Christmas Fruit Cake

This fruit cake is spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. You have the flexibility of adding your favorite dried fruits and nuts. Making this ahead, helps the flavours to mature.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 20

Servings servings

Calories 321kcal

Author Subhasmita

Ingredients

3 cups mixed dried fruit cranberries, apricots, golden raisins, cherries, dates
½ cup mixed candied fruit candied ginger, orange. finely diced
½ cup brandy/rum
½ cup orange juice

For Cake

1 cup butter
1+1/4 cups Muscovado Sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon
ground clove 
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sour cream
Zest of 1 orange
2.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 cups chopped walnuts (or mixed nuts)

Instructions

Prepping Dry Fruits

In a microwave-safe bowl add chopped dry fruits, chopped candied orange, and ginger. Add rum/brandy and orange juice. Microwave for 1 minute. Mix it once and microwave again for 1 minute. The fruits would look plumped and have soaked most of the liquids.
Let the dry fruit mix rest for at least 1-2 hours. Tossing in between, so that remaining liquid under the bowl distributes evenly. You can keep the soaked fruits in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. Bring the mix to room temperature before adding to the cake batter.

Making cake

Prepare the nonstick bundt cake pan by generously spraying it with a nonstick spray. ( Refer to the post above for tips to avoid the cake from sticking to a bundt pan)
Preheat oven to 300° F / 150 C. Adjust the oven rack such that, the top of the cake tin will be at the center of the oven (not too close to the upper part of the oven).
In a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar and butter until it is fluffy and light in colour.
Start adding eggs one by one. Once the egg is completely incorporated, add the next one. Keep scraping the bottom of the bowl with a spatula in between, for the mix to be even.
Once all the eggs are done, add sour cream, all the spice powders, baking powder, salt and orange zest. Mix well.
With the mixer on low speed, add flour in three batches. Scarp the bottom of the bowl in between to remove any dry patches of flour.
Fold in the soaked dry fruits and nuts into the batter using a spatula. The batter is going to be thick.
Using a large ice cream scoop ( for easier transfer of thick batter), fill half of the prepared bundt pan with batter, level it with a spatula. Transfer rest of the batter to the cake pan. Level the top with a spatula.
Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove the cakes and place on a wire rack.
Generously brush the tops and sides of each cake with rum or brandy. Cool for atleast 5-6 hours before slicing.
To store, wrap the cakes tightly in plastic wrap for 6 to 8 weeks. Keep brushing the cake with rum/brandy every week. Or, wrap in cheesecloth soaked with rum or brandy and keep in an airtight container for several weeks to age.

Notes

You can also use dark or light brown sugar and add 2-3 tablespoons liquid molasses to get a similar flavour.
Make sure the amount of dry fruits doesn't exceed 3.5 cups in total.
This cake is dense. Cool it down for at least 6 hours or preferably overnight for clean slices. If the cake is still warm while cutting, the dry fruits will be gummy and wet.

Nutrition