the amount of sugar and alcohol, they’re pretty safe – but I don’t want to advise something against food safety guidelines.
Alternatively, if you wrapped with marzipan and royal icing – they can be stored for an EXTREMELY long time at room temp.
Hello, I’ve been looking for a fruit cake recipe and read all the great reviews about your recipe; but I have a question is it really almost 7 cups of dried fruit you need for this recipe? Or I misread.
Thank you
Yes! This is correct. The recipe yields two loaf cakes though and is very dried fruit heavy! I recommend using metric weights for best results, but the cup measurements are accurate.
Hi Laura- I work in a Long Term Care home and we are going to be making some homemade fruitcake in our baking program along with some reminiscing and history of fruitcake etc. I have looked at several recipes as well as my Grandma’s recipe and I am torn as to which one I should do. Time is the issue as well I am wondering about leaving out the alcohol??? (oh the horrors of leaving out the alcohol! haha). My Grandma’s recipe calls for grapefruit juice in it instead. Can I substitute the alcohol for grapefruit juice in your recipe??? I will be doing this tomorrow with my residents (Tuesday, Nov. 23rd).
If you see this before that do you mind sending me a quick reply please? Thanks!
Hi Lisa! Thanks for your question! Ideally, this cake should age for at least a week or two before serving. The alcohol really lends it a unique and wonderful flavor and aroma, but I’ve had people leave it out! I have never used grapefruit juice. Honestly, if you’ve had success with that in other recipes, it might work for this – I just can’t really say for sure, because the recipe wasn’t tested with that intention or variation, and the flavor will be very different. I wish I could be more helpful!
In the past, I’ve suggested soaking the fruit in orange juice or something of that sort too. You could also dilute the alcohol if you’re worried about it being too strong (substitute half the soaking alcohol with water, and that could help?). I always recommend making the recipe as written though for best results.
How kind you are replying almost immediately to this question. Not many bloggers would be so thoughtful!
‘Tis the season for fruitcake. I can’t wait to get baking! I’ve been searching on line for quite awhile hoping to find the best recipe and, according to the reviews, this may be the one. But before I begin, can you please tell me how long it should be baked in a 12 cup Bundt pan? Looking forward to posting a rave review.
Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas & Happy Baking
Hi Jan! I haven’t personally tested this cake in a bundt pan – although I know other people have with great success – so I can’t give you an exact bake time. I would suggest keeping an eye on it, checking after 1 hour and every 15 minutes or so afterwords. I would assume it will take at least 75-90 minutes, but I don’t want to give a high estimate because it’s best to be more cautious and check on the early side.
I do plan on testing this cake again next fall in a bundt pan and will plan on adding specific notes regarding bake time when I do! Hope this helps and hope you love it!
Just a note for Jan, that I did this recipe last year in a large round springform cake pan and it worked wonderfully! I think it did take 75 min to cook so do leave longer than an hour, just in case!
So helpful, thanks Sandy!
I’m not a cook, but I made this fruitcake last night because my mother loves fruitcake but is allergic to corn, and I couldn’t find any that weren’t loaded with high fructose corn syrup.
I changed a few things, some out of necessity and some just to see what would happen. It all turned out very well! Again, I have minimal experience in the kitchen. I think this recipe is very versatile and can be adjusted to suit your tastes.
I used cupcake liners in muffin pans for about half the batter (about 24 small cupcakes) and put the other half in a loaf pan. Didn’t change cooking times because I’m pretty ignorant about that kind of thing, just popped them in the oven together.
My house smelled HEAVENLY while it was baking. The cupcakes came out more like thick cookies or brownies, because I didn’t know how much it would rise if at all (I did mention I’m new to this, right?), and the loaf came out perfect. I broke the rules and tried it warm and it was delicious! I decided aging the cake is for more accomplished (and disciplined) bakers, and we’re eating it now. Mother-approved. Fool-proof. This is going in the recipe box. I need to start a recipe box.
If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, that’s the best source for dried fruit – there is no additional sugar added at all and that’s what I always recommend. Glad you were able to adjust and enjoyed it!
When you say soak in cheesecloth moistened with triple sec or sherry- do yo have a preference? Also when you say sherry, could you list brands. Dry, sweet, cream? This will be my first time making fruitcake so complete novice here. Thank you Looking forward to making and sharing it this holiday season.
Hi Christine! Great questions. Honestly, they both have different flavor profiles – our family tends to use sherry more, but triple sec is great (and if you love orange, I would go with triple sec!) choice as well. I do list more details in the recipe box, you’ll want to use a medium sherry (medium dry). It will list that on the bottle. Alvear and Savory & James are brands we’ve used, but we’re not brand loyal, so anything in the mid-range quality wise would be a good choice. You might not have a ton of options, depending on your liquor store.
For Triple Sec, I would probably go with Cointreau. A good reliable choice. If you really want to take it up a notch, Grand Marnier would be delicious, but it’s a lot more expensive obviously. Again, mid-quality is best, nothing too cheap, but I don’t know if top shelf is needed here.
Hope this helps!
So very helpful!!! Thank you so much!
In 1984 my boss was received the absolute best rum fruit cake for Christmas. Every year since I have tried a monastery brand or a street brand ….pretty much everyone I find and I was always disappointed. So I decided to make some. I found this recipe and struck gold! It is moist. It tastes wonderful. And I have had friends and family who were your typical fruit cake naysayers try it and they are now fruit cake aficionados. Make it. You will not be disappointed!
Thrilled to hear this! Thank you!
Hi ive got a couple of questions- why does my cake not look as brown and rich as yours despite using the exact same measurements with the only different thing being I used bleached flour (can only find that here). I am planning to feed my fruit cake once a week until Christmas- will it stay fresh for that long?
Thank you in advance for your reply!
Another question- how does this bake in a 1lb loaf pan?
Hi! I’m not sure what you mean by rich looking – did you use metric weights? Also, what do you mean, how does this bake in a 1 lb loaf? This recipe yields 2 (9 x 5 inch) loaves. But every type of dried fruit can vary a bit and ovens also vary. Sorry I can’t be more helpful, I’m just not sure what you mean by your questions at the moment!
Hi Laura, first, thank you (and your mom) for sharing this lovely recipe with us. I can’t wait to try it. I have been making Alton Brown’s fruit cake recipe for years but can’t resist trying yours this year due to all the wonderful reviews. I am planning to make 3 cakes, 1 for our holiday family gathering, 1 divided up to give away in my cookie platters for neighbors and 1 reserved for after the holidays. In prior years, I have used rum, brandy, and triple sac for my fruitcakes. This year I would like to use whisky…”why?” you may ask… Not that I like whisky in particular, but …I was helping my 90 year old mom clean out her cupboards last week and found close to 10 bottles of whisky that were given to her by various visitors from years past. I guess that’s what people do back in the days. Any how, I was wondering if you have any thoughts on replacing the rum and brandy/triple sac with the whisky. Would it be more flavorful to use 2 different types of liquor for soaking and basting ? Would it taste too strong if I use only whisky for both purposes?
Also would like to bring your attention to the area of the recipe where one can change the quantity of the recipe. I noticed that when I tried to size up the portion in the “Print Mode”, the ingredients listed in metric/grams measurements do NOT adjust, only the “cups” measurements changed. Just want to point that out.
I am going to start cutting and macerating the dried fruits tomorrow so the cakes have plenty of time to age and develop before Christmas. Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks so much Karen! I’m really excited to hear what you think of it, and am honored that you’re changing up your usual routine to try our family recipe. I hope you love it. I totally understand the temptation to use up the whisky that your mom already has on hand, but I don’t think it’s ideal (unless you’re a big whisky fan!).
Dark rum is just so much more delicate (in a good way!) in flavor and brandy is much better suited for baked goods too. If you were going to use whisky at all, I would only use a small amount – I don’t see a huge benefit in using two kinds, personally, or at least whisky being one of them – and use it for soaking the fruit, NOT soaking the cake.
Thank you for bringing the recipe (automatic sizing) print function to my attention! I actually have to manually input all of my metric weights, because they are not automatically created – they are tested – which is why it won’t automatically adjust those numbers, since they are a custom field. It is a customization print option that I share, but don’t really encourage using, because it doesn’t have the ability to adjust the equipment instructions (four loaf pans vs. two loaf pans) in the recipe.
I’m going to have my website designer and developer look at this and see if we can come up with a solution, it is frustrating for me too and I don’t want it to cause issues for anyone, but the options are limited (I could remove that sizing up/sizing down feature entirely, which might be the best solution for now, but might be frustrating for others). In the meantime, I would definitely recommend printing the standard recipe and writing in the double quantities, just to avoid confusion when you’re following! I also strongly recommend using metric weights for this recipe, especially when doubling, it will make the whole process much faster!
Appreciate your comment!
I just used this recipe (a second time) and it’s indeed a wonderful one! I am aging the cake for a week, as recommended, soaked in Triple Sec and will serve to guests this weekend. However, wanted to know how much earlier should I bring it out of the refrigerator before serving? And should I warm it up a bit before serving? Thanks!
Hi! It prefer it slightly chilled from the refrigerator, but you could also leave it out and let it come to more room temperature. I would not warm it up, personally, but I think this is subjective choice, so maybe try it all three ways 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Great fruit cake! I didn’t change anything. I decided to give it a try because of the infamous wrap fruit cakes have gained over the years. Some believe you’re supposed to save fruit cake to enjoy in the following year to show you have discipline…Lol ! Well , this cake just blew that challenge out the back door. No discipline here —we didn’t even have a sliver to take into the new year last year! bahaha! Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe. I plan to make again this year!
Love hearing this Kimberly! Thank you for your feedback!
I have made this cake twice and it is delicious and a huge hit w my family.
So glad to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Thank goodness I found this! made this recipe last year, and as the name states, it is the BEST fruitcake. my printed recipe got batter on it and ended up in the trash. I knew it was the one with grated apple, et viola!
we love fruitcake anyway, but this one take the cake, so to speak.
measurements of rum please to season the cake? it is necessary every week or everyday?
You need very little to dampen the cheesecloth – there is no precision needed, this is why I don’t list a measurement! It is really a personal choice. The cake should only be soaked and wrapped once, and it should only be redone if you’re storing the cake for a long time and the cloth feels dry!
Thanks for sharing your recipe. Really this is the world’s best fruit cake.
How do you test this cake for doness?
Recipe says to bake 1 hr 15 min to 2 hr 40 min?
Hi Joann, I think you misread the instructions – it says to bake anywhere from 1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) to 1 hour and 30 minutes (90 minutes). So, total bake time is 75-90 minutes. I might go in and edit that instruction though to make it more clear if that was confusing, though I haven’t had that question before. Hope this helps!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe its my first time making fruit cake and this is the best fruitcake ive tasted so far .i made some adjustment i lessen the amount of raisin cos i dnt really like too much raisin on it and and some dried fruit instead in the same amount that i cut from the raisins.ive tried baking it in the usual pn as u suggested the first time i tried and yesterday i made my 2nd try and i use smaller pan, round tin pand and tiny round tin and adjusted the cooking time and it comes out perfect..???
I can only find sweetened cherries. Should I adjust the sugar, add less cherries are replace them with something else?
Maybe add a touch less (I wouldn’t adjust the sweetness too much) and add a bit more of one of the other tarter, unsweetened dried fruit – it should still be fine!
What size pans are you using and can you use like 2 cups of nuts?
Can I make this using those foil 2 lb rectangular cake pans (8”x3.8”x2.5”)? I’d like to make quite a few for Christmas gifts . I’ve read in other Christmas cake recipes that some require that you bake it in a shallow pan of water and cover lightly with tinfoil. Any thoughts on if this would work for me? Thanks for any ideas you may have! Looking forward to trying your recipe.. it will be my first time making Christmas cakes!
If you’re referring to the foil loaf pans, yes! You definitely can. Just be sure to grease them well with butter (they can be more prone to sticking). This cake does not require a water bath, but keep checking on the cakes during bake time, as every oven varies and the loaf pan change could speed or slow things down. Hope this helps!
