A deliciously Easy Fruit Cake made from scratch. No alcohol or booze required.
Ingredients
- 600 grams (approximately 3 and 1/3 cups) dried fruit (see notes)
- Zest of 1 large orange, finely grated
- 160 ml (2/3 cup) apple juice, (see notes)
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 190 grams (1 cup) brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 230 grams (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add dried fruit, orange zest, apple juice and stir. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute and then stir. Heat again for 1 minute and stir. Fruit should be hot to the touch.
- Cover the bowl of fruit with a large plate and let it sit for 1 hour. Fruit will cool, soak up the juice and become plump and juicy.
- Preheat oven to 170 C (340 F) standard / 150 C (300 F) fan-forced. Lightly grease a high-sided (3 inches deep) 8-inch round cake pan and line the bottom and sides with baking paper or parchment paper.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking powder and salt. Stir or whisk briefly to mix.
- Heat butter in the microwave until melted and smooth, stirring every 20 seconds. Butter should be melted but not hot. If it’s hot to the touch, let it cool slightly before continuing.
- Add butter, vanilla and eggs to flour mix and gently stir. Add dried fruit, including any juice left in the bowl, and stir until fruit is completely coated and there are no pockets of flour.
- Pour cake batter into prepared pan. Place cake in the oven on the middle rack and bake 1 hour. Then cover cake loosely with aluminum foil and continue to bake for another 30 minutes.
- Double check if your cake is fully cooked in the middle by inserting a skewer in multiple places to see if it comes out completely clean. If not, bake your cake for another 10 minutes and then try again.
- Leave your cake to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Cake must be completely cool before slicing otherwise it will crumble.
Notes
Dried fruit: I used a mix of raisins, sultanas and mixed peel (500 grams), dried cranberries (50 grams) and glaced cherries (50 grams). But as long you add the total weight of fruit (600 grams), you can mix up the fruit you choose to add. I just recommend having all the fruit roughly the same size. If any pieces are bigger than a sultana or dried cranberry, roughly chop them first. I chop the glaced cherries into quarters. If there are pieces of fruit that are too big, it will make the cake harder to slice later.
Apple juice: I test this recipe using 100% apple juice which works really well. Orange juice will work too, but will give the cake a stronger citrus flavour.
Baking times: Please note that every oven is different and baking times are only ever a guide. I have tested this cake multiple times in my electric oven on the fan-forced setting. Your cake may take longer to cook. This is where you need to use your baker’s intuition, along with the tips in the post above, to determine when your cake is cooked.
Storage: Keep this cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a 1 week. Alternatively, you can freeze this cake and simply thaw when serving.
Serving suggestion: You can serve this cake warm or cold. It is lovely served on it’s own for morning or afternoon tea, or warm with custard for dessert. Dust with icing sugar or brush with warm apricot jam with a beautiful glazed look.
