I was up all night and day, baking up a storm to make this Christmas a special one. For me, the holidays are about Family, friends and good food and when it comes to good food i don’t take chances as i like to get everything ready before guests arrive. At the top of the menu in regards to baking is the Christmas fruit cake. I don’t think i remember a Christmas going by without having a fruit cake in the refrigerator. Most times, i stay up making about 20 or more cakes for friends and family to take home. In preparation, i usually soak my mixed fruits which is the core of the fruitcake in Brandy for about 24 hours to about a week or two before the actual baking time to increase its shelf life and also give it that unique fruity taste.This could make the cake last for over a month in the refrigerator before cutting and icing and even up to a year (like wedding cakes 😉 ). The longer the cake stays, the sweeter it gets……That’s the best part and this makes it one of the best fruitcake recipes ;). Do enjoy! Have a Merry Christmas :D.
Homemade Christmas fruitcake recipe:
•Prep time: 1 hour
•Bake time: 1hr 20mins
•Total time: 2hrs 20mins
Step 1: In Small jar, Add the diced cherries, raisins and the brandy/rum; cover and let stand covered for 24 hours or more, i left mine for two weeks.
Step 2: In a small bowl, beat the eggs till fluffy
Step 3: In a medium sized mixing bowl, Add the Butter/ margarine and Brown sugar, Cream till pale and fluffy.
Step 4: Pour the whisked eggs into the medium sized bowl with beaten butter and sugar mixture, mix till well incorporated. Add the flavor and mix well. Add the contents of the jar with mixed fruits including the alcohol. Stir till it mixes completely with the mixture in the bowl.
Step 5: Add the baking powder, All spice, Cinnamon powder, Nutmeg powder – Stir well to incorporate.
Step 6: Gently fold in the flour and stir in one direction till it mixes completely and you have a smooth batter.
Step 7: Prepare your Baking pan by rubbing with butter/margarine and dusting with powdered flour making sure it coats the inner part of the pan well. This is to ensure the cake comes out nice, Smooth and “whole” once done.
Step 8: Pour the Batter into the cake pan making sure you don’t fill the pan to the brim. Leave enough space for the cake to rise.
Step 9: Place the cake pan in a Pre-Heated oven of about 300F and bake for about 1hr – 1hr 20mins. if you don’t have an oven, click Here to learn how to bake without one.
Step 10: To check if the cake is done, insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean without thick batter, then the cake is ready.
Step 11: Wrap Hot in an aluminium foil and leave to cool as well as retain moisture. Serve!
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84 comments
Dear lord,
i enjoy this blog oh. But I commit Dobby in prayers, so God u can touch her hrt to stop posting these lovely recipes, wen all d shops r closed n is past bedtime. when all u have is just ur imagination n salivation. amen
nice one dear.
God would keep blessing u,and make all ur drims come true,lovely recipes,wonderful pictures pls can I be ur sister?
Hahaha!!! i doubt if God listens to that type of prayer Amirah…..thanks sweets 😀
Amen! Sure you can be my adopted sis :)….Thank you grace.
tnx sweety. Cant wait 2 go try dis. U always kip ur recipes nice annd simple. Muaaah. Merry christmas
hold ur food bt giv me good cake….am in luv wit cakes, dobby u r superb …evry recipe here is jst d way mama makes it….i luv u………Chyqueen
thank you Quin :D….seasons greetings and do let us know how it goes k 🙂
Thanks chyqueen 🙂
You knw I was having issues wt my cakes bn hard until I sent u a mail nd u put me through what to do wt regards to my measurements. My cakes turned around nd bacame one of d most tastiest nd most fluffy cakes ever. Evry1 appreciates my cakes better now thanks to our lovely Dobby. Thanks gurl, God bless u big. Much love.
Dobby,what kind of cup r u referring to?is it the milk cup?
Thanks for the feedback Zoe :), i'm glad it turned out fine. God bless you too!!!
For the milk cup, make it two and half leveled cups
Will definately try this out. Can I use the regular sugar? Don't like brown sugar
hello Tith
yes you can use regular sugar. The brown sugar is just to give it the brown color and a little added flavor.
Whoop! This looks pretty yummy!!
Lemme quickly run and read the other recipes here
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ujesta.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by Uje 🙂
Dobby, when baking with pot, do u put water in the pot or without?
you do not put water in the pot at all. The pot should be left bare. do check out my post on How to bake without an oven Here: http://www.dobbyssignature.com/2012/12/how-to-bake-without-oven.html
Dobby pls help me my cake always comes out dry nd hard what should i do? thanks for d good work.
