Fruit Cake

5 from 14 votes

This homemade fruit cake is made with real dried fruit putting store-bought fruit cake to shame! It's a wonderfully dense quick bread everyone will love!

Prep Time4 10

Cook Time1 45

Total Time6 10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 521kcal

Author: Jocelyn Delk Adams

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Soaked Fruit Mixture

1 cup pitted dates chopped
1 cup dried pineapple chopped
1 cup dried apricots chopped
1 cup dried cherries
½ cup raisins
½ cup golden raisins
1 cup rum
½ cup apple cider

For the Cake

1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
4 large eggs room temperature
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
½ cup crystallized ginger
1 ½ cups chopped pecans toasted

Instructions

For Soaking the Fruit

Add all fruit to a shallow bowl. Pour rum and cider over all dried fruit making sure all the fruit is covered.Let sit at least four hours up to overnight.

For the Cake

Preheat oven to 300F. Set rack in middle position. Prepare two 9x5 inch loaf pans by spraying liberally with nonstick baking spray.
To the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter, both sugars and zests on high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Decrease speed to medium and add eggs one at a time, waiting for each to incorporate, scraping the sides of the bowl between each addition.
Decrease speed to low and add flour, salt, baking powder and soda, and spices. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
Measure 1/4 cup of the soaking liquid from the fruit. Reserve the rest.
Still on low, add in soaked fruit, ¼ cup soaking liquid you measured, orange juice, ginger, and pecans until just combined.
Divide batter evenly into prepared pans.
Bake until an inserted toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached, about 1 hour 35-45 minutes.
Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan on wire rack.
Brush the remaining soaking liquid onto both cakes while warm. Cool completely. You can enjoy this cake immediately or later. This cake gets better the longer it sits. You can age the fruit cake by wrapping the loaves in cheesecloth and continually brushing rum onto the cakes and allowing to sit and soak in.

Notes

Soak the Fruit Just Right: For that perfect balance of flavor, make sure your dried fruits are thoroughly soaked in the rum and cider mix, but not swimming in it. Aim for a good 4 hours to overnight soak – this ensures each piece of fruit is plump with flavor.
Age Your Cake: If you can resist the temptation to dig in right away, try aging your fruit cake. Wrap it in cheesecloth and periodically brush it with rum over a few days or weeks. This process deepens the flavors and moistens the cake with dry fruits, making it even more delectable over time.
Even Distribution in Pans: When you're dividing the batter between the two loaf pans, try to ensure an even distribution. This helps both cakes bake uniformly, preventing one from being doughy in the middle while the other is overdone.

Nutrition