What’s the options about the chocolate…yes or no. Not sure
Hi Eileen. You can add chopped chocolate to the batter (it is listed as an optional ingredient – and the quantity is listed – under the recipe box at the bottom of the post) or leave it out. Both options are great, just depends on what you’re looking for! Hope this helps!
Seems like I have way too much fruit, 1 1 and 1/2 qts. Is that too much?
TY,
Lynn
Oops not 11 1/2 but ….1 and one half
Hi Lynnita, I would recommend using gram measurements for best accuracy – also, this recipe yields two loaves! It’s a lot of dried fruit, but has been tested so many times and made by thousands of people. If you’ve followed the recipe precisely, you’re good!
Sounds fantastic. Definitely going to bake this
Would it be ok to leave out the prunes and a little less on some of the other fruit except for the 2 cups of the soaked fruit. I usually like a bit more cake than all the fruit. I’m anxious to try it. Thanks
I don’t personally recommend this because the batter quantity won’t increase at all to compensate, so they’ll be smaller loaves and this is really designed to be a fruit heavy fruit cake – but technically you could, I just can’t give specific advice or details as to how it will come out since I didn’t test the recipe that way!
Hi may I know at 150deg C u are using circulating fan assisted heat or traditional top & bottom heat to bake? Tks
Traditional; I would specify in a recipe if I was using convection (fan). It is definitely not needed for this recipe, if you want to do it, you’d want to decrease the oven temperature by 25F (4C).
I would like to bake the abv cake. It seems interesting. But I just need to know, will
It be easy to cut this cake with the proper shape. I mean it’s so difficult to cut fruit cakes. Any tips pls?
Hi Tasha, not sure what you mean by “abv” cake or the “proper shape” – a sharp knife can slice through this fruit cake very easily!
I see at least one person stores these cakes in their cellar. What is a minimum temperature for them – I don’t want to use the room in my ‘fridge, esp. not around Christmas. Thanks.
Obviously from a purely “food safety” perspective (though I don’t personally worry about this cake), a fridge is best. But I think anything between 40°-50°F is next best option.
Thank you for your super prompt reply.
Well…this is my second year making this recipe and I use the medium size loaf pans.
I soaked the fruit in a bottle of brandy and most was absorbed the first time so I did it again this year.
I opened the foil wrap and drizzled the cheese cloth good with more brandy every so often for three months. These are the absolute best fruit cakes ever !
Everybody loves them including me. A good time is had by all !
I store them in the cellar so my friends call them cellar cakes ?
This year I had a jug of fireball whiskey hanging around so I’ve been liquoring up the cakes with that for a month now !
Think I got a little carried away once so I’ll let em dry out a little before I hit them again. Hopefully they won’t get soggy. !
Might crack one open early and check it out.
Everyone is chomping at the bit for their Christmas cellar cakes this year !
Thanks for the recipe and I’ll let you know how they turn out !
Thanks, Wade
I am curious how this recipe doubles? I’d like to make a 4 loaf batch as it is very popular in my family and will be sent as gifts too. Thanks!
It could definitely be doubled, it’s just a LOT of dried fruit to prepare so it will take some time, but I don’t see why there would be any issues as long as you’re careful with scaling up the recipe.
Hello
I would like to know what I can do if I do not have cheese cloth?
Thank you
A thin muslin kitchen linen would be the next best alternative, but it will get stained so just want to give a heads up!
Hi,
Can i know what brand of Dark Rum would you recommend using. Thanks
I used Bacardi, but honestly any mid-quality dark rum will do!
hello
can i soak the dried fruit in juice instead of alcohol/
Sure! It won’t have the same flavor, but structurally it won’t make a difference in the baked outcome.
Do you use all dried fruit or just apricots and peaches?
Hi Maggie, the full recipe is at the bottom of this post and covers all the dried fruit that I use – which is a mixture of many things, not just apricots and peaches. I like a wider variety for different texture and flavors, but you can adapt it within reason to suit what works for you!
Well, grandma strikes again, as my grandchildren would say, she’s off on another adventure.
I never made a fruit cake recipe in my life so I thought I’d try one this year for a party the following week.
I set out to the grocery store to buy all the items. After all my items were tallied I noticed I forgot my wallet in my truck. Crap! When I told the cashier I’ll be right back, I felt the sighs of the people behind me. Feeling the pressure, I took off across the parking lot doing a little skip, trot, run when I felt a horrible pain in my hip.
I sprain, strained or pulled my flexor muscle, ouch!
I waddled back in the store, to the truck and home in pain but I was determined to get, at least, the dried fruit soaking. I’m sure it didn’t, but it felt like it took me forever to get all that died fruit chopped. I placed it in a tall Tupperware container.
In a hurry to finish and set down, I quickly read, “to cover the dried fruit with the rum”. Okay, wobble to the living room…back with the rum. OK, so pour the rum over the dried fruit. I poured and poured and poured in tall Tupperware container until the fruit was covered and was surprised it took the WHOLE BOTTLE OF LIQUOR. The whole 750ml bottle of rum!
Yikes I thought… this is going to be Boosie! I’ll just add back to the bottle what the fruit doesn’t soak up I thought to myself, cause it ain’t going to waste.
Not thinking much more about the recipe that day, I just let fruit soak overnight.
The next day I recruited my husband for help. We sliced, diced, shredded, juiced, measured and zested, everything was ready to assemble.
Reading back over the recipe I noticed it said to add the dried fruit and any remaining rum. Well, I thought to myself, I only have one and a half cups of flour and if I add the remaining rum it’s going to be soup.
I decided to sit down with my iPad and read back over the whole blog, i’m missing something, I did something wrong I thought to myself.
Then I found it, LOL
Ohhhhhh, I was only supposed to pour 3/4 cup of rum over the fruit! Not the whole bottle!
Ha Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah.
Needless to say I strained the fruit through a colander and let it drip for a while before using, in hindsight I should’ve rinsed of the fruit as well.
We continued on and baked the cake, yeah it really taste like rum!
Ha Hah Hah Hah Hah.
Just in case you’re wondering, the dried fruit soaked up a half a bottle of rum ?
I swear I don’t know how these things happen to me, me and my grandkids can write a blog about all grandma’s misadventures.
Anyways, I just thought I’d share my funny story, have a blessed day!
Hahaha! This is a very funny story! Thanks for sharing – so glad it worked out!
Thank you for letting me use your recipe.i want to try to make a different fruits for the Fruit cake I am going to make this year .I have been making a Japanese fruit cake for years .But I have moved a few times that I can not fined my recipe and I have not yet found another recipe from a Japanese fruit cake and my dad loves fruit cake .thank you again for your help.
Connie
Hi!,
This cake sounds amazing and I love the fruit mixture you use.
My question is can you make rhe cake up to the point of the boozy shroud and freeze? I am thinking of getting a jump on Christmas and would like to make ahead and freeze, the put out and wrap closer to time to use or gift.
Thanks, Dorothy
Hi! I don’t see why not – but it also stores beautifully for an incredibly long time, so I don’t think it’s necessary either! I haven’t personally done the freezing trick, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work – it will just take quite a while to defrost because it is so dense. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the reply Laura!
Hi Laura, my question is about the salt,we don”t have that particular brand,the one one I have the flakes seem large for a
cake,please advise.
If you are using a scale, you’ll want 3 grams salt total (that is the weight of 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt). If don’t have a scale, are you referring to Maldon? Or another finishing flaky salt? If you’re substituting it with that or a fine sea salt, I would use 1/2 teaspoon total in the full recipe and that should be fine.
Diamond Crystal kosher salt is much like dense than other varieties of salt (and about half the density of something like Morton kosher salt), it’s best to check the nutritional information at the back of the salt container to figure out the direct conversion.
Tried this last fall as a pandemic holiday baking experiment… I’d never had real fruitcake before! I made some fruit substitutions based on what was available and went nut free for family. Made half of the batch as written (soaking fruit in alcohol) and half of it alcohol free (soaking fruit in orange juice) for some family teetotalers and kids. They were both very good, but the non-alcoholic one was preferred by almost everyone! My sister requested it as her birthday cake this year, so I have another round in the oven right now 🙂 Thanks for the new family recipe!!
I used to love my mom’s fruit cake until I tried this one. You’re right it’s the best fruit cake ever! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Hi!
Does all or most of the alcohol cook off during the time in the oven?
I’m wanting to take fruit cake with me on a long hike/ climb since it has tons of calories and is easy to pack. That being said, getting an early morning buzz above 14,000 ft feels a tinge irresponsible. Maybe a good thing to warm up!
Thanks
Jake
The majority of alcohol in the cake definitely cooks off, but the flavor is evident…I’m not sure if I can give you exactness when it comes to that part, but the bulk of the boozy flavor comes from the soaking after it is baked. Hope this helps!!
hi there, can i replace a cheese cloth for a tea towel? it is all i have on hand.
Sure! A thin one would def work, just be sure that you’re ok with it possibly staining.
Hi wanted to know how long can you store this cake and can it be made for wedding cakes.
It can be stored for months in the refrigerator – it is a very dense rich seasonal cake, so I know in some cultures, a fruitcake is a traditional wedding cake – but that is totally a personal choice.
I cannot wait to try this recipe. I have been looking for one just like this. Do you think i can use dates instead of figs?
Sure! I prefer figs because they are less sweet and sticky especially when chopped up, but they can be substituted without issue.
How long would I cook your fruitcake in a 1/2 cup heavy bundt pan with eight places for cake? I have made your fruitcake for years and everyone says they love it. I have never used my fluted small bundt cake pan.
1/2 cup bundt pan? Do you mean 12 cup?
Very detailed on how to make the Christmas fruit cake.Thanks
Buenísima receta
Super Delicioso
Me encantó qué sé convirtió en mi favorita
This recipe was simply delicious.. thank u so much for sharing this. It was my first attempt and the outcome was amazing. I was completely in love with it. Your recipe and this pan helped me bake my best cake till date.Thanks once again.
Made this twice already, love it so much! i really like fruit cake but i can’t find any ‘real’ fruit cake in the whole island where i live.
This recipe really meet my expectation, so happy i found it
Thank you so much for the feedback! Love hearing this!
Can I use rum to soak the cloth in to store the cake, or does it have to be Sherry ?
Rum would work! I prefer the flavor of sherry, but it’s really up to you and flavor preference. Hope this helps!
I have made this like 9 times. I like the mixture of the apple, the orange and Lemon rind, and also the use of the juice. The first few rounds – the cake didn’t crack. Just made it today and looked like it cracked a little. Anyhow, received great comments on this all round.
Hi Nancy! Thanks for the feedback, glad you’ve liked it and made it so many times!!! Maybe try chopping the fruit a bit smaller – it really shouldn’t have any sort of cracking (it’s a very dense cake), but wonder if it might if the pieces are too large. Hope this helps!
Have to say…I just made this recipe and it’s AMAZING. I DID make it gluten and dairy free…(but still with eggs to clarify). Here’s what I used with equal portions to your recipe: Bob’s 1 to 1 baking flour and Earth Balance for the butter. The consistency was great and cooked just fine. I put them both in light silver tin pans (due to heating for gluten free). And now I’m drunk 😉 Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So happy to hear this and that it worked well with your substitutions! The notes are really helpful to other readers, thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
This recipe was very easy to follow and the resulting cake turned out amazingly! I tweaked the recipe a little and ending up adding a total of 1.4kg of dried fruit which meant it was more like fruit with cake rather than the reverse but this is just how we like it. I baked in 2 loaf pans and it was a lovely way to save one and share the other with a relative/friend/neighbour. The taste was spot on and even the little ones loved this dessert! Thank you kindly for sharing, will definitely be revisiting 🙂
So glad to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, and so glad little ones loved it too.
Great recipe – also great to soak fruit in Grand Marnier or Triple Sec for a really lovely citrus taste overall.
I think u missed out the number of eggs needed
Hi, it’s listed and shown in the recipe – among the ingredients. The fruit cake requires 5 eggs.
I made this and my family loved it!! We ate one loaf right away. The other and been wrapped in a rum cheese cloth since Christmas. We took it out of the refrigerator and had a slice today!! So good!! Thank you for the recipe.
So thrilled to hear this! Thank you for taking the time to come back with feedback and to leave a recipe review. Means a lot to me, and is always helpful to others too!
I made this for my father-in-law, and he agrees, it is the BEST he has ever had! He can’t stop raving over it. I did not have the ginger so I left that out. I used dates in place of some of the raisins.
So thrilled to hear this!
We are an alcohol free household due to health reasons and support for a family member. But this looks delicious. Do you have any suggestions on alternatives for what we can soak the dried fruit in and if we should wrap a cheese cloth with another liquid?
Hi Riley! Sorry for the delay, as I’ve addressed in other comments, the alcohol really does make this particular recipe (as is the case with most traditional fruitcakes), so it won’t be the same without it – and I haven’t made it without it, so I can’t even accurately describe the differences between an alcoholic vs. non-alcohol version…yet.
But you could try soaking the fruit in apple juice (or cider) and see how that goes! I would not personally wrap the cake afterwards in anything else (just skip that step) because it won’t work the same.
I hate throwing this out there but I have to I guess. Your cake looks amazing and I’ve really been craving fruit cake. But I am a recovering alcoholic so this puts a little twist into things. Is there something besides rum that I can soak the fruit in? I’ve seen possibly with a fruit juice from other recipes but not any reviews from people doing this.
Hi Josh! Congratulations on your recovery – while the cake certainly will not taste the same, I have encouraged others that they could probably soak the dried fruit in apple juice (and skip the cake soaking step after it is baked) and it could work out. Unfortunately, I also haven’t heard back from anyone asking the same question, so I can’t give more information about the taste, etc. but from a pure baking science perspective, I have no doubt it would work. Hope this helps!
I made this for my 2020 Christmas. Rely doesn’t get better than this. Was committed to the process and time this requires. So worth it!
So happy to hear that!
First attempt making fruitcake and ur recipe is good… the only thing is I bought the wrong rum so mine didn’t turn out as dark. Thx for sharing your recipe
Just made 4 loaves of this and it is fantastic so far. My only ammendments were white sugar instead of brown so I have a blonde version and I added dried pineapple. One loaf was consumed rather quickly and was delicious. The others are snug in their boozy blankets waiting out the winter here in Minnesota. Thanks!
LOVE this! Thanks so much for the feedback and glad you have an extra to last all winter long. ❤️
Just an update that these have aged incredibly well for me. I have one of the four loaves still left and as winter here in Minneosta winds I have been having a slice each time it snows. Perfect! I will be starting this process in late October I think for this year. Thanks again for a great recipe. This is going into my Paprika app favorites.
Really happy to hear that! I also have leftover fruit cake in my fridge that was made in November – it really does last and taste great for months. So happy to hear that it’s bringing you brightness during a long winter!
Hi Laura,
Thank you for this excellent recipe. I will have the cake ready for 2021 as I had a late start. I was wondering about the 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp baking soda. I usually use 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt for most of my recipes. Is there a reason you recommend less baking soda and more salt.
I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt (much less dense, so please note this if you are using something like table salt which would need to be reduced) and this recipe yields 2 loaves, so it is 1/2 teaspoon each.
As for the leavening, this cake really doesn’t need almost any due to the desired texture and other ingredients.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention – this recipe was created as part of a brand partnership and I was not aware the links were not working anymore. I have updated the links already and hope that helps!
It’s not true at all that the one loaf would go a long way!!!!
I skipped the apple and the ginger but the result is still great. It is still moist and rich. I skipped the apple because they sell in a bag of 10 and my mum would complain if I leave the rest in the fridge since Granny Smith is not my fav. For the ginger I just don’t like them so I just skipped it.
This is my first time baking and eating fruit cake. It was so good I didn’t think I would like it at first cos of the dry fruit but I really love it. I try to bake it because my girlfriend and my mum loves this and they keep saying they want to eat fruit cake after I bought them panettone last week. The fruit cake is quite expensive here and I want to try to make it myself after they said they want some, so I just try baking for them this year. I end up making 5 batch of your recipe. I made 1 big loaf in my silicone mold, 10 in the 1 pound foil tray, 10 in the smaller foil tray and 1 half pound in my other silicone mold. My mum said will give out as Christmas gift.
For dry fruit, since we got some dates and cranberries at home, I just bought some strawberry, kiwi, cherry, apricot and lime flavored aloe vera. Fig is too expensive so I skipped it. Cutting dry fruits and take out the seed from the dates already took me a couple hours. I soaked them in the dark rum mix with a bit of triple sec for a day. For nuts, I use almonds (because my mum already have some at home) and I bought some walnuts (because it was on sale lol). Pecan is too expensive for me. (actually all the stuff I bought to make this cake can buy 2-3 fruits cake here and it’s about my 2-3 week food budget. Sad thing for me living in this hot Asian country with weak currency so nuts and fruits are imported and quite expensive compare to the living cost, excepted for the aloe vera which is local product.) After the cake was done, I mixed orange juice, lemon juice and bit of triple sec together and brushed the cake. Then glazed it with apricot preserves after it cooled. I baked these for the whole night. The first thing in the morning, my mum just cut a slice and ate it right away before I could put in the fridge. My family already finished 2/3 of the big loaf within a day (mostly by my mum). Actually my mum already finished almost half in the morning then she said need to leave some for my dad and bro. She said this is the first fruit cake she had in more than 10 years. I’m waiting to see my girlfriend comment tomorrow.
Hello!! This is such a lovely recipe, thank you so much for sharing it! This was my very fruit fruit cake, and i loved it! I did a few small things differently I thought I might share for anyone interested. I used 1 cup AP flour, and 1/2 cup wholemeal flour, as I like the nutty flavor it brings. Secondly, I didn’t have a loaf pan, so I used a bundt cake pan, and it worked beautifully! The only thing that I might do differently next time is use a liqueur instead of rum– maybe Drambuie? Or Benedictine? I found the rum was a little strong and also didn’t add much fragrance to it… I think the anise or heathered honey flavors of Drambuie or even a hazelnut Frangelico might be a nice addition to it! But, this was really fabulous, thank you!
So glad you liked it and love your small changes – always hope people make recipes their own! I wonder if the rum that you used is different than my own, because mine is definitely fragrant. I think it will definitely vary a lot brand to brand!
Hello! After reading all the comments, I feel like your full-time job must be replying to people’s questions! It’s very much appreciated, however!
My question is about the amount of dried fruit. In total, I should have 7 1/4 c of dried fruit? Would it still be good if I had less than that? It took forever for me to chop the fruit (as I’m sure you know!) and eventually I gave up and figured it was enough. Maybe you have a tip for cutting the sticky, dried fruit that’s faster than just chopping like normal with a knife??
This is my first time ever baking (or tasting) fruit cake, but thought I’d give it a try. I’m excited to try it and share it with my MIL and neighbors. Thanks a bunch!
Haha! This post does get a lot of questions, though I’m happy to answer them 🙂 It does just take a long time to chop the fruit, but aside from that, the cake is pretty easy to make and yields two loaves, so it just is unfortunately is part of the process. You definitely want a LOT of fruit. You might be able to get away with a little less, but I wouldn’t mess with reducing too much or the cake either won’t have enough batter or will just be smaller in the end/cook faster.
I would definitely recommend having a VERY sharp chef’s knife! You could also try coating the knife with a little bit of oil (spray or just brushing with a touch of oil) and that will prevent some sticking and help it go a bit faster. Hope this helps! You could try the same method (again, spray the blade) of a large, heavy-duty food processor too.
Hello. has anyone successfully mailed these fruit cakes across the country? How did you wrap it, and what kind of shipment did you use? I wonder if I should freeze the fruit cake before mailing? I am in California and want to ship these cakes to Wisconsin. Thanks in advance for the tips!
Hi! My mom actually made a batch this year and sent me (and my sisters) some! She simply wraps the cheese-cloth wrapped loaf tightly in foil and shipped it priority (2-3 day shipping would be better) with some padding in the box – especially in the winter when it’s colder, it can absolutely hold up completely fine. I would advise whoever receives it to put it into the fridge for storage when they get it.
Hi Laura,
Can I substitute the Sherry or triple sec with anything non alcohol?
For soaking the fruit? If you’re referring to that step, you could soak in apple juice but the flavor will not be the same unfortunately.
Hello Laura,
I made the cakes and they are soaking in Triple sec now. I followed the recipe exactly. I tasted a little bit before wrapping in triple sec. The taste is fine, though I can’t taste the rum. I actually put 1.5 cups of rum for each batch of fruits! I still couldn’t taste it. But more than that, the cake is very dense. It is not hard, but it doesn’t have the cake texture, not even like banana bread or plum cake. The edges and sides also didn’t brown with a crust, but look dull, almost like a steamed cake look. I feel that maybe 6 eggs were little more and 4 would have been good enough. I am not a baker, but I don’t know what else could be the reason.
Please let me know.
Thank you
Thanks for the reply Laura. I removed the paper towels, which wasn’t too difficult. My version didn’t come out very sticky perhaps because I reduced the sugar and used different fruits? I couldn’t find dried cherries in my store but they recommended a tiny tart berry called barberry instead. Also used dried plums. I’ll try adding some more nuts to the normal glaze.
Hi Laura, my cakes are currently aging in the fridge but I have a few questions. I reduced the sugar and also used paper towels soaked in rum cause I didn’t have Sherry or cheese cloths. The cake also appears a lot lighter in colour than your photos. Will the aging darken the cake? Also I forgot to add the nuts so am thinking of making a nut glaze instead. Do you have any recipes to recommend? Thanks.
Hi Tom. Reducing sugar changes baked goods a lot (and will change the color of a baked good), so I can’t say why your cake is lighter in color. Did you use different fruit? Either way, if it cooked through and everything else went well, it shouldn’t matter that much. As for soaking, I would STRONGLY recommend removing the paper towels and replacing it with a linen, the paper towel might disintegrate and this cake is sticky, so I’m worried paper towel residue might be left on the cake when you remove it. I’m not sure, but this is why I say to use cheesecloth or a linen.
I’ve never heard of a nut glaze for a cake, but you can always do the normal glaze and just top it with pecan pieces as shown in the image.
Hi Laura! I’ve successfully finished baking the cakes and I used cut brandy to soak them. My mom’s been egging on me because she thinks it may be too strong. I was thinking to switch the next soak with some Andy Player whiskey. Should I make the switch? Or should I just stick with the alcohol I already used?
Thanks, Laura!
I’m not familiar with Andy Player whiskey, but whiskey is STRONG. I personally would not switch the alcohols (just because I’m not familiar with the flavors of those and might worry that they would compete weirdly in flavor to one another). If you’re worried, you could always skip the second soak! I would check the cake and see if it appears pretty moist. It can hold up surprisingly well without a ton of soakings. Up to you!
Hello Laura,
Thank you for the update! I was very confused as the qty of fruit was a lot to fit in one loaf!! Now I am good. I have the fruits soaking…I wasn’t sure if 3/4c rum was enough, so I added 1 cup!! I hope that is ok.
Sorry, I have one more question. Why are the nuts not soaked in rum as well? Will that change anything? Please advise.
Thank you.
1 cup should be fine. The fruit is soaked so it can absorb more moisture and get plump. Nuts won’t benefit from soaking, if anything it could make the texture worse. Hope this helps!
Hello Laura,
Thank you for your reply for my comment above on the pans. I am sorry I have a few more questions. I am not an experienced baker, but I really want to make this and give it to my friends!.
1. Will this recipe make two 9×5 loaves? I know you have said two 8×4, but you have also said 9×5. But I wasn’t sure if you meant two 9×5 pans?
2. Also, I see most recipes with only one egg per 1/2cup of flour. So I am a little worried, if the cake will taste eggy with 5 eggs. Are we using 5 eggs because of the alcohol content? Please help me understand.
