Dark Fruitcake Recipe

A traditional fruitcake is a must-have Christmas cake. Loaded with delicious moist fruits such as raisins, sultanas, cherries, and currants soaked in brandy overnight. This is a simple and easy dark fruitcake recipe that does not need much preparation

Course Dessert

Cuisine British, English

Keyword Cake, Christmas, Desserts, Fruit, Pudding

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 20

Servings slices

Calories 263kcal

Author Veena Azmanov

Ingredients

Fruits

400 grams Raisins
400 grams Sultanas
400 grams Currents
200 grams Candied peel / mixed peel
200 grams Cherries
300 ml Brandy

Cake Batter

4 large Eggs
170 grams Butter unsalted
250 grams All-purpose Flour
200 grams Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Orange zest
1/4 tsp Lemon zest
1/2 tbsp Treacle
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Alcohol for feeding

240 ml Brandy

Metric - Us Customary

Instructions

Soak Fruits (preferably overnight)

In a large bowl, combine the fruits and alcohol. Mix well.
Pro tip - Use a glass mason jar or stainless steel bowl. Do not use aluminum or copper as it will react with the alcohol.
Soak the fruits on the counter for an hour up to overnight or in the fridge for up to six months.
Pro tip - I highly recommend giving it at least an hour to soften the fruits. The resulting cake will be very moist.
When ready to use drain the fruit from alcohol. The remaining brandy can be used for feeding the cake after it has been baked.
Pro tip - the fruits will be very very soft so handle them carefully.

Fruit cake batter

Preheat the oven at 320°F/ 165°C/ Gas mark 3. And line a 9-inch round or 7-inch square cake pan with parchment paper twice.
Pro tip - Line the pan once - spay it and line it again. This will prevent the outside of the cake from drying while the center cooks slowly.
Dry ingredients - Sift flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together.
Wet ingredients - Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then, add treacle, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, followed by the eggs one at a time
Dry to wet - Add the flour mixture followed by the drained fruits. Combine well but do not overmix.
Pro tip - we do not want the fruits to sink to the bottom and the best way to do that is to prevent overmixing.
Bake - Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60 o 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
Cool - When baked cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then invert on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Pro tip - if you do not plan to feed the cake some of the remaining brandy can be poured onto the cake as soon as the cake is out of the oven.

Feeding the fruitcake (optional)

Remove parchment baking paper around the cake. Gently poke holes in the cake with clean toothpicks or skewers.
Pour the 4 tbsp brandy all over the cake. Wrap the cake well in plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container. Store it in a cool dry place. Feed the cake with 4 tbsp brandy once every 10 days for up to 3 months.
Pro tip - You can also feed the cake once every month if you do not want to make it too boozy.

Nutrition