Hi Anon,
To prevent your cakes from coming out dry and hard, you'd have to reduce the amount of flour to butter and sugar ratio.Taking Accurate measurements would help at this stage. Also, whisking the eggs well and creaming the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy is necessary if you want a soft cake. Do make the necessary adjustments and let me know how it goes.
Hmmm ur cake luk gud. pls hw do i make 2 coloured cake in one e.g a brown nd white cake in one pan. thanks alot u're gud.
There are different ways to make multicolored cake in a pan. The simplest would be to separate the different colors of batter, Right at the middle add the brown batter with a spoon(it'd form a circle in the middle). At the middle of the brown batter, Add a scoop of the white batter. Repeat with the brown and white till the batter is used up and the batter in the pan looks like ripples. Would put up a post on that soon.
Dobby pls U need to do a pictorial on this brown and white cake. Whenever U can!! Thanks for always keeping ur recipes simple. Loved my chin chin n buns. Hv md 3 batches of chin chin since I started n all the oyibos love it. Lol. Puff puff is next.
i sure will anon. Thanks for also stopping by :)…Do keep me posted aii 😉
Good i will try this one to my home. Thanksss….Keep update by Cookscape
Thanks Govind, Do let us know how it goes.
Pls dobbys i baked a cake with your recipe but it was light coloured.how did u get this brown colour.thank a lot for dis post dobbys.i was able to bake from the scratch and it turned out so yummy.my son will be a year in april and i would be proud to bake his cake.i therefore plead with you to post abt icingand colouring,especially fondant cos i want to ice his cake .pls i am patiently waiting.
hey when i bake cake the middle of cake always falls down when l am allow it 2 cool down after l remove it from the oven plis what should l do 2 prevent this from happening
hello achiki,
The color you got might be due to the brown sugar used. To get a darker color, i'd recommend you use dark brown sugar which has a darker shade of brown. Would try putting up a post on icing but not too soon :).
hello genevieve,
The cake collapses because you open the oven door before the cake is done. To prevent this from happening, do wait till the baking time elapses before opening the door of the oven. Hope this helps.
Wow baking made easy courtesy of you my dear Dobby God bless you, I've always had passion for baking but no idea on how to go about it, will definitely try your recipe just hope it will come out like yours. Thanks
God bless you too Nkem. Do let us know how it turns out k 🙂
I 'm luving u rait away n immediately. Ur art piece(cakes) r 1daful. U sure saved me d streSs of paying a caterer to teach me how to bake. Taanx darling n God bless
Yaaayyy!!! thank you mummy nas. i'm glad i could help 🙂
Oh my! I am in Arizona and just made my first fruitcake after reading about the love of fruitcake by the characters in Alexander McCall Smith's books. I am a guy. Old even. It came out perfect and I only cooked it about an hour. I am starting the fruit for my next one! Christmas fruitcake never tasted like this. I candied my own Maraschino cherries and used raisin, dried sweetened cranberries, and dried plums (prunes). next time i will add chopped pecans and some coconut. Thank you!
Awww!!! Thanks for stopping by anon! Glad you are here :). Do send in a picture when next you make it k.
Hello Dobby, tried out the recipe, n it was really lovelly. I tryd all this while to get one of my caterer friend to give me d recipe for a fruit cake. She kept on hemming and hawing until I got fed up. Thank u so much 4 not hoarding your knowledge. U will continue to grow.
Amen! Thank you too Anon 🙂
U r such a blessiing to me. Many thanks
you are welcome 🙂
Dobby you are wonderful. Made my first fruit cake for my hubby's birthday and everyone has bin calling for more. Just that the cake didn't rise up enough but it was sweeeeeeeeeet! Thanks so much.
Thanks for the feedback Anon! glad it turned out great. Using the right baking powder also helps in making cakes rise well.
Hello Dobby. God bless u for the wonderful work you're doing here. I'm sooo loving ur recipes! Pls is there any non-alcoholic preservative I can use to soak my fruits? And if I don't soak them, how long is the cake likely to last? Thanks.
Thanks Anon. There are lots of non-alcoholic preservatives for cake but i don't know of any for mixed fruits apart from real alcohol. if you don't soak the fruits in alcohol it could start forming fungi molds within 3 days. But if soaked in alcohol and the alcohol is added to the cake also, it could last for months or even a year.
Dobby,pls can I use this recipe for cup cakes
Sure you can lina.
This is not fair,now now i want cake @ this hour of the day.
lol! you could still feed your eyes 😉
Plz can one use whiskey like hennessey or must it be brandy
yes you can chyny. It's just that brandy gives it a better flavor.