Hi! No problem.
No, I definitely mean just one loaf pan total yield. The cake will be slightly taller if you use an 8 x 4 (but it will work just as well).
The cake does not taste even a little bit eggy. The eggs help add binding (because this cake contains a TON of dried fruit. I promise it works! ? If you’re in any doubt, just check out the 400+ positive reviews.
Thank you so much for your quick response Laura! Yes, all the positive reviews are amazing! Will try your recipe as posted, except will be adding pineapple instead of peaches. I will post back next week with an update! Thank you so much for your encouragement!
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts! 🙂
Yikes – I just re-read my comment and it should have said “two loaves” yield, as it states at the top of the recipe. Both 9 x 5 OR 8 x 4, up to you!
This sounds amazing! I know the booze is sort of a fruit cake staple, but I’m a recovered alcoholic and like to stay away from it entirely, even if it’s in cooking. Do you think there’s any qualm with not soaking the fruit? Or using a substitute of some sort? Or am I out of luck?
Totally understand. Unfortunately nothing taste wise will be quite the same, but I think a fruit juice (apple juice) could be ok! I would soak in the fruit in the fridge if that’s the case.
Hi Laura! I really don’t have much options for the alcohol to be used in soaking the cake. I only have whiskey and gin. Should I just go for the whiskey?
I’m not sure! I’m not a whiskey drinker, so it might depend on the brand and quality. It will certainly taste very different either way, but I would go with whiskey (be more conservative) if you were choosing between the two.
Just made this— absolutely delicious! I had a ton of batter. I baked one cake in a 8×2 loaf, one in a 6×2 round pan, and then a batch of mini muffins. Baking times varied, obviously. I used mixed dried raisins, cranberries, and cherries along with apricots, figs, and dates. I also threw in some of that awful candied pineapple and cherries because my grandparents love them. Still turned out lovely! This recipe is foolproof.
I have just made your recipe and the result looks very good.Loafs are now wrapped, in cheese cloth soaked in cherry, on the fridge.Hope the result is as good as the raw dought tasted :)Thank you very much, Laura, for your recipe. I made a dairy free version substituting butterby extra virgin olive oil. I will let you know how it tastes in a week time.
Thank you for the recipe. I will be trying it for the first time. I do not have cheesecloth. Can I poke holes in the cake and drizzle a couple of tbsp of rum to soak in and keep it wrapped in foil and ziploc for a week in the fridge?
Oh, one more question. I know that you have specifically mentioned not to change the pan size and I hate to ask this question. But I would like to bake mini loaves and give to my friends. I would have to make 9-10 mini loaves. Would you say that one batch of yours which is for 2 loaf pans can make 5 mini loaves? I would appreciate any guidance. Thank you
Hi Sunny! Sorry for the delay. A normal loaf pan will usually make about 3 mini loaves – but it might vary recipe to recipe. If you are doing this, be sure to watch the bake time carefully and look for the signs that it is done baking, as it will most likely not take nearly as long. Hope this helps.
hi laura, david in rhode island here. tried your fruit cake recipee and i have to say it is delicious. i did substitute flour for almond flour and it is a magically delicious cake. thanks,
Hi,
U have given 180ml RUM for soaking,
but I’m finding it less can I add some more as per my requirement.
And one more thing U said to take one batch of the soak dry fruits .
What’s the meaning of one batch? How much is one batch in terms of weight.
Thanks in advance and really appreciate ur effort in posting this recipe.??
The “batch” is the quantity of dried fruit listed at the top of the recipe!
Seriously the best fruitcake!! Packed full of flavors. Not your Grandma’s fruitcake.
Woops, I meant to add orange as a tart fruit for my Tropical fruitcake question.
Hello I am really excited to try this recipe because I love fruitcake and christmas and I’ve never made one before! Just wondering if the flavor of the cake comes out quite boozy? Or is it the usual fruitcake sort of flavor one could expect? I live with 2 sober ppl so it would be hard to share the cake with them if it has an alcohol taste to it, also I myself detest the taste of liquor in food, notes are ok but the alcohol taste is too chemically. If it is I wouldn’t mind substituting wine maybe? Or something with less alcohol content? If you have a min pls let me know and help a novice baker out! ♡
Hi! It has great flavor and it’s not simply from the addition of booze – but depending on how much you soak the cake afterwards, the booze flavor is definitely perceptible, but not at all chemical in taste. I wouldn’t recommend the soaking step if you are serving it to sober people (personally, doesn’t seem like a good idea!), but if you just use the alcohol for soaking the fruit prior to baking, you should be fine.
I definitely wouldn’t substitute wine!
What ratio of tart/sweet would you suggest for fruits to make a TROPICAL fruitcake? So far I’m thinking pineapple, mango, dates (which come from *date palm* trees) — and use apricot and raisins to tart-en it up. Also I think macadamia nuts and cashews would make great “tropical nuts” — although my question is: What kinds of fruits would be good to use to make it tropical? And secondly, what chopped quantities of each of those fruits should I use to get that balanced tart/sweet ratio? (Note: I’m thinking coconut might be too overpowering to use in a Tropical version….thoughts?) As for the booze for soaking, rum is perfect for tropical! 🙂
I think pineapple sounds great, but I would personally steer away from dates in this recipe (unless used in a very very small quantity). They are so sweet, and wouldn’t lend much flavor to the cake. More tart dried fruits are definitely the way to go. Pineapple could be great, but can be tricky to cut into small pieces, which is ideal. All of your substitution ideas sound really good, but unless you REALLY went tropical (different booze, coconut, etc) I don’t know if that would be the flavor you’d overwhelmingly taste when you bite into this cake either way. But a nut substitution would definitely work either way.
I think they thought I was asking for Triple X and they gave me that. It is a wine with 20% alcohol. I know nothing with alcohol. Question, is it okay to put wine? I think I will just leave it as is, just one application. Thank you still enjoyed my fruitcake.
Absolutely fantastic fruitcake. Followed the recipe as written, with the exception that I substituted some types of dried fruit –keeping in mind to select dried fruits that were tart/sour to balance those that were sweet. I used a very thin old cotton kitchen towel to wrap the cakes. I often find that cheesecloth can shed bits of thread and get great results from the Triple Sec moistened cotton towel. Cakes are very moist and slice nicely. Delicious. This will be my standard recipe for years to come. Thanks for providing it.
Yes, I made this recipe. Is it okay to use London XXX it is a medium sweet wine as that is what they gave me when I asked for triple sec. I had soaked all my four loaves with it. To remedy, can I put them back in the oven for 5 mins. just so the alcoholic drink will evaporate and then I will buy the properly suggested sherry or triple sec to age it. Thank you very much.
Hmm. I haven’t heard of that wine before! If it smells like triple sec and is a similar alcohol content, I would say sure? I would taste it on it’s own and if you enjoy the flavor, it should be ok. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, I just have no familiarity with that particular alcohol.
Yes, I made this recipe. Looked very good. The problem, I am not used to alcoholic drinks, I asked for Triple Sec orange flavor and they gave me London XXX it is a Medium Sweeet wine. I applied it on all four loaves. After 3 days and 1 day of application, I decided to remove the cheesecloth and open it all up. Can I put it back in the oven, 300 farenheit just to make the alcohol evaporate for maybe 5 mins. and I will buy the proper sherry or liquor to apply and age all of them Please advise. Thank you very much.
Good morning. Can you please let me know how many grams are your Large eggs? Is it American large size (53-63g) or European large size (63-73g)? With 5 eggs it will make a huge difference! Thanks
Hi Thea! Great question. This is definitely American large eggs, not European large. 50 grams roughly each, but this cake should be fairly forgiving if there is a tiny bit more.
I always use American large eggs for recipe development on my site if that helps clarify anything in the future!!!
What substitute do you suggest for soaking the cheesecloth in if you don’t want to use alcohol
I would still use cheesecloth, but a thin kitchen linen would be next best option.
This cake recipe is so good!! My family loved it. Follow the recipe and you will not be disappointed. Thank you!!
So glad to hear that! Thanks for the feedback Ritu!
how many portions do you recommend from this recipe?
Really just depends on the person! It is the size of a normal size loaf cake (if that helps) – I would say at least 10 because it is fairly rich and a little goes a long way.
Is there an option for those who don’t drink alcohol? What can we use to substitute instead?
Left a comment last year while the cakes were baking, now I’m back again to say they came out perfect and I’m making them again for the second year in a row!! When I was younger, my family used to purchase cakes from a local monastery made by monks. This fruitcake tastes almost the same as the fruitcake we used to purchase and my family LOVED it! Thank you so much for this recipe, it’s a wonderful treat for the holidays!
So happy to hear this! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review. I always love hearing from people that try my recipes, particularly this one as it is a family staple and something we also look forward to enjoying each holiday season.
Good afternoon, can I use kitchen towels Instead of cheesecloth for wrapping? I can’t find any cheesecloth.
Also, if I tried making this in those paper single-use loaf pans, the ones that you don’t remove but can gift as is, I can only soak the top I suppose. Would that be okay?
Thanks!
Hi! Please don’t do this, because the paper towels will disintegrate or probably stick to the cake and it will become a mess. Do you have a kitchen linen (real linen or a thin other variety) you’d feel comfortable soaking and potentially staining? Thats the next best option. Hope this helps!
Thank you for the prompt reply!!
Oh, i didn’t mean paper kitchen towels, but the cotton type (English is not my first language). I only have cotton, linen towels are very difficult to find here. Do you think they would work ok? I have different types, the one is straight-cloth kitchen towel, and I also have the knobbly type face wash-towel, both 100% cotton. I also have some 100% cotton pillow cases that I wouldn’t mind tearing to long strips. Which do you think would work the best? I hope I am making sense in explaining these.
Christmas fruit cakes are a big deal here, and my mom absolutely loves them. But I hate the traditional glazed fruit and syrup, so I am very keen in making your recipe, it looks amazing and much healthier. I already told my mom I will be making Christmas fruitcake for the first time this year!!
Oops!!! Sorry Thea. I read that early this morning and I’m not sure why my brain read “paper towels” and not kitchen towels (as you said!). ? Yes! That will definitely work. Don’t use any of the knobbly type, you want to use something that won’t leave any sort of lint and is a smooth linen/thin cotton one.
I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Dear Laura,Thanks for sharing the recipe of the Fruit Cake.I prepared your recipe. At the beginning I was afraid of the result due to my limited cooking experience, but the result was amazing. Looks good, tastes wonderful, but I have a problem: the cake crumbles when you cut it. It does not matter that I use a bread knife or any other kind.I followed the recipe all the way. I am cooking in Mexico City, at 7,349 feet above sea level. I used two pans almost 9×5 inches. The result: The loaves are very humid, the dough feels as it was raw, even though they were in the oven for more than ninety minutes.Please, do you have any suggestions of how to solve the crumbling problem.Thanks for your answer.Regards,Mr. Ivo Stern.
Thanks for your comment and appreciate you sharing more details. So, that altitude will absolutely affect your baking and recipes (usually sugar and leavening) need to almost always be adjusted, particularly if you live about 5,000 feet (which you are well above). Unfortunately I’m very inexperienced with baking at altitude, so I can’t give you a specific adaptation to make, I would simply recommend adapting it the way that you adjust other baked goods in your home.
The cake is very, very moist, but should not be extremely crumbly. If you use a serrated knife (and it is cold), it should always hold its shape once sliced. I’m wondering if a measurement is off (or there might be a difference in some sort of ingredient compared to my own, since every country’s flours etc vary). I wish I could be more helpful!
I bake regularly at 5200 feet. King Arthur web site has very good high altitude adjustments to follow. Generally speaking, you need to increase moisture content for baking at high altitude; your flours especially are drier which is why weighing flour is important. I generally increase liquids and sometimes will add an additional egg white, subtract some flour and sugar and cut in half leavening; also need to increase oven temperature a bit usually and less time in the oven; it just depends on what you are making. Haven’t made my cakes yet, just now soaking the fruit; I will update if I find good success.
