Classic English Fruit Cake for Christmas

Christmas is coming! It’s English Fruit Cake time! The soft and moist buttery cake engulfing the dried fruits in the batter makes this cake special and perfect for Christmas.

I love this old recipe because the cake is so soft and moist. You can use any combination of dried fruits inside, it doesn’t have to be the ones in the recipe. With some spices and palm sugar, this cake gives warmth and excellent flavor.

I made two recipes for English fruit cake. The one with palm sugar goes well with the spices like ground cinnamon and spekkoek powder.

In the second recipe, I gave an option for those who like a classic vanilla butter cake. This one is with regular sugar with no spices. The dried fruits are easily seen making the cake more colorful.

Recipe Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Butter – Use premium butter to get a soft and moist texture for the cake. A good butter will give out fragrant and softness that adds the cake’s excellence.

Sugar – Regular sugar may be used for butter cake recipe, while palm sugar mixes well with the spices.

Dried Fruits – Any dried fruits are welcome. In this recipe, I used sun-dried papaya that comes in many bright colors, dried cranberries, dark and golden raisins, red and green cherries. After all, this cake is for Christmas celebrations, so try to pick bright colors especially red and green.

You may soak the dried fruits in brandy overnight. Don’t forget to sprinkle some flour before mixing into the batter to keep the fruits from sinking to the bottom.

Spices – Spices in spekkoek powder include cardamom, nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon, each in balance to each other. If spekkoek powder is not available in your area, you may use only ground cinnamon.

Nuts – Any nuts will do, walnut, almond, or pine nuts. Chop them up.

How to Make

1. A day before, prepare the dried fruits. Put the dried cranberry, raisin, dried apricot, cherries in a container. Soak with rhum or juice. Set in the chiller for 2 hours or overnight. (image 1)
2. The day of the baking, take out the dried fruits. Mix with flour until all the fruits are well-coated (image 2). Set aside.
3. Prepare a baking pan, greased and line with parchment paper. Preheat your oven at 180°C.
4. Let the butter stay in room temperature for a while.
5. In a mixing bowl, put in butter, sugar, and palm sugar (image 3). Add salt. Beat with low speed, gradually increasing to high speed. Beat the butter until pale, light, and fluffy (image 4).

1. Put in the eggs in parts, one at a time (image 5). When the eggs are all incorporated, sieve in the flour, milk powder, baking powder, spekkoek powder, ground cinnamon (image 6, 7).
2. Use a spatula to mix the flour in (image 8). Afterwards, use the mixer to blend it well (image 9).

1. Transfer the dried fruits into the batter (image 10). Add in dried coconut and nuts (image 11). Mix well with a spatula.
2. Pour in the batter into the baking pan (image 12). Decorate the top with some dried fruits and nuts (image 13).

1. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes (image 14). Test with a skewer. If it comes out clean with a few dry crumbs, it is done.

1. Take the baking pan out from the oven (image 15). Peel the parchment paper. Brush with honey to make the cake shiny and moist on top (image 16). Let the cake cool completely (image 17).
2. Cut the cake in slices. Enjoy!

Serving

This cake is very moist and soft. You can either serve it warm or cold. Both taste nice. Add a scoop of ice cream. Serve it with eggnog or custard pudding.

Storage

Keep the cake in a closed container in the chiller for up to 5 days. The liquor will help keep the dried fruit longer in the cake.

This cake is even better the next day after baking because the alcohol in the fruits soak the cake, making it more moist then before.

To welcome Christmas, you may also want to have a look at these butter cakes:

• Classic Marble Cake
• Coconut Butter Cake
• Almond Butter Cake
• Vanilla Fruit Cake