Wow.good thing i came across this site,i am self taught baker by the grace of God and a new comer. been wondering if i could include grojnd cinnamon and nutmeg together in my fruit cake,now you just confirmed my thought.thank you for this knowledge. God bless you. @Cakesbyreenie
God bless you too Cakesbyreenie. Glad you found it useful.
Dobby God bless you I stumbled on your blog late last year and you won't believe it but it has brought out the baker in me and I've started a small pastry business. Kudos and more success to your work
Aww!!! thanks for the feedback Mary. I wish you success in the pastry business 🙂
Hi Dobby,you dint specify what tin size this recipe is for. Please can I know how many inches this recipe is for?
Hello mary, it's for the medium 8×2 inch pan
I dont understand d cup measurement oo. I need dat of milk cup
Can I also use this measurrment for red velvet cake
Dobby pls I am having isssues with the measurememts u always use. Is it milk cup or measurinh cup? In ur conversion u said 1 milk cup is equivalent.to 85g. Pls help out m rili confused. Can I also use d measurement for red velvet. I read ur blogs a lot bt d measurement.na d issue
For this, Use the Standard measuring cups>. You can't use the Red Velvet cake measurement for this.
For this, Use the Standard measuring cups>. You can't use the Red Velvet cake measurement for this.
can i add milk to my cake or will it cause the cake to spoil fast
Yes you can add milk to the cake although if you intend keeping it for long it's best not to. A better alternative would be milk flavour.
Hi dobby, I'm a silent follower of your blog, I've soaked my fruits for just a week now, how long will the cake last if I bake with only one week of soaking?
The duration which the cake would last depends on the amount of alcohol you feed it with constantly and not how long you soak the fruits. soaking the mixed fruits for 1 day to even a year in alcohol just helps to preserve it and give it a wonderful flavor. For a cake to last long, it also has to be fed with booze once in a while :). Hope this helps.
how do i make my cake to be very soft and a melt- in-the- mouth one
you can simply follow the steps above and ensure you mix well
Hello,can I use browning for dis cake?
Yes you can although it won't taste same.
This is really lovely. Its looks yum. I just made a post on choosing your cake for christmas and this cake is one of them http://anniescakeville.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/what-cake-are-you-having-this-christmas.html. Check it out. Thumbs up
Thanks Cake Ville 🙂
Hello Dobby, thank u always. Pls I want know if I can still bake this fruit cake without cinnamon and nutmeg also pls what do you mean by all spice and finally can I add cake softener to this recipe and what measurement? Tk u as I wait to hear from u cos I'm trying this out tomorrow. Abiola.
Hi biola, Yes you can still bake the cake without cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice and you could use any flavor you want to. All spice is a combination of spices sold in the market. You don't need a cake softener to get a soft cake. All you need to do is whisk the eggs well and cream the butter well. Also, if you want the cake to be really soft, add less flour.
Hello Dobby, I have tried out the fruit cake recipe and honestly it is just wao! Very delicious. But it did not just come out very brown but the brandy I soaked d fruit in made it slightly brown sure if I had used d brown sugar you actually used it would have looked like you own. I also added d nutmeg it's only d cinnamon that I didn't add and the order spice but still it's beautiful. Thank u so much for the opportunity to draw from your wealth of knowledge. I don't know how to share d picture of the cake here I would have shared d picture. God richly bless you sis. Abiola.
Awww!!! Thanks alot for the feedback Aboila. Glad it turned out fine. you could send the picture to me on the facebook page via the inbox :). BR
When u v soaked the fruit in d brandy and u want to add it to the butter nd super mix, will u also add the alcohol in it too?
Yes you do Anon.
Hi Dobby, i'v bin following ur blog nw for some time n I'm really enjoying it, u r a blessing to all women who love cooking, may God continually bless u n meet u at d point of ur needs. Pls I wnt to kn if it's still OK to use d mixed fruit I soaked for over a year now?
Glad to have you here Anon. Yes, mixed fruits soaked in alcohol can stay for up to a year can still be used within that period.
hi Dobby pls help me with seize 12 cake measurment thanks
hi dobby thanks for the recipes can you help me with size 12 cake pan measurement my sister birthday is next month i want to surprise her thanks
I am still confused about the cup measurement for the fruits and cherries. Are you able to give the quantities in grams?
Is it too much brandy or too much flavour essence that makes my cake to taste like something that vinegar is added
how long can i leave my cake to cool down before covering it with fondant. Is 7 hours good enough?
how long can i leave my cake to cool down before covering it with fondant. Is 7 hours good enough?