Hey Laura, thanks for sharing this recipe. I’m trying it for the first time. I actually have the fruit soaking in rum right now. I saw another comment that mentioned marzipan on top. I’ve seen other fruitcake recipes that have marzipan added into the batter. I was wondering if this one would be too sweet with marzipan added into it.
We have allergies to alcohol in my family. Is there a substitute, such as apple juice, for the alcohol in this recipe? Thank you.
You could definitely try that, the flavor will not be the same though and it won’t be quite as moist because the soaking step once it’s baked also adds even more moisture/flavor. Alcohol should cook off during baking, but I’m not sure if that is still a problem with allergies! Hope this helps!
hey laura! thank you for sharing such awesome recipe! im looking forward to make this!
would like to know instead of sherry and triple sec, would i just brush the sides of the fruitcake with rum and wrap with double baking double + double aluminum foil? =)
Hi Jean! I prefer the flavor and taste of the sherry and triple sec, but you could absolutely use rum if that’s you preference! Don’t see why that would be a problem at all 😉 Enjoy!
Is your fruit cake available on line?
No, sorry, it is not for sale! I just provide the recipe for you to make at home.
I plan on making this over the weekend! It looks fantastic!! One question about baking time…cause I often get that wrong when backing – either underdone or too browned!!
When you say to bake until the cakes are ‘set’ – should they be brown? Also with that much fruit, would the toothpick coming out clean be a good test of doneness??? Thank you for any advice – I don’t want to mess it up!!
They are slightly golden – they shouldn’t be pale and they definitely shouldn’t be mushy, and it will start to pull slightly from the sides. The toothpick trick is a little tricky because its a moist cake with a lot of dried fruit, but it should mostly come out clean. I think it will be fairly obvious when you start baking! Hope this helps!
I made this recipe two days ago and the results are already amazing! I used sour apricots and dried apple (200g and 120g) as optional fruits, and used dried cranberries instead of the dark raisins. I also added 50g more figs as I don’t wanna keep the leftover. I used 7 small loaf tins and the bake was awesome! I bought Grand Marnier yesterday and brushed them all around each loaf and I hope it turns out really boozy after some weeks. I plan to reapply the liquor every week. For now they all sit in a bag in my fridge. This recipe is a must have.
That’s an amazing fruit cake recipe.
Wow, such an amazing recipe. I never get tired of baking. So, adding this to my favorites.
Hi, love your fruit cake recipe! may i know if u were using the oven with fan force or not? will really appreciate your help
Hi, this is my first time trying to bake a fruit cake. Am just about to soak the dried fruit in a glass jar and i realise that the rum barely soakes till the top. Is that alright or do i need to soak them in a bowl as u mentioned in your recipe? Thanks in advance for your advice! am really looking forward to bake this world best fruit cake.
I would personally use a wide bowl, hope this helps! The fruit should be mixed but it won’t be sitting in huge quantities of alcohol.
thanks a lot for your advice! i baked my cakes today and it didnt turn out brown as yours, mine is pale looking brown. Do u know what affected that?
Hello!
Will this cake last longer then 8 weeks untouched ?
Absolutely! You can eat part of it too, haha. I had my last batch stick around for 4+ months. It holds REALLY well.
Hi Laura, your cake looks amazing.I am going to give a try but I don’t have dark rum. Is there any substitute for it? Second I don’t have crystallised ginger too, can I omit it?
It depends on what you have as a substitute, you can try another booze that you think would work well for your flavor preference, etc. In terms of the crystallized ginger, you can definitely omit it – you might want to add a teaspoon of ground ginger (if you have it) to add a little bit of that flavor, because it is one of my favorite additions.
Hi, would i be able to soak the cake in dark rum for approx 2 weeks instead of using sherry or triple sec? Thank you
I don’t see why not, just a matter of taste preference! Hope this helps!
Wow! This looks really delicious and cute, i cant wait to make one on my own.
I am going to try to bake this cake based on yr recipe. Can i ask should i soak with the nuts? If no why ? Can i also know how long i should soak the dried ingredients. Pls advise
You could, but there really is no point because they don’t need to be softened. I’ve included instructions in the recipe below, so the fruit mixture should soak for about 24 hours.
Hi laura, i made this fruit cake for my father yesterday for his birthday and i must say after following your instructions one by one it wasn’t just easy to make but the resulting piece was mouth watering. Even my grandfather who has diabetes couldn’t resist having a bite. They even couldn’t believe that i made it by myself. All thanks to you, keep up the good work and keep amazing us with your recipes.
Easy to follow and a good mid-year treat.
Can dark rum substitute with non alcohol liquid? if it is, what type of juice is advisable? Pls advise
It will not have the same taste without the alcohol, but you could try additional orange juice. I have not tested this variation though!
Hi Laura
Have just measured out the fruit and added the booze. There is no way the booze is going to soften all the fruit so am bothered that the final cake will have some very dried tasting dried fruits – like the peaches. Is there aby reason why I cant add the orange juice today to expand the fluid available to soak into the fruit?
Thanks Carol ps I make a slightly similar recipe for christmas pudding and the O. .juice is added to the booze and soaked overnight and it always works really well. Am aware it might just reduce the fressh orangey taste a little but I wonder with well over 1kg of dried fruit, if that will really be noticeable.
Hi Carol. You could add the orange juice if you want, but I would personally not. If the dried fruit was chopped in the way the recipe states and the amounts/ingredients were measured properly, I can assure you that this cake is anything but dry. It is INCREDIBLY moist, especially once it has been wrapped in cheesecloth for a week. Remember, you’re also adding grated apple, etc. to the batter the next day.
I’ve made this cake countless times and many other people have, I have never once received feedback on it being dry.
Hi, finally i tried your recipes, it’s my first time to bake this kind of cake and i love it… and i shared it with couple of my friends, got a very good review on it, Thank you.One of my request asked me if i can make it more moist, do you have any advise how to?I tried to soak the dried fruit around 24 hours, but after i bake the cake, i think the dried fruit need to soak longer, is it ok?Novrita – Jakarta (indonesia)
Happy to hear that! Did you let it soak with the cheesecloth for a week or two before slicing/giving away? That soaking period definitely contributes a lot more moisture to the cake, and I highly recommend it – although it will still taste good either way. The cake has a ton of dried fruit in it, so it is by nature moist, but you could try increased the alcohol amount a bit. I wouldn’t do too much, because it will mess up the ratios of the batter ingredients!
great
I don’t usually leave review or any comments but here i am. its sleep time and instead of sleeping I’m online looking for fruit cake recipe and it is worth it that i came here. Your website is really beautiful and all the recipe seems easy. I’m definitely going to try this cake but i also want to try all the recipes you’ve posted. Please post more beautiful and delicious recipes. Thank you:)
Haha! Thanks for the kind words. Please do come back and let me know what you think of the cake if you make it!
Can you soak the cheesecloth in amaretto?
You most likely could, but it is a much stronger flavored alcohol, so it is really up to you and your taste preferences!
Perfect! Like your fruit cake recipe. Looks Delicious!
I want to limit the fruits, perhaps pear apricot ginger hazelnut with Poire Willams, cherry blueberry dark chocolate walnut with cherry liqueur for example. So my question is can I replace the soaking rum and whiskey with liqueur? I think it will work but want your thoughts.
Sorry I didn’t get back to this sooner! I came down with the flu over the holidays. I have a feeling you already worked this out, but you can mostly substitute different liquors for the soaking liquid, I just personally prefer rum.
I actually haven’t made this yet, I’m planning to next year but will make it ahead just to make sure it works. Thank you for getting bake to me.
I ‘m sorry I now see the size of pans you use. I want to try this bec you have so many compliments. Do you have a recipe that will fill up a 5×9. I know I could
Use the smaller pans but I’m sending these to my children and I don’t want to send a smaller one. Or could I make this larger by adding more nuts, then I wouldn’t know how long to cook them.
Thank you very much,
This recipe will work in a standard loaf pan (8 x 4 or 9 x 5), but you might need to reduce the bake time if you’re using a larger pan (the batter is covering a wider surface area). The shape of the final result will be different, but it will still be great! I personally wouldn’t mess with the proportions, especially for such a minor adjustment. Just watch bake time carefully and look for the signs (listed in the recipe instructions) for when to take it out!
Will be making this next year for sure. I don’t eat it but I like the challenge. I couldn’t find the metric conversion or by weight recipe.
Hi Cheryl, the metric weights (grams) are listed in the main recipe at the bottom of the post – right next to the volume measurements. Hope this helps!
Oh my gosh sorry. Couldn’t have been more obvious. Happy holidays.
I had never made fruit cake before, but this Christmas I decided to try it out, and I am so happy I found this recipe! It tastes just like the fruit cake my neighbor orders from a specialty bakery! I’ve already made two loaves and I have the fruit soaking for two more!
So thrilled to hear this! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a recipe review. It means a lot!! Happiest of holidays!
Bless your heart for replying so quickly. I could not find dried apples/pears; i used dried pineapple that was sweetened, and the cherries were also sweetened. I was thinking of adding dried cranberries to help with the tartness, but they would not be soaked (I would just throw them in). What do you think? Again, thanks so much.
It will definitely be a touch sweeter, but I still think the cake will come out nicely either way. I wouldn’t add any more dried fruit (than the recipe calls for, unless you’re substituting one for another) – because it is already very fruit heavy and the ratio will be thrown off. I would leave as is! If you make this cake again in the future and have a location near you, the best place that I can find dried unsweetened fruit is Trader Joe’s. They have a large selection. Looking forward to hearing how the cake comes out!
Gosh I hope you see this comment soon my fruit is soaking. After I added it I realized that two of the fruits were “sweetened” already. Should I reduce the sugar in the recipe??
Hi Peggy! What dried fruits are they? I wouldn’t honestly worry too much because I don’t think it will be enough to completely over sweeten the cake, but you could reduce the brown sugar by a tablespoon and that should help mitigate. Hope this helps and I replied soon enough!! Feel free to ask other questions if you have them.
OMG! I made this fruitcake for my friends , Everyone of them have liked it. Your recipe made my day. Thank you for sharing.
I made this recipe without the chocolate.. BY FAR, THE WORLD’S BEST.. THANK YOU FOR SHARING!! This will not disappoint as it is unbelievably delicious. Expensive to make but worth every penny and some. I will make this award winning masterpiece!! Kudos to your mother and you for sharing with us.. Kim & Christopher ????
So thrilled to hear this Kim! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a recipe review, I really really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the fruit cake!
Threw not through. Oh, and BTW, the recipe states the water in the glazing activity, but the recipe just says ” 1/4 cup (60 ml) ” but not WHAT. you find it later as you read the process notes. And, cuz I’m an old English teacher, the plural of loaf is loaves. I think. At least, that’s what’s in the King James. LAURA, you have a devotee. I will trust you from now on. Doug in Rhode Island.
Thank you for bringing that to my attention – that was an omission error when I inserted the original recipe into my site! I just fixed both. Appreciate it!! 🙂
BTW, I doubled the soaking amount out of neurosis and fear. I drained off the rest the next day. I will use it for the dribbles and curing. I used Cointreau, Captain Morgan dark, and Rhum Barbancourt from Haiti. I also through in a little nip sized Southern Comfort 80 to boost the cherry note. I cheated and used some chopped maraschino cherries. They add a wet plumpness. This is heaven.
