Year after year, holiday season rolls around. What’s not to love about spending time with family, exchanging gifts, reflecting on individual beliefs, and most importantly home cooked food! The holiday season brings tons of delicious treats but perhaps the most famous one is the fruitcake. Dating all the way back to ancient Rome, fruitcakes have stood the test of time as a classic holiday desert. While there are many different ways to make a fruitcake, here is one of our favorite recipes for you to try out!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 1/2 cups diced dried pineapple
- 1 1/2 cups raisins
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup diced dried apricots
- 1 1/2 cups chopped dates
- 1 cup candied red cherries
- 3/4 cup rum or brandy (apple juice, or cranberry juice for a non-alcoholic version!)
- 1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 2 cups dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cups chopped, toasted nuts
That’s quite the shopping list! Now that you have all the ingredients, here’s how to prepare the cake:
- Preparing the fruit: Soak the fruit in the liquid of your choice in a bowl; cover and let stand overnight
- Preheat the oven to 300°F and lightly grease two 9”x5” pans on all sides.
- To make the batter: Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix together until fluid with no lumps.
- Mix in the baking powder. salt, and spices.
- Mix in the eggs one at a time.
- In a separate bowl whisk together, the flour and cocoa then, add to the mixture.
- Add the syrup to the mixture in the bowl, mixing gently to combine.
- Stir in the water, then the prepared fruit, and the nuts. Stir until everything is fluid.
- Spoon the batter into the pans but leave room for the mixture to rise.
- Bake the cakes on the middle shelf of the oven, for 2 hours and 15 minutes. To make sure the cakes are done, insert a wood skewer to the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done!
- Remove the cakes from the oven. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.
- Brush the warm cake with rum, brandy, or simple syrup
- When the cakes are completely cool, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, and store at room temperature.
- Enjoy your cake on National Fruitcake Day!
[This recipe is based off of the following: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/everyones-favorite-fruitcake-recipe]