O..M…G… I just took them out. This is right up there with you know what…almost the most fun you can have by yourself. If I had had THIS when I was a kid, life would have been VERY different. This borders on FLUFFY. Imagine a moist spice cake or carrot cake cousin, FULL of MOIST, TENDER, RUMMY fruit and nuts that are just better than al dente. Oh My god. I called mom, and said, “I’m in heaven.” And i just kept tasting it and moaning “oh my god”. She said, “sounds like heaven, the way you keep calling out for god ! Or it’s the scene from Harry met Sally. I am VERY pleased with this risky little adventure. I used FOUR 3 x 7 Pans (not quite “minis” with parchment all around – (i cut little surrounds) Perfection at 1 hour and 15 minutes for the test loaf, and because it was so moist, I left the others in for 1:25 just to be sure. It’s so moist it was hard to tell if the cake was done or not, but the toothpick came out clean at 1:10. I’ll be cutting these in half to give out 8 little cake gifts. People will have to vote affirmatively to get one next year. Fruitcake, as we all acknowledged, gets a bad rap. It sure did with me for 59 years. NOW, i will serve it warmed or on fire, and add either marzipan, carrotcake frosting, or butter for those who want. I have a lot of veg/vegan/ gluten yikes folks, so i’m going to have to experiment later, but for now, this is good old fashioned fruit cake from a time before “food fuss”. LAURA, I can not thank you enough. Grazi, Gracias, spaisibo, danke, merci, and good on ya’ mate. Merry Christmas.
So thrilled to hear that you like how the fruit cakes came out! What an amazing write-up and review. Really appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave your thoughts. I (and others!) really appreciate it. 🙂
Because I dont measure anything, I fail at baking. I love love fruit cake but have never found any shops that sell ones that I like. They all have a weird funny taste. So … I decided to bite the bullet and bake my own and OMG!! for someone who cant bake, these turned out sooooo goood. This beats anything I have ever tasted and its definately worth trying. Being a non drinker, I actually added nearly half a bottle of rum. After soaking the fruit in it overnight, when I whiffed it, I nearly got drunk!! However, once in the fruit cake, I couldn’t really taste it… but I am getting sleepy when eating it lol. I will def make this again, but next time will prob add a bit more rum during the half way mark. I also couldnt help myself and added more candied ginger and even though I added more, I still couldnt taste it much, so I guess I will add a tad more next time. I also added twice as much slivered almonds and same amount ( if not more) of chopped pecans. Gives it a nice crunchy texture.As soon as the cake cooled down, I took a slice, with a pretty blunt knife, I couldn’t wait to taste it and it was sooo good. I cant wait to taste it again once its aged abit. Thank you soooooooooooo much for this awesone recipe. Mine ofcourse didnt turn out as nice as yours. Yours looks sooo good.
My dad was a pastor and we always got several fruitcakes at Christmas. As a small boy I thought they were dreadful, poisonous undigestable bricks. Mom keeps insisting I could not have been more wrong. 60 years later I want to surprise her with a homemade one that gives her the moistness she insisted made them wonderful and the booziness that you just can’t find in any mail-order fruitcakes. I’m soaking the fruit now. I can’t wait. THANK you.
Yay! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts (and your mom’s thoughts!). This is definitely the best fruit cake that I’ve had and I hope you love it too. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your thoughtful comment and hope you’ll have a chance to come back to visit the post and leave a review 🙂
Hi! Thanks for the recipe!
It looks amazing.
Just one question…
Can I use brandy instead of sherry? Have you tried it with brandy?
My mom has never used brandy for wrapping – it is VERY high in alcohol content, so I would be a little hesitant unless you’re prepared for an even boozier flavor, since it does not cook off. I just personally prefer the flavor and flavor notes of triple sec or medium sherry, but you could experiment if you want!! Thanks for the great question.
Do people serve this cake to children and recovering alcoholis? Not worried about the rum as it cooks off but what about the outside sherry?
Hi Joan! Thanks for the question. I would NOT serve this cake to recovering alcoholics or children (to be honest, I don’t think this is the type of cake that most kids will love – but you never know!) if you’re planning on soaking the cake with sherry. The alcohol does not cook off, so you taste it/smell it. Hope that helps! You could certainly choose not to soak the cake – or reserve a section for kids or anyone else that is unsoaked – it just has the best flavor if you do this step.
Beautiful photos and well written post! You have made a brilliant job of “rewriting” this recipe so it makes sense to others. Try this cake everyone! The holidays are not the same without it! Just add a cup of tea! Yum! Want some right now!
Hey Laura! I’ve made your fruit cake before and it was a real hit, but I SWORE there were currants in the recipe! Did I make that up or did it change?
So happy to hear that!!! You’re not imagining thing. I recently re-tested and made some minor adjustments to the dried fruit mixture to make everything easier to find and more approachable. Also added metric weights. Currants in the US (sometimes called zante currants) are essentially just small raisins (they’re made from grapes), so they don’t offer much of a flavor contrast from the other raisin addition. So instead, I tested and updated the recipe to include regular raisins and golden raisins for contrast. Flavor is just as good, if not better! But you can absolutely substitute the golden raisins with currants if you prefer. It’s flexible! Hope this clarifies thing and apologize for any confusion.
Thank you so much!!! Couldn’t find them this year but I just KNEW I wasn’t crazy????lol. This year I died the raisins, all the other fruits, and then I had a random bag of chopped dates so I threw them in as well!
I’ve got my drunk fruit going since yesterday, And will be soaking the cake till Christmas!
Thank you so much for the hard work on this recipe. It really is the best Fruitcake I’ve ever had!
Great!! I’ve found that just a week of soaking makes the biggest difference in flavor, but your plan also sounds great 🙂 So thrilled you love this recipe as much as my family does!
Best tasting fruitcake! I made this last year and fell in love with it. My adult children did too. I just texted them that it was fruitcake time and their response was “let’s get drunk on cake!” Last year, I didn’t start early enough, but this year pI more with it. I like the dark chocolate added! I hope I can wait while it soaks… thank you.
So thrilled to hear that Christine! It is one of my absolute favorites too. I recently tested this cake and have found that just a week of soaking (or even a few days) makes the biggest difference with flavor, so don’t worry if you can’t soak it longer. I’ve also updated the cake to include metric weights as well, and have simplified a few of the dry fruit ingredients too. Same taste, just easier to make and follow! 🙂 Thank you so much for your feedback and for taking the time to leave your review. I know that I, and others, really appreciate it.
This looks absolutely delicious, can’t wait to try this style of fruit cake. Here’s my way of doing it https://wordanova.com/recipe/fruitcake/
Hope you like it :’)
yummmm ???? Looks so delicious, can’t wait to try this. ❤️
I wanna go to give try this fruits cake recipe thanks for posting.
I made this fruitcake exactly as recipe showed. It is indeed the best fruitcake ever. Thanks Laura.
Great to see Americans seeing the delights of a good fruit cake. Never understood the lack of enthusiasm for them in the USA. Maybe it is the candid fruit?
This is on my next one to try.
I love it too! I must admit, I’m very wary of the candied fruit too because it generally just tastes like sugar to me, but this is the absolute BEST fruit cake I’ve ever had. Slightly biased, but hope you agree!
Can I use Cream sherry to soak the fruit instead of rum?
Hi Julie! Yes – you could definitely use cream sherry if you prefer. I would try to find something on the drier side personally (like an Amontillado), but it will work.
Baked the cakes today and they smell amazing! Did want to point out though that I don’t believe baking powder and nutmeg are mentioned in the recipe itself, but are listed in the ingredients? I hope it wasn’t too detrimental that I added towards the end, before the fruit, because I realized I hadn’t added them yet and couldn’t find mention of them in the steps! It could just be a slip up on my end too. Regardless, I’m very excited to start soaking these and have them ready for Christmas!
Oh my gosh – this was a typo error on my part. Yes, they should have been in the dry flour mixture (ingredients are listed in order of use). I just fixed this. I don’t believe it will be very detrimental to this cake, but I REALLY appreciate you bringing this to my attention. I’m really sorry for somehow missing that when writing and editing the instructions. THANK YOU for again for your feedback, so I could update the recipe for others. I hope you love the fruit cakes!!!
Do you have any suggestions of what I can use to soak the cheesecloths and cake in, since I do not want to use the alcohol? Also, can I soak the fruit in juice as opposed to the rum?
Thank you so much for such a wonderful looking recipe. I am making it this weekend.
Hmmm…I’m not sure if I would soak it honestly if you aren’t going to use alcohol. It will still be extremely moist without the cheesecloth step, and I just don’t think fruit juice will benefit the cake (the alcohol does cut the sweetness; fruit juice won’t really add much to it). I hope this helps!!
Thanks for sharing world’s best fruitcake recipe. I have made this and enjoyed a lot with my family.
Hi, any chance to get cup measurement to kilograms please
Hi Mimi! Just wanted to let you know that I’ve added metric measurements to the recipe!!! Hope you have a chance to make it.
Hello Laura
I love the sound of this recipe, I have all my ingredients ready to go but I would like to know if I can make this cake in a 20cm Round cake Tin.
The mixture would need to be doubled for this size.?
Hi Pam! This recipe makes TWO standard loaf cakes – since I don’t know the depth of your cake tin (is it deep, is it shallow?), it’s really hard to say. Plus, I’ve just never made this particular cake in one, so I’m hesitant to say an exact recipe conversion. I would recommend checking out this page: http://dish.allrecipes.com/cake-pan-size-conversions/ and trying to determine the volume of the cake pan you want to use and comparing it to the volume of (two) loaf pans as stated in the recipe. I wish I could be more helpful, but I would need to test it properly to give more detailed advice!
hello from Canada! just got home from the grocery to buy the ingredients. got a question for you, the soaked fruits, am i adding the rum to the batter? or i need to drain the fruits?
also, can i substitute Marsala to Sherry?
thank you.
The fruit should almost entirely soak up the rum, so no need to drain the fruit at all. Hmm, I’m not as sure about the marsala substitute, because I’ve never tried that and my mom hasn’t used that. I wouldn’t personally recommend it, but if you like the taste of marsala (because that flavor will be quite notice since that’s what you’re using to soak the cake), feel free to try it! Sorry I can’t be more specific, but hope this helps.
I just made this for the first time and couldn’t resist taking a sliver while it was still hot. Wow! This is one of the best things I’ve ever baked. There’s no way this is staying around for weeks! I’l be sharing it with friends tomorrow, but will make some more and see what it’s like when it ages. Didn’t have the exact fruits, so improvised, with quite a bit of dates, some dried mango, lots of raisins, some dried cherries, but it really didn’t matter. Thank you so much!
So thrilled to hear that!
I have two loaves in the oven at this moment. What a superb recipe. It’s the first time I’ve wavered from the Craig Claiborne NYT recipe from about 1976. I did not use the figs added extra cherries, plums, peaches, and apricots. Couldn’t find the usual currants and really wanted black currants. I will test in 4-6 weeks. Just leftover rum for the cheesecloth. Otherwise I was faithful.
Wow! My mom will be so honored to hear this. Hope you enjoy the fruitcake and looking forward to hearing your thoughts in a few weeks! I’d love if you could take the time to come back and leave a review/comment. Thank you so much Barbara!
It was abfab superb. The chocolate was almost over the top. I made one without which blew my mind–and tastebuds. And here we are again I am going to make another although just with the items I have on hand. I soaked cranberries and walnuts overnight in Framboises–which was already opened and that I didn’t want to “waste.”
Barbara
Several people have asked how to put marzipan on top. Could you get your mother to advise you and update your response please.
Also, could you let me know if your loaf pans are metal or glass? The temperature gets adjusted depending on the material. Thanks in advance for your help!
I’ll ask my mom about the marzipan – we don’t really do that with these fruitcakes, but I’m sure its more than possible. Also, the loaf pans that my mom uses are metal – thanks for the great question!
So, I just discussed this with my mom! Haha. She doesn’t do a marzipan layer, because she likes to soak/continually brush the fruitcake with booze as it sits and we choose not to do a royal icing on ours (which is *usually* why you would add a marzipan layer) -BUT basically, you want to brush the top and sides of the fruitcake with a glaze – apricot jam thinned on stove and cooled down will work well for this – and then get about 2 tubes of marzipan from store. Roll out into a thin layer, cut into strips the size of the sides / top of the loaf and apply. Hope this helps!
I made this last year and am soaking my fruit again at this moment. I grew up with that fruitcake with glazed cherries and bitter fruit My dear mother made a lovely dark version of it and would take out those old fashioned tins to bake them in. I wish I still had them! I learned to love her fruitcake … But times change and we move forward and this recipe is outstanding !Last year I gifted this cake to my fruitcake loving friends and family. It was a huge hit. Thank you for this beautiful recipe !
Can I make this with almond flour instead of wheat flour? I was looking for a booze-soaked, dried-fruit and nuts grain-free sort of fruitcake I could make, partly for an excuse to soak it in sherry (or something). This looks great except for the flour……..
Sorry for only just responding to this Lisa! I’ve never tried this and am a bit hesitant to advise it (especially since it’s not a cheap recipe to make and I don’t want you to get bad results), because it is VERY fruit filled and I’m worried there wouldn’t be much structure left if you used a non-gluten nut flour. Could you try a gluten free 1:1 blend? Perhaps Bob’s Red Mill brand?
Hi, made this tonight and it smells delicious. Mine didn’t turn brown though; they stayed a medium pail brown. Any ideas why? I used mini loaves, otherwise the same. Took around 45 minutes to cook.
How do I use the parchment paper? Is it absolutely necessary to use it particularly if I use nonstick loaf pans? I will be trying this recipe for the first time. For about 20 years I have made fruitcake with candied fruit and rum. Is it ok to soak in rum rather than sherry?
Thank you,
Alisyn Edwards
Hi Alisyn! Sorry for not getting back to you right away (saw your earlier comment – it just hadn’t been approved yet). I don’t think you would *have* to line them with parchment paper, but since the cake is on the more delicate side – I would strongly recommend lining it to be safe. It will also make it easier to remove. In order to line it, you’ll want to cut a piece of parchment that is large enough so that the sides of parchment paper go up all the way on the longest edge of the pan (it should actually end over the top, so that you can grab the pieces of parchment paper from both sides to remove the loaf). Here’s a visual: http://www.framedrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/DSC_7063_Cumin_Bread_4.jpg
Hope this helps!
Thank you Laura! This will be my first year in over 20 years of making fruitcake with dried fruit rather than candied fruit. One other question, do I butter the parchment paper before putting the batter in it?
Yay! I think you’ll like it more than candied (if I do say so myself 😉 ). You can butter it. I think it would be fine either way though! Hope this helps and please let me know if you like the cake once you make it.
Also – I think rum could also definitely work if you prefer that flavor. My mom prefers sherry and has always used that, but I think its totally up to your own preference.
Wonderfully tasty & easy to make!! SO GOOD!! I’ve made this recipe twice!! For me, recipe makes 2 loaves….. just took one out of refrig made Nov 2016 & so delicious! Plan to make more in a week or two! Thank you !
My friend and I love your recipe. In fact we seem to have gone fruitcake crazy! Can we freeze the cakes for later use, we have done the whole thing just as your recipe states, but we made a lot of cakes!!!
laura,I have made fruit cakes for years but this one is simply fabulous. I soaked my fruit in peach brandy for about a week. I added drained pineapple and it added moisture to the cake.Thank you for taking the time to share this wonderful Christmas cake.Sandra
I am so excited to make this recipe! My mother loves fruitcake, but she doesn’t like the store bought version very much. I plan on making them this weekend to give it time to soak over the next 3 weeks until Christmas. One question (if you’re still checking!), the second loaf will go to a family friend in another state. Does it need to be refrigerated or will it hold up for a few weeks just wrapped in the cheesecloth, wax paper, and foil?
I’m so excited to make this. I baked thet loaves today and am wrapping them in triple sec soaked cheesecloth. I’m wondering, if I use triple sec now, should I use sherry for the next couple weeks or keep using the triple sec. Does it matter? Thanx for this recipe. Honest confession, I’ve nibble a little off the edges of one fruitcake, already. Delicious, but I want to let it set a few weeks.
Your Mom’s fruitcake recipe sounds wonderful. I was very intrigued by the mention of marzipan. I know you don’t like it, but I love marzipan. Any chance you could tell me how your mom uses the marzipan so I can try it? Also, what was she referring to when she mentioned the “butter?”
Thank you! Happy Holidays!
I’m just curious, how important is it for this to soak for 4-6 weeks? Has anyone tried for just a couple of weeks? I’d like to make for my dad but I’m not on the ball and it’s super close to Christmas lol
You definitely don’t have to soak it for all of that time! A few days or a week would probably work as well – but it can also be stored for a very long time too. Hope this helps!
Hello Laura! Those beautiful pictures and the ingredients made me want to make my first fruit cake ever. I bought everything and am ready for attack! Could I cut the alcohol in half and replace the missing liquid by something else? Would it be better to freeze it if I don’t want to resoak the cloth every week? Thanks for the answers. 🙂
Thank you so much! Hmmm…honestly, I’m not sure if would suggest cutting the alcohol in half from the cake itself. I have never tried doing that and most of the alcohol will cook out during the baking. Unfortunately, I have never tried doing this, so I can’t say if a substitute would work (and wouldn’t want the recipe to not work out without having tested it myself).
If you would rather not soak the cloth every week, don’t worry about it! I would soak it the once and as long as it is well-wrapped, it should be fine in the fridge for an extended period of time. I wouldn’t recommend freezing it personally, as the texture would probably change! I hope this helps!
Thanks Laura! Soaking tonight, baking tomorrow! I’ll let you know the results after the holidays. 🙂
okey-dokey! i will stick to the recipe as much as possible. and i’ve bookmarked this page so hopefully you will hear from me christmas-time on the results!
graye
Hey Laura!
I have made this fantastic cake several times.. And it turns out to be the best cake.
The only problem is that I don’t get the dark brown color.. What should I do?
But this cake is super good! ?
Hi Nimrat,
It might just depend on the types of fruit that you use or if you make some other adaptations. You might also want to add another 5 minutes to the baking time. It’s hard to say without knowing more information, but aside from the dried fruit, the batter itself is not dark!
hi laura- i am getting ready to make my fruitcakes for christmas. this will be the first year i use dried fruit instead of candied and your recipe looks the most promising! except for the spicing- it is spiced like pumpkin pie and since we will eat pumpkin pie. also, i think i will stick with the citrus zest flavor. funny, not many people say how their cake turned out– i guess because it doesn’t get eaten for a few weeks.
graye
Don’t worry about the cinnamon and nutmeg addition! This fruitcake tastes NOTHING like pumpkin pie or anything in that family. The citrus and fruit are the main stars of this fruitcake! And yes to the feedback. We’ve been making this fruitcake for years, so I’m very confident in the recipe – but it does get prepared way in advance, so I think people forget to come back and tell me the final outcome! 🙂
i am still eating fruitcake! it turned out pretty good. a bit raisin-y, tho. after i had all the fruit snipped- measured separately- i measured it together and had only 6 cups- not 8- and then when i mixed it all up the batter looked way too wet so i added another cup of raisins. shrug! also, i can’t really taste the difference between the dried cherries and the raisins– but i think it is probably because i used brandy, a grape product, instead of rum. i also used dates instead of figs, but other than those 2 things, i stuck to the recipe. it could have used double the nuts i think. and if i could have found dried unsweetened cranberries they would have been good. all in all successful fruitcake with dried fruit instead of candied– i think tho i will use a few candied cherries next year– for the festive look they provide!
Hi, if I would like to make it next week to be eaten around Christmas, do I still resoak the cheesecloths once a week? I’m worried about it having too intense an alcohol scent. Also, can I brush the cakes with alcohol instead of soaking cheesecloths? Thanks!
I would check the cheesecloth and only re-soak (also, please remember that the cloth should be very lightly moist, like it was dipped in alcohol and wrung, not completely soaking before any wrapping) if it appears really dry. Since you’re planning on storing it for so long, you might want to soak it once more along the way, but it is totally up to you! This cake is very moist and as long as it is wrapped very well and kept in the refrigerator, it will absolutely keep either way.
Hope this helps and hope you enjoy it!
Thanks Laura! So, I’ve made the cake and it’s wrapped in sherry-soaked cheesecloth right now. I put all the batter into a quite large, round cake pan (the kind where the bottom unsnaps from the sides). It worked perfectly! I thoroughly greased with butter, then lined the bottom with parchment paper and greased that as well. I would say the pan is a 12-inch diameter circle, maybe 14. I cooked it for 1 hour 50 minutes at 130 degrees celsius (since we work in celsius in the UK–and 300 converts to 150 C, but then minus another 20 degrees C because my oven is fan-assisted, as are most British ovens these days–fan-assisted meaning convection). (Btw, I’m American, but moved to the UK earlier this year–still getting used to everything British!) The cake seems very sturdy, not likely to break at all.
Looking forward to your mom’s advice on marzipan and icing. And two more questions for you (or her!). How long will this last if I keep soaking it each week in the sherry? And if it won’t last more than 4-6 weeks, could/should I freeze it? Thanks so much!
Goodness, this sounds wonderful! I’ve got to try it! I am just surprised that you have to keep it in the refrigerator… Generally, the alcohol keeps it from spoiling.
Hhmm.. Did i overlooked the recipe? I cant seems to find the baking temperature.
Yes – it is in the second line of the recipe instructions. Hope this helps.
I see, Joanna, that I’m not the only one thinking about the holidays already!
My question for Laura is about the Sherry – it comes in all types of sweetnesses. I am assuming you use a sweet sherry for this recipe?
And I think from your other posts you find brandy to be an acceptable substitute?
I’m going to ask my mom (pro about the fruit cakes) and get back to you, as it has been a while since I made this. I’m almost positive it is a medium sherry (not dry but definitely not the sweetest either–and definitely not cream sherry!). I’ll be in touch soon!
I’m so excited! I just finished my first fruitcakes and have them in the refrigerator now. I may not be able to wait for the holidays! As long as I keep resoaking the cheesecloth and keep it wrapped up tight, do you think it will be okay for Christmas (4 months away)?
Yes! I’ve had it months later and it’s still delish! ?
Hi Laura,
I have a few questions about this recipe. I’m making it for my father-in-law’s birthday, because he loves fruitcake. But he likes it with marzipan and icing (traditional British–I live in the UK). I would assume I could just add that after baking? Also, since it’s a birthday cake, I would like to make it round instead of into 2 loaves. Could I just use the same amount of batter that you’ve divided into 2 pans and put it into one large round cake pan? Any idea on cooking time and temperature if I did that?
And finally, is 6 ounces of rum 6 liquid ounces? I’m assuming so, but I’ve cut up all the dried fruit ready for soaking and it’s LOADS–I just don’t think 6 liquid ounces will come close to soaking all of it, given that 6 ounces is less than 1 cup! But maybe the rum isn’t really supposed to soak all the fruit? I’ve never made fruitcake before so not quite sure. Thanks! 🙂
Eek! Thanks so much for your comment and questions. I have to say, my mom is the pro at making fruit cake, so I am not experienced enough in making it to know if it could be adapted into a traditional round cake form. Personally, I think this particular fruitcake recipe isn’t as ideal for that, because it is SO LOADED on fruit (and it could potentially break if it’s not in a loaf form). Yes! 6 ounces is 6 liquid ounces. It is a TON of fruit, but you also end up soaking the baked fruitcake afterwards in booze, so in that sense it gains more moisture. I’m going to ask my mom to see if she can help with your question, but unfortunately I’m traveling at the moment so it could be a few days!
I made this cake to see if it would be suitable for my husband to take tramping (hiking). It is way too delicious – I sent him off with something else and kept the cake here at home. Thanks for the recipe – this will be my ‘go-to’ fruit cake recipe.
This cake is awesome … I’ve made it three years in a row for my husbands birthday. Every year when I make it though – I forget to add the nuts and ginger as they are listed in the ingredients, but not added in in the instructions. This year I remembered and thought I might tell you so that you can change it for others. My cake is in the oven as I type this …. Thanks for an awesome recipe … I get so many compliments on it
Hi Leah! Thank you so much for your comment, I’m so glad you’re such a fan of this fruitcake! I’ll have to tell my mom! 🙂 I’m so sorry about the recipe instruction error, I just fixed it now–this is what happens when you don’t properly proofread a family recipe. I really appreciate you letting me know!
I haven’t given this recipe of your’s a shot yet, but from the looks of it, I think I’ll be making it and finishing it as soon as it is out of my oven. Truly looks like the worlds best fruitcake. I happened to try out another recipe of eggless fruitcake from a Prestige SmartChef website and it looked quite similar. Keep it up Laura.
OMG this is sooo beautiful! Fantastic blog and absolutely stunning pictures! So glad that I found ya! Following!
Thank you so much Mila!
Hello Laura. This cake seems very good.
I have an old recipe that mother said won
Some prize in 1945! It does have the crystalized
Fruits , and cocoa. Plus melasses and rum or
Brandy. Almonds, pecans & walnuts. Figs and
Dates and a few spices. We soak it and keep
It just the way you do. And We love it!
Hi — looking for a fruitcake to make as part of this year’s holiday gift baskets. This recipe looks AMAZING! But I would like to make into smaller, 3×6 loaves?
Advice on expected yield & modification to baking instructions please? Thank you!
Cant WAIT to try this!
T
Hi Tanya! Thanks for your comment! Unfortunately, I haven’t tried to make this recipe in 3×6 loaf pans, so I really don’t have any explicit baking instructions that I can offer. On that note, my GUESS is that it would make four loaves of that size. I would recommend baking at the same temperature as the original recipe, but it will probably only take 30-45 minutes for loaves of that size. Again, this is all pure speculation, so I can’t guarantee anything, but that is my educated guess! Please report back if you try it! Thanks again!
54 minutes baking time for the mini-loaves!
Hello Courtney,
Just saw your message and your reply. I would like to make mini loaves as well. From this batch, did you get 4 or 5 or 6 mini loaves? Please let me know!
Thank you very much!
Makes 4 mini-loaves
This will be my first time attempting fruitcake making. Your recipe looks delicious. A question about soaking the cake. Recipe says to soak cheesecloth once a week in sherry. Could you soak in triple sec? Thanks. looking forward to enjoying this.
YES! You could definitely use a good quality triple sec, or even Grand Marnier (if you feel like splurging). I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Hi – I would like to know which alcohol tastes the best for wrapping the fruit cake. Also why isn’t the rum used to wrap it. Thank you
It really depends on your taste preference – if you enjoy triple sec (orange), that might be for you! If you love sherry than you might prefer that option. I like both equally, but tend to lean more towards the sherry.
Rum isn’t used for wrapping because its incredibly alcoholic/dry and honestly just doesn’t taste incredible for that type of application (where it’s not cooked off). It is simply to hydrate the fruits and then the alcohol cooks off in the baking process – technically you could use other alcohols for that part of the recipe if you prefer.
Well, I happen to be a fruitcake lover, and this one is so similar to my family’s plum pudding! I love it, and will definitely try it. When the weather is cooler, mind you. It’s summer here, and averaging 95º to 100º every day, so the oven is out of bounds. But give me a ton of dried fruit in a dessert and I’m happy!
I have always been a fan of fruitcake, and this recipe looks excellent! Thanks for sharing!
I’m one of the people who think it wouldn’t be Christmas without baking a fruitcake. Your cake looks and sounds wonderful.
Yes!! You and me both. So glad to hear I’m not alone in that. Thank you Karen!
I love how much fruit you’ve got in this cake…and the fact that it’s been soaked in rum makes it sound extra delicious! I’m pinning now!
Yes. Tons and tons of dried fruit!! That’s why it’s definitely worth making a few loaves at a time (this recipe makes two). Thank you Caroline!!
This looks fantastic. My husband is one who likes fruitcake, he will love this I’m sure. You photos are lovely.
Thank you so much Norma!!
Hi I have recently come across this beautiful fruit cake I too have never liked fruitcake but I’ve actually made too they are currently in a cool dry place sucking up all that boozy goodness I made them in Bundt pans and they’ve turned out beautiful thank you so much
Wow Laura… this looks amazing and I’m SO all about soaking dried fruit in rum. Now I want fruitcake {there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say}… Big thanks to your mom for making fruitcake edible!
She’ll love to hear that!! Thanks so much Lauren 🙂
Umm… I love you moms comment!! Haha! So cute!!
And geez!! This fruitcake it the most gorgeous ever! Love the photos and am thinking it is finally time to actually try some fruitcake this year. All the booze in this one has me thinking it will be awesome!
My mom is ridiculous. She is still getting the hang of leaving comments–for a while she thought she had to put her full name in the “contact” form. Haaa! Thanks Tieghan!!
Fact: I have never actually had fruitcake, but with all the booze and fruit together and I thinking I would love it! Thinking i need to make this for big family Christmas (am I do mean big, 20+). Oh and Gorgeous photos!
Woh! That is definitely a big Christmas. We have 9 and that feels big sometimes.
Laura! Thanks for the lovely write-up and beautiful photos of our fruitcake! It looks as though you may have made some coverts! Yeah! You made it look so pretty! Let’s see if I can make ours look even half as lovely as this one! I guess you didn’t want to tell them about the marzipan and royal icing bit!!!! Butter as well…. Wow!
Thanks mom! And I don’t like royal icing or marzipan–so I definitely left that out for a reason, haha.
This fruit cake looks amazing! And I am preparing to make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. One question though, is it always necessary to refrigerate this recipe, as I have made fruit cake in the past and always sealed and covered in a rum soaked cheesecloth in a cool place. I want to make plenty for gift giving and there’s no room in the refrigerator. Oh the dilemma, haha.
So sorry for only just getting back to you. Honestly, my mom is the expert at fruit cake (not me, ha!), but I do believe it would be fine if it was kept in a very cold area, especially if it was consumed in a relatively quick amount of time. I don’t think it has to be refrigerated because of the alcohol, but I just like to say that to be safe. Hope this helps!
I love fruitcake. I was raised on it! My grandmother insisted that we eat a piece or two every Christmas when we visited. She said we’d have a “happy year” for every piece we ate 🙂 I guess after a while, I actually started liking it. Yours looks absolutely perfect. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
I’m going to start telling myself that…that will make me feel much better about consuming the entire loaf. Glad to know there is a fellow fruitcake fan out there.
Thank you!!!
My family are all about the British Christmas too! No-one’s British though, so I guess it’s pretty random. This fruitcake looks awesome.
Hahaha! But your Australian, so it’s not weird at all 😉
I have yet to try fruitcake, actually… unfortunately with all its glorious boozy-ness I have to miss out again this year, but I’m making next year the year I finally try fruitcake! Starting with this recipe. 🙂
Yep, it’s pretty boozy, you might want to skip it this year, haha. Thanks friend!
These photos are amazing, Laura (although, they’re always pretty darn great!)!!!! I’ve never actually had fruitcake. This may have to change sometime soon.
Aww, thank you Kelli! Means a lot. Glad to know I wasn’t the only person who couldn’t make the twitter party–we’ll have to reschedule another time! 🙂
I think this can also be called “the world’s most beautiful fruitcake!” So pretty. Honestly, I’ve never even had it, but you’re making me want to try it!
If you ever try fruitcake, definitely make sure it’s homemade!! 🙂 Thank you!!
Wow your photos are beautiful!! I have never tried to make a fruit cake, but this one actually sounds and looks really great! I should finally attempt to do one!
If you’re ever gonna try one, definitely make sure it’s this one. Thanks so much!!
Poor fruit cake, it gets such a bad rap. But yours looks amazing! Way better than those horrible store bought ones. Cannot get over how beautiful these pictures are Laura : )
It really does. Poor fruit cake. Thanks so much for the compliments Natalie! Means a lot.
it will be interesting to see if anyone makes this:)
Making it now, because it will be moist and boozy, better than any cake I’ve tested.
Seems like you really tested the formula . I’m hoping for a dark Rich fruitcake loaded with fruit. Probably make a giant one in a tube pan. Age for 6 weeks in my cool garage. Cover up with marzipan and royal icing.
I am wondering about the ratio of eggs, five. Seems like a lot. What is the purpose of so many eggs, besides the usual things that eggs do to cakes.
Thank you very much.
Simmered natural dried fruits; wild dark cherries, cranberries, crystallized ginger, pineapple, lemon rind, clementine rind, and a few prunes, all finely chopped, in equal parts, about 1/4 cups each of vanilla sherry, wild cherry brandy, ginger brandy, and spiced rum. Baked in two bunt pans, checked at 50 minutes, and basted with same liquors with chopped cranberries after cooling. Fruit cake aficionados remarked it was the best they ever had! Suggest pecans for nuts as they are sweet!
This looks and sounds amazing (and your photos are gorgeous!). Fruitcake totally gets a bad rap — though yes, those neon-colored fruits and other weird bits do scare me. I would be all over this, though. What a lovely tradition!
Thank you so much!! This one has none of the weird stuff, promise.
Do you have to use parchment paper? If so HOW do you put it in the pan?
Hi Laura….
Can you substitute apple sauce for the fresh apple, and if so, how much? I just picked a batch of wild apples and need to use the resulting apple sauce in whatever way I can.
Hi Dee! Unfortunately I don’t think that’s a good substitute in this case – the texture and moisture level is just very different, and it wouldn’t serve the same purpose. You’d be better off just omitting the apple altogether. There are lots of cake recipes that call for apple sauce though, so maybe that’s the right way to use the leftover applesauce. Thanks for your question!
Do you recommend aging the cake in the fridge or does it need to age outside of the fridge? I’m just thinking there is less chance of mold in the fridge.
No, it is supposed to be stored in the fridge! I cover that in the instructions, it would probably be fine in a cold cellar (who has those these days? ?) but definitely go with fridge. Hope this helps!
Hi Laura,
Have you ever made a gluten free version or is that even possible?
I haven’t personally, but I think a 1:1 gluten free substitute flour (like Bobs Red Mill or Cup4Cup) would probably work. Unfortunately I haven’t tested it, so I can’t quite say the change in texture but I don’t see why it would cause a huge amount of problems.
Laura, what is the name of Rum Used in this recipe.
I’ve used Bacardi, but brand doesn’t really matter, so long as you’re using the right kind.
My fruits are in dark rum soak mode!!! I am using three types of nuts, 2 oz each slivered almonds, chopped walnuts and pecans. Will be using Sandemans med dry sherry after they come out of oven tomorrow and for the next few weeks. I do not have a mixer so I have already put my husband on standby to do my stirring tomorrow. He already said he is not waiting 6-8 weeks to have some, Christmas morning is Fruit cake D-Day!!!! Thank you for a gorgeous recipe and tell your mum, thank you, too!! Merry Christmas!
Hey these pics are beautiful. Just wanted to know is there a difference between this fruit cake and a Christmas plum cake?
The only difference i could spot is the use of nuts. Pls help me clarify 🙂
Plum pudding (or cake) is served with hard sauce (sugar and butter mixture) and is a different type of texture and shape. It usually is flamed just before serving too, and generally more alcohol in flavor and even sweeter (more batter, still a lot of fruit, but less majority dried fruit). Hope this helps!
I just baked your beautiful fruitcake recipe but am wondering if I omit the aging with cheesecloth and sherry will it make a huge difference? Not sure about that much alcohol in a cake. I personally have never had fruitcake before but wanted to give yours a try. Please advise!?
It adds wonderful flavor and adds moisture, but is not at all essential. I just highly recommend it – you can always reduce the amount or soak it less if you’re worried. ☺️
hi laura! love your recipe! would it be okay if i soaked the fruits for 3-4 weeks?
The fruit won’t benefit from a soaking of that time, and would need to be refrigerated. However, if you meant the actual cake itself, yes! This cake tastes delicious weeks and weeks after it is baked (months even).
Hi , can I soak the dried fruits in rum for ten days ?
You won’t gain much from this, but sure?
Where can I find Dehydrated fruit without preservatives or dies there any chemicals in them can you please give me some suggestions thank you. I am very excited to try your food quick I have tried others but this one is really